Everyday Black History ~ Mary Lou Williams

"First Lady of Jazz"

Born Mary Elfrieda Scruggs in 1910, Mary Lou Williams was one of the few women to have achieved fame in jazz not as a singer, but as an extraordinary pianist-composer-arranger. In 1946, her composition "Zodiac Suite" was performed at New York's Town Hall. Mary Lou Williams was a teacher of jazz history and Artist in Residence at Duke University from 1977 until her death in 1981.

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Everyday Black History ~ Charles S. Gilpin

Called the "dean of black American actors," Charles S. Gilpin had a career in Vaudeville spanning 20 years. For Gilpin , like for many actors then and since, there may be long stretches of unemployment between gigs. When he was not on stage, Gilpin worked as a printer, an elevator operator, a prize-fight trainer and a porter. C harles S. Gilpin (1876-1930) Gilpin organized the Lafayette Theatre Company in 1916 as one of New York's earliest black stock companies. In 1920, Gilpin began a four-year run on stage as The Emperor Jones . The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People ( NAACP ) in 1921 awarded Charles Gilpin its prestigious Spingarn Medal for his contribution to the theatre.

Legendary TV Characters ~ Fred Sanford & Aunt Esther

“Esther, I could stick your face in some dough, and make gorilla cookies .” Fred G. Sanford ( Redd Foxx ) talking to sister-in-law and frequent foil “Aunt” Esther ( Lawanda Page ) on Sanford & Son , the venerable sitcom that, since its debut on the NBC television network in January 1972, has never been off the air .

Everyday Black History ~ Godfrey Cambridge

Godfrey MacArthur Cambridge was born February 26, 1933 in New York City to British Guiana émigré parents. Young Godfrey lived in Nova Scotia with his grandparents where he attended grammar school. GodfreyCambridge made his Broadway debut in Nature’sWay in 1956. He also appeared in both stage and screen versions of the Ossie Davis -penned Purlie Victorious, released in 1963 as Gone Are the Days! For his work in The Blacks , Cambridge won an Obie in 1961 for Most Distinguished Off-Broadway Performance. Godfrey Cambridge also lent his considerable talent to Hollywood’s silver screen starring as Harlem-based Detective Gravedigger Jones opposite Raymond St. Jacques as Detective Coffin Ed Smith in Cotton Comes to Harlem (1970) and its sequel Come Back Charleston Blue (1972). Although he was a very competent dramatic actor, Godfrey Cambridge was better known for his work as a stand-up comedian . His material was often drawn from racial conditions in contemporary America. I

Sepia Starshine

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