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
First African-American composer to have their symphony performed by a leading orchestra:
William Grant Still, Symphony No. 1, by Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra[14]
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)
First African-American artist to receive sole credit for a #1 hit on the
Billboard charts:
Count Basie ("
Open the Door, Richard"), topped "Best Sellers in Stores" chart on February 22 (See also: Mills Brothers, 1943; Nat King Cole, 1950; Tommy Edwards, 1958; The Platters, 1959)[citation needed]
First African-American solo singer to have a #1 hit on the Billboard charts:
Nat King Cole ("
Mona Lisa"), topped "Best Sellers in Stores" chart on July 15 (See also: Mills Brothers, 1943; Count Basie, 1947; Tommy Edwards, 1958; The Platters, 1959)[citation needed]
First African-American male dancer in a major
ballet company:
Arthur Mitchell (
New York City Ballet); also first African-American principal dancer of a major ballet company (NYCB), 1956.[32] (See also: 1969)
First African-American singer to appear in a telecast opera:
Leontyne Price in
NBC's production of Tosca
1956
First African-American star of a nationwide network TV show:
Nat King Cole of The Nat King Cole Show,
NBC (See also: 1948)
First African-American woman to perform at a presidential inauguration: Opera singer
Marian Anderson at John F. Kennedy's inauguration[citation needed]
First African-American actress to star in her own television series where she did not play a domestic worker:
Diahann Carroll in Julia (see also: 1963)
First African American to appear by herself on the cover of Playboy:
Darine Stern (October issue)
1972
First African-American
superhero to star in own comic-book series:
Luke Cage,
Marvel Comics' Luke Cage, Hero for Hire #1 (June 1972).[43][Note 3] (See also: Lobo, 1965, and the Falcon, 1969)
First African-American interracial romantic kiss in a mainstream comics magazine: "The Men Who Called Him Monster", by writer
Don McGregor (See also: 1975) and artist Luis Garcia, in
Warren Publishing's black-and-white
horror-comics magazine Creepy #43 (Jan. 1972) (See also: 1975)[44]
First African-American model on the cover of American Vogue magazine:
Beverly Johnson
1975
First African-American interracial couple in a TV-series cast: The Jeffersons, actors
Franklin Cover (Caucasian) and
Roxie Roker (African-American) as Tom and Helen Willis, respectively; series creator:
Norman Lear
^While considered a network for regulatory reasons, CBS TV was viewable only locally in 1948. By 1956, CBS and other networks were viewable nationwide.
^At that time, nominations were announced in November of the year of release, instead of early the following year.
^
abcThe 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.
References
^Juguo, Zhang (2001). W. E. B. Du Bois: The Quest for the Abolition of the Color Line. Routledge.
ISBN978-0-415-93087-1
^Herbst, Philip H (1997). The Color of Words: An Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Ethnic Bias in the United States. Intercultural Press. p. 57.
ISBN978-1-877864-97-1
^O'Neale, Sondra (2002).
"Hammon, Jupiter". In William L Andrews; Frances Smith Foster; Trudier Harris (eds.). The Concise Oxford Companion to African American Literature. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
ISBN9780195138832.
Archived from the original on April 7, 2015. Retrieved October 27, 2015.
^Susan Love Brown (2006). "Economic Life". In Paul Finkelman (ed.). Encyclopedia of African American History, 1619–1895: from the colonial period to the age of Frederick Douglass. Vol. 1. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 121–129.
ISBN0195167775.
^Brooks, Tim, and Dick Spottswood. Lost Sounds: Blacks and the Birth of the Recording Industry, 1890–1919. University of Illinois Press, 2004. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/10.5406/j.ctt2jcc81. Accessed 8 Oct. 2020.(pp. 254–258)
^Matt Baker at the
Grand Comics Database.
Archived from the original on April 24, 2015. Artist credits were not routinely given in comic books in the 1940s, so comprehensive credits are very difficult if not impossible to ascertain.
^Smith, Catherine Parsons (2008).
William Grant Still. American composers. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. p. 68.
ISBN978-0-252-03322-3.
Archived from the original on October 13, 2013. Retrieved June 24, 2013.
^
abOtfinoski, Steven (2010).
"Dandridge, Dorothy". African Americans in the Performing Arts. A to Z of African Americans (Revised ed.). New York: Facts On File. pp. 51–52.
ISBN978-1-4381-2855-9. Retrieved June 26, 2013.
^Cosham, Ralph H. (November 25, 1963).
"Negro Comes to Television; Sponsors Happy". Nashville Banner. United Press International. p. 29. Retrieved January 29, 2021 – via
Newspapers.com. …only one dramatic program features a Negro as a regular member of the cast. She is Cicely Tyson, who portrays a social worker in the new CBS series East Side, West Side.
^Hudson, David (n.d.).
"Black Cinema". GreenCine.com. Archived from
the original on July 7, 2011. Update of Hudson (June 10, 2003).
"SFBFF: Experience and Empowerment". Archived from
the original on July 7, 2011. Retrieved July 7, 2011. Note: Asian-American interracial marriage had previously been portrayed.
^The earliest known humorous interracial kiss was in the story "Home Cooking" in Premier Magazine's satirical comic book Nuts #1 (March 1954), per
its listing at the Grand Comics Database.
Archived from the original on October 12, 2013.
^"
Sammy's Visit".
All in the Family. Season 2. Episode 34. February 12, 1972. CBS. In the comedy All in the Family, at the last moment as a picture is taken, Sammy Davis, Jr., playing himself, chides the
bigoted but celebrity-fawning
Archie Bunker with a humorous kiss on the cheek.
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
First African-American composer to have their symphony performed by a leading orchestra:
William Grant Still, Symphony No. 1, by Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra[14]
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)
First African-American artist to receive sole credit for a #1 hit on the
Billboard charts:
Count Basie ("
Open the Door, Richard"), topped "Best Sellers in Stores" chart on February 22 (See also: Mills Brothers, 1943; Nat King Cole, 1950; Tommy Edwards, 1958; The Platters, 1959)[citation needed]
First African-American solo singer to have a #1 hit on the Billboard charts:
Nat King Cole ("
Mona Lisa"), topped "Best Sellers in Stores" chart on July 15 (See also: Mills Brothers, 1943; Count Basie, 1947; Tommy Edwards, 1958; The Platters, 1959)[citation needed]
First African-American male dancer in a major
ballet company:
Arthur Mitchell (
New York City Ballet); also first African-American principal dancer of a major ballet company (NYCB), 1956.[32] (See also: 1969)
First African-American singer to appear in a telecast opera:
Leontyne Price in
NBC's production of Tosca
1956
First African-American star of a nationwide network TV show:
Nat King Cole of The Nat King Cole Show,
NBC (See also: 1948)
First African-American woman to perform at a presidential inauguration: Opera singer
Marian Anderson at John F. Kennedy's inauguration[citation needed]
First African-American actress to star in her own television series where she did not play a domestic worker:
Diahann Carroll in Julia (see also: 1963)
First African American to appear by herself on the cover of Playboy:
Darine Stern (October issue)
1972
First African-American
superhero to star in own comic-book series:
Luke Cage,
Marvel Comics' Luke Cage, Hero for Hire #1 (June 1972).[43][Note 3] (See also: Lobo, 1965, and the Falcon, 1969)
First African-American interracial romantic kiss in a mainstream comics magazine: "The Men Who Called Him Monster", by writer
Don McGregor (See also: 1975) and artist Luis Garcia, in
Warren Publishing's black-and-white
horror-comics magazine Creepy #43 (Jan. 1972) (See also: 1975)[44]
First African-American model on the cover of American Vogue magazine:
Beverly Johnson
1975
First African-American interracial couple in a TV-series cast: The Jeffersons, actors
Franklin Cover (Caucasian) and
Roxie Roker (African-American) as Tom and Helen Willis, respectively; series creator:
Norman Lear
^While considered a network for regulatory reasons, CBS TV was viewable only locally in 1948. By 1956, CBS and other networks were viewable nationwide.
^At that time, nominations were announced in November of the year of release, instead of early the following year.
^
abcThe 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.
References
^Juguo, Zhang (2001). W. E. B. Du Bois: The Quest for the Abolition of the Color Line. Routledge.
ISBN978-0-415-93087-1
^Herbst, Philip H (1997). The Color of Words: An Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Ethnic Bias in the United States. Intercultural Press. p. 57.
ISBN978-1-877864-97-1
^O'Neale, Sondra (2002).
"Hammon, Jupiter". In William L Andrews; Frances Smith Foster; Trudier Harris (eds.). The Concise Oxford Companion to African American Literature. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
ISBN9780195138832.
Archived from the original on April 7, 2015. Retrieved October 27, 2015.
^Susan Love Brown (2006). "Economic Life". In Paul Finkelman (ed.). Encyclopedia of African American History, 1619–1895: from the colonial period to the age of Frederick Douglass. Vol. 1. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 121–129.
ISBN0195167775.
^Brooks, Tim, and Dick Spottswood. Lost Sounds: Blacks and the Birth of the Recording Industry, 1890–1919. University of Illinois Press, 2004. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/10.5406/j.ctt2jcc81. Accessed 8 Oct. 2020.(pp. 254–258)
^Matt Baker at the
Grand Comics Database.
Archived from the original on April 24, 2015. Artist credits were not routinely given in comic books in the 1940s, so comprehensive credits are very difficult if not impossible to ascertain.
^Smith, Catherine Parsons (2008).
William Grant Still. American composers. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. p. 68.
ISBN978-0-252-03322-3.
Archived from the original on October 13, 2013. Retrieved June 24, 2013.
^
abOtfinoski, Steven (2010).
"Dandridge, Dorothy". African Americans in the Performing Arts. A to Z of African Americans (Revised ed.). New York: Facts On File. pp. 51–52.
ISBN978-1-4381-2855-9. Retrieved June 26, 2013.
^Cosham, Ralph H. (November 25, 1963).
"Negro Comes to Television; Sponsors Happy". Nashville Banner. United Press International. p. 29. Retrieved January 29, 2021 – via
Newspapers.com. …only one dramatic program features a Negro as a regular member of the cast. She is Cicely Tyson, who portrays a social worker in the new CBS series East Side, West Side.
^Hudson, David (n.d.).
"Black Cinema". GreenCine.com. Archived from
the original on July 7, 2011. Update of Hudson (June 10, 2003).
"SFBFF: Experience and Empowerment". Archived from
the original on July 7, 2011. Retrieved July 7, 2011. Note: Asian-American interracial marriage had previously been portrayed.
^The earliest known humorous interracial kiss was in the story "Home Cooking" in Premier Magazine's satirical comic book Nuts #1 (March 1954), per
its listing at the Grand Comics Database.
Archived from the original on October 12, 2013.
^"
Sammy's Visit".
All in the Family. Season 2. Episode 34. February 12, 1972. CBS. In the comedy All in the Family, at the last moment as a picture is taken, Sammy Davis, Jr., playing himself, chides the
bigoted but celebrity-fawning
Archie Bunker with a humorous kiss on the cheek.