Music and Dance

Juneteenth 2022
A Celebration of Black Achievers (Click Here)

Chronology

1853 Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield (1809-1876), a concert artist, was the first to win recognition outside the United States (England) when she gave a command performance for Queen Victoria at Buckingham Palace in 1853.

1892 Sissieretta Jones (1869 - 1933), a world famous soprano known as the Black Patti, was the first to perform at Carnegie Hall in New York in 1892.

1920 Josephine Baker (1906 - 1975), a dancer, was the first to receive the French Legion of Honor Award for the musical, Shuffle Along in 1920.

1920s Mamie Smith (1883 - 1946), a vocalist, was the first performer to make a phonograph record, paving the way for all the classic blues women of the 1920’s and beyond.

1920s Hazel Harrison (1883 - 1969), a concert orchestra pianist, was the first fully American trained musician to appear with a European orchestra in the 1920’s.

1920s Lillian Evanti (1891 - 1967), a lyric soprano, was the first to perform with a major European company in the 1920’s, while simultaneously maintaining deep ties to her native home, Washington, D.C.

1922 Ethel Waters (1896 – 1977), a film, television, theater actress, and singer, was the first to be broadcasted on radio on April 21, 1922.

1923 Florence Mills (1896 - 1977), an entertainer and dancing jazz performer, was the first International female superstar when she appeared in the Plantation Review in England in 1923.

1929 Nina Mae McKinney (1912-1967), an actress, singer, and dancer, was the first to have a leading role in the first all-black, all sound musical, Hallelujah in 1929.

1930s Blanche Calloway (1902 - 1978), sister to Cab Calloway, a jazz singer, composer, and band leader, was the first to lead an All-Male Jazz Band in the 1930’s.

1930s Florence Beatrice Smith Price (1887 - 1953), a composer and pianist, was the first to have her work performed by a major symphony in the late 1930’s.

1933 Caterina Jarboro (1903 -1986), a performing artist, was the first to perform with a major U.S. Opera Company when she was featured in the Chicago production of Verdi’s Aida, at the New York Hippodrome in 1933.

1934 Etta Moten Barnett (1901 - 2004), an actress and contralto vocalist, was the first to entertain at the White House in 1934. She was known for her signature role of “Bess” in Porgy and Bess.

1935 Eva Jessye (1895- 1992), a choral director, actress, author, and poet, was the first to win international distinction as a director of a professional choral group. She was the first choral director for Porgy and Bess (1935).

1942 Lena Horne (1917 - 2010) a civil rights activist, vocalist, and entertainer, was the first performer to sign a long-term contract with a major Hollywood studio, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1942.

1943 Carol Brice (1918 - 1985), a contralto singer, was the first to win the Naumburg Award in 1943.

1951 Janet Collins (1917 - 2003), a ballet dancer, choreographer, and teacher, was the first artist to perform on the stage of the MET. She danced in a 1951 performance of Aida at the Metropolitan Opera House, in New York.

1955 Marian Anderson (1897 - 1993), a contralto singer, was the first to sing with the New York Metropolitan Opera in 1955.

1958 Ella Fitzgerald (1917 - 1996) a singer, was the first to win a Grammy for Best Female Vocal Performance for ’The Irving Berlin Songbook’ (album) and Best Individual Jazz Performance for ’The Duke Ellington Songbook’ (album) in 1958.

1961 Leontyne Price (b. 1927), an opera singer, is widely regarded as the first to gain international acclaim as a professional opera singer. She made her stage debut at the San Francisco Opera House in 1957, and her debut at New York City’s Metropolitan Opera House in 1961.

1963 Katherine Dunham (1909 - 2006), a choreographer and dancer, was the first to choreograph for the Metropolitan Opera, in its new production of Aida during the 1963-64 seasons.

1968 Diahann Carroll (b. 1935), an actor and singer, was the first to have her own TV series, Julia in 1968.

1970 Cheryl Andrienne Browne a ballet dancer, was the first to compete as a contestant in the Miss America Pageant, in 1970.

1970s Margaret Rosezarian (1943 - 2000), a musician and educator, was the first to conduct the symphony orchestras of Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, and thirteen other cities in the 1970s.

1983 Vanessa Williams (b. 1963) an actor and singer, was the first to be crowned Miss America in 1983.

1986 Aretha Franklin (b. 1944) a singer, called the Queen of Soul, was the first to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986.

1998 Mahalia Jackson (1911 - 1972), a civil rights activist and gospel singer, referred to as the Queen of Gospel was the first to receive the Grammy Hall of Fame Award for Move On Up A Little Higher, in 1998.

2015 Misty CopelanMisty Copelan (2015), Misty Copeland (b )September 10,1982, an american ballet dancer became the first to be named principal dancer in the American Ballet Theater’s 75 year history on Tuesday June 30,2015.