Abstract
Florence Mills was one of only a few African American women vaudeville performers to become an international success. Born in Washington D.C. in 1895 and raised in Harlem, New York, Mills was a child performer in dramatic and musical theater. Through analysis of Florence Mills’ performances in Shuffle Along (1921), Dover Street to Dixie (1923) and The Black Birds Revue (1926), I seek to reveal the ways Florence Mills made use of the cultural economies of vaudeville to resist dominant constructions of race and gender. In particular, I assert that Florence Mills manipulated white American and European desires to consume slave culture, and expanded economic and cultural possibilities for African American women entertainers.
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Notes
“Paris Wild About Florence”, The Chicago Defender July 24, 1926: p. 7, col. 6
Jervis Anderson, This was Harlem: 1900–1950 (New York: Farrah Straus Giroux, 1981) 181
Alain Locke, “The Negro and the American Stage,” Theatre Arts Monthly 10.2 Feb. 1926: 112–120
Alain Locke, “The Negro and the American Stage,” Theatre Arts Monthly 10.2 Feb. 1926: 112–120
“Mills’ Passport” Florence Mills Papers, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
News Clipping, Florence Mills Papers, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.
News Clipping, Florence Mills Papers, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
“George Jean Nathan Pays Glowing Tribute to Florence Mills”, Florence Mills Papers, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
Modern Girl Around the World Research Group, “The Modern Girl as Heuristic Device” in Modern Girl Around The World: Consumption, Modernity and Globalization (Durham, NC.: Duke University Press, 2006)
“The Soul of the Negro” Florence Mills Papers, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
Ibid
“The Soul of the Negro” Florence Mills Papers, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
Gang Jines, “Your Turn Next”, The Chicago Defender (National Edition) September 13, 1924: p. 6, col. 6
“Florence Mills Show”, The Chicago Defender (National Edition) August 16, 1922: p. 6, col. 8
Ivan Harold Browning, “Across the Pond”, The Chicago Defender (National Edition) April, 9, 1927: 6
“Hamtree Speaks”, The Chicago Defender (National Edition) August 16, 1924: p. 6, Col. 6
New York Times 23 May 1921:20
“The Harlem Renaissance”, Library of Congress (online exhibits) www.loc.gov/exhibits/odessy/educate/harlem.html (accessed August 15 2011).
“Programs and Playbills” Florence Mills Papers, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
Ivan Harold Browning, “Across the Pond”, The Chicago Defender April 9, 1927: p.6, col. 6
“The Passing Shows” Florence Mills Papers, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
“La Revue Des Lew Leslie’s Blackbirds Playbill”, Josephine Baker Papers, Arts du Spectacle research division of Bibliothèque nationale de France
“Paris Wild About Florence”, The Chicago Defender (National Edition) July 24, 1926: 7
“Paris Wild About Florence”, The Chicago Defender (National Edition) July 24. 1926:7
“The Soul of the Negro”, Florence Mills Papers, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. The editorial is a part of the Florence Mills Papers, although there is no date or publication name it is clear that the article was a part of a newspaper editorials.
“The Soul of the Negro”, Florence Mills Papers, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
“The Soul of the Negro” Florence Mills Papers, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
“The Soul of the Negro” Florence Mills Papers, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
“Noble Sissle Papers”, Helen Armstead Johnson Theatre collection, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.
“Contracts and Financial Documents” Florence Mills Papers, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
“Correspondence” Florence Mills Papers, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. The event took place on May 13, 1923 at the Adelphi room in London, England. The additional guest included Will Vodery, an African American composer and conductor, Shelton Brooks and James P. Johnson an African American pianist and composer.
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Adair, Z.R. Respectable Vamp: A Black Feminist Analysis of Florence Mills’ Career in Early Vaudeville Theater. J Afr Am St 17, 7–21 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12111-012-9216-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12111-012-9216-3
Keywords
- Afro-centric feminism
- Black Internationalism
- Ethno-Racial classification
- Theatrical Musical Revues