List_of_African-American_arts_firsts

List of African-American arts firsts

List of African-American arts firsts

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African Americans are a demographic minority in the United States. The first achievements by African Americans in various fields historically marked footholds, often leading to more widespread cultural change. The shorthand phrase for this is "breaking the color barrier".[1][2]

This is a list of African-American firsts in the fine arts, popular arts, and literature. It is a wider listing than that of the major national firsts at List of African-American firsts.

18th century

1746

  • First known African-American (and slave) to compose a work of literature: Lucy Terry with her poem "Bars Fight", composed in 1746[3] and first published in 1855 in Josiah Holland's "History of Western Massachusetts[4][3]

1760

  • First known African-American published author: Jupiter Hammon (poem "An Evening Thought: Salvation by Christ with Penitential Cries", published as a broadside)[5]

1773

  • First known African-American woman to publish a book: Phillis Wheatley (Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral)[6]

19th century

1825

  • First African-American actor to play Othello on an English and then continental stages - First African-American star - best paid actor : Ira Aldridge

1827

1858

1890

  • First African American to record a best-selling phonograph record: George Washington Johnson, "The Laughing Song" and "The Whistling Coon."[8]
  • First woman and African American to earn a military pension for their own military service: Ann Bradford Stokes.[9]

1892

20th century

1903

  • First Broadway musical written by African Americans, and the first to star African Americans: In Dahomey

1910

1927

1931

  • First African-American composer to have their symphony performed by a leading orchestra: William Grant Still, Symphony No. 1, by Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra[14]

1935

1936

1939

  • First African American to star in their own television program: Ethel Waters, The Ethel Waters Show, on NBC[17]

1940

Hattie McDaniel

1941

  • First African American to give a White House Command Performance: Josh White[19]

1943

  • First African-American artists to have a number-one hit on the Billboard charts: Mills Brothers ("Paper Doll"), topped "Best Sellers in Stores" chart on November 6 (See also: Tommy Edwards, 1958; The Platters, 1959)

1944

1945

1947

1948

1949

  • First African-American-owned and -operated radio station: WERD, established October 3, 1949 in Atlanta, Georgia by Jesse B. Blayton Sr.[27]

1950

1954

1955

1956

  • First African-American star of a nationwide network TV show: Nat King Cole of The Nat King Cole Show, NBC (See also: 1948)

1957

1958

1959

1960

1961

1963

1964

1965

1966

1967

1968

1969

1970

1971

1972

1973

1974

1975

1980

  • First African-American-oriented cable channel: BET[47]

1982

1983

1986

1987

1988

1990

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

  • First African-American actor to star in the lead role in a comic-book adaptation movie (Spawn): Michael Jai White

2000

21st century

2001

2002

2004

2009

2012

2013

2014

See also

Notes

  1. [N 1]
    While considered a network for regulatory reasons, CBS TV was viewable only locally in 1948. By 1956, CBS and other networks were viewable nationwide.
  2. [N 2]
    At that time, nominations were announced in November of the year of release, instead of early the following year.
  3. [N 3]
    The first Black superhero, Marvel's Black Panther, introduced in Fantastic Four #52 (July 1966), is African, not African-American. This is also true of the first Black character to star in his own mainstream comic-book feature, Waku, Prince of the Bantu, who headlined one of four features in the multiple-character omnibus series Jungle Tales (September 1954 – September 1955), from Marvel's 1950s predecessor, Atlas Comics.

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