The African American has made a truly enormous contribution to the world of American entertainment. The vitality of his influence on American music, dance and drama has been irresistible; its impact profound and lasting.

Before slavery ended, African Americans had started to permeate popular music and eventually dominated it. Slaves provided the music of the plantations both for themselves and for the white owners. Starting as a figure of ridicule, a comic type and an object of the white man's amusement, he was slowly moved to a position of dignity and even protest and struggle. He acquired professional polish and finally emerged as a creative performer of more than one dimension.

MUSIC

William Grant Still, 1895 - 1978, a gifted musician and composer, was one of the first African Americans to make a breakthrough into the American symphonic scene. His "Afro-American Symphony" was the first Black-composed piece of its kind to be performed by a major orchestra, and The New York City Opera's staging of Still's "Troubled Island" marked the first-ever major company performance of an opera written by an African American. As a conductor too, Still broke through barriers. Since then, a wide field of American music has opened and continues to be enriched by people of diverse cultures.

ART

Edmonia Lewis, 1845 - 1890, is recognized as the first female (and first African female) sculptress in America. She attended Oberlin College in Ohio. A professor who noticed her talents led her to Edmund Brackett, a prominent Boston sculptor whose guidance helped launch her artistic career A few of her famous works included busts of Abraham Lincoln, Charles Sumner and Robert Gould Shaw. "Forever Free" (1867), a marble sculpture now at the Howard University Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., is her most famous work. Her famous "The Death of Cleopatra" is now in the National Museum of American Art in Washington, D.C.

DRAMA

IRA ALDRIDGE, Actor, 1807-1867, achieved fame asa star of Shakespearean dramas and as an eminent tragedian. He spent his early years in Maryland and attended the African Free School in New York. He later attended Schenectady College before entering the University of Glasgow. Aldridge achieved fame in the great theatres of Europe.

Shakespeare's "Othello" was an African American man, followed in 1696 by "Oroonoka", whose hero was an African prince. Both roles were played on stage by African Americans. Free African Americans in New York City formed the "African Company" in 1821, and placed African American actors in the history books. James Hewlett, the leading member, specialized in the roles of Othello and Richard Ill. About this same period, Ira Aldridge (see sbove) appeared and vitalized acting and actors.

Blacks were first cast in white productions about 1877. An African American Topsy appeared in "Uncle Tom's Cabin" in 1897, "The Creole Show" in 1891 glamorized the African American female for the first time. "The Octoroon" (1895) and "Oriental America" (1896) are other landmarks in the emergence of African Americans in the theater. Bert Williams, Bob Cole, and Will-Marion Cook gained theatrical prominence.

Appearing about 1920 were: Charles Gilpin in O'Neil's "The Emperor Jones"; Paul Robeson, "All of God's Chillun"; Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake produced "Shuffle Along"; "Porgy" appeared on stage, and Josephine Baker, Florence Mills and Richard B. Harrison gained attention. (Harrison: "De Lawd").

Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis were pioneers in the post-World War II African American theater movement. A few of the rising dramatic stars of this period were Hilda Simms, Canada Lee, Sidney Poitier and Claude McNeil.

The 1980s and 90s welcomed the dramatic talents of motion picture stars like Denzel Washington, Whoopi Goldberg, Danny Glover, Morgan Freeman and Aifre Woodard.

MASS ENTERTAINMENT

A notable number of African Americans have become household names in mass entertainment. By the end of the 1960s more than 15 television shows featured African Americans in major roles. In 1966 Bill Cosby became the first African American actor to win an Emmy for best actor in a running series, and in 1968 Diahann Carroll became the first African American woman to have her own television series.

In the 1970s, "The Jeffersons," starring Isabel Sanford and Sherman Hemsley, made its debut and ran for eleven seasons, from 1975 through 1986.

By the 1990s African Americans had made profound accomplishments behind the cameras. Producer Keenan Ivory Wayans launched the careers of young talent in his comedy variety show, "In Living Color." In 1991, the Black Entertainment Network (BET), founded by Robert Johnson in 1979, had 29 million subscribers and became the first entertainment company founded by an African American to be publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange.