African American Entertainers in Australia and New Zealand

Bill Egan is a Canberra (Australia) based independent researcher with a lifelong interest in jazz and African American culture.

“Extraordinary...meticulously researched...remarkable … This eminently readable saga reflects our changing attitudes to race and our acceptance of different and evolving forms of entertainment, and it perpetuates the memory of a legion of talented performers...heartily recommended”—Theatre Heritage, Inc.

• Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsPrefaceIntroduction1. In the Beginning2. African American Minstrels Arrive: Dueling Georgians3. The Fisk Jubilee Singers4. Further Adventures of the Jubilee Singers5. Charles B. Hicks Returns6. Orpheus McAdoo and the Return of the Fisks7. The Tivoli Era Starts8. The Return of Orpheus McAdoo and a Rival9. McAdoo and Curtis: The Battle Begins10. McAdoo Reigns Again11. Eva Taylor (Irene Gibbons) and Josephine Gassman12. This Sporting Life: Major Taylor13. George Sorlie and Cassie Walmer14. Big, Bad Jack Johnson15. The Lay of the Last Minstrel: Billy Kersands (1912)16. Throw the Switch to Vaudeville17. The Jazz Age (1923–1925)18. The Jazz Age (1926–1927)19. Sonny Clay’s Colored Idea (White Australia’s Darkest Hour)20. The Post-Clay Lean Years (1928–1934)21. The Norman Thomas Quintette and Ulysses S. Thompson22. Nina Mae McKinney23. 1937: The Harmony Kings and Bob Parrish24. 1938: Chris Gill, the Edwards Sisters, Chuck Richards and Peg Leg Bates25. Frankie Manning and the Lindy Hoppers (1938–1939)26. 1939: Radcliffe and Rodgers, Ada Brown, the Dancing Chefs, Chuck and Chuckles, the Mills Brothers27. Epilogue: 1940–1941 and AfterAppendix 1: African American Boxers Pre–World War IAppendix 2: African American Boxers Post–World War IAppendix 3: The Later Fisk Jubilee Singers, 1902–1936Appendix 4: MiscellaneaChapter NotesBibliographyIndex