by Ted Sherman

Created on: July 29, 2008

Looking at the history of African-Americans in show business reflects the progress throughout our country. Before the 20th Century, there were few Black people who attained any status on the stage. As equality of opportunity grew elsewhere in our society, so did the list of successful Black entertainers. Today, although Black Americans represent just 20 percent of our population, famous African-American actors, as well as other entertainers and professional athletes, are closer to 50 percent or more in their fields.

Before the 20th Century, Black actors on national stages were pitifully rare. Even the popular minstrel shows that toured the country were composed of White actors and singers in exaggerated blackface. What traveling professional Black entertainers there were, had to endure the lingering insults of low pay, low-quality segregated facilities and threats of violence if they demanded their rights, especially in the South.

Even into the 1950s, when actor/singer/dancer Sammy Davis, Jr., was a headline entertainer at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas. he was not permitted to eat in the restaurants nor room at the upscale resort. In those days, Black entertainers had to stay at the city's one all-Black motel in a seedier part of town or stay with Black families.

On stage, as a member of the famed Rat Pack, although Davis took it in good spirits, much of the patter among the other entertainers was deliberately racist. However, a breakthrough came when star Frank Sinatra, who was part owner of the hotel, demanded that Davis be permitted to use a sleeping room there.

That literally opened the door to other Black entertainers who performed in Las Vegas at the time, including Nat Cole, Lena Horne, Billy Eckstine, Cab Callaway, Fats Domino, Louis Armstrong, the Mills Brothers and many others. Today, in Las Vegas, as well as in all other entertainment venues in the United States, including the Deep South, there is no discrimination against Black entertainers or visitors.

Long before the Davis breakthrough as a fully accepted entertainer, the man who was perhaps America's first Black stage star was Bert Williams. He emerged from appearing at Black-only theaters at the end of the 19th Century to become a star of the Ziegfeld Follies through the first two decades of the 20th. He performed with such immortals of the time as W.C. Fields, Fanny Brice, Eddie Cantor and Will Rogers. Not only was he a successful actor, songwriter and comedian, but during those two decades, he

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>