Work in Progress

Currently working on the series entitled “Black Vaudeville” which portrays the Vaudeville-era of African American dance, music, theatrical performers in the years between the 1880’s and 1930’s . During this period, it was not unusual for white entertainers to perform racist stereotypes of black Americans using Blackface and ‘coon songs’. Black Vaudeville enabled performances unique to American black culture to be brought directly to African Americans, with some performers challenging the standard conventional image. The Hyers sisters, Anna Madah, (1855 - 1929), Emma Louise ( 1857 - 1901), Sherman H. Dudley, (1872 - March 1, 1940), Adah Overton Walker (February 14, 1880 - October 11, 1914) , Loretta Mary Aiken (March 19, 1897 - May 23, 1975) are among the people who made it possible for black people to enjoy entertainment through their heritage and to earn their living beyond being a maid or farm worker in the Jim Crow period in America.