Conference Agenda

Despite its inherent racism, late-19th century minstrelsy provided artistic and economic opportunities to African-Americans in show business. Especially after the Civil War, black musicians, composers, actors, dancers, acrobats, and other entertainers entered the minstrel business and soon also the Jubilee and Musical Theatre business, creating a broad-based black entertainment industry that influenced developments in entertainment through today. The ‘genuine’ African-American music business in general has yet to see a systematic exploration and analysis. This research is part of an ongoing digital humanities project on black artists of the late-19th century. Wallace King (1845-1903) was praised as “America’s Finest Tenor” in music critiques, who has performed together with famous singer / actor / composer Sam Lucas (1840-1916), for example in the first African-American Musical Theatre show “Out of Bondage” (1876). King had also performed with the Hyers Sisters as well as with the Georgia Minstrels, Callender’s Georgia Minstrels, and Haverly’s Colored Minstrels. After at least two concert tours to England, Wallace King came to Sydney, Australia, in 1893, where he was engaged as tenor at the Opera House, the Lyceum Theatre, at the Royal Standard Theatre, and other venues, and from 1895 through 1900 at the Tivoli Theatre in Sydney. In 1901-1902, King was engaged in and around Christ­church, New Zealand. Shortly after his return to the US, King became paralyzed and died on February 20, 1903. Based on extensive newspaper research via digital databases such as www.newspapers.com as well as via genealogy databases such as www.ancestry.com, this paper will present a rediscovery of King’s career. The paper will include a summary of concert tours, membership in music ensembles, musical repertoire performed by King, and a discussion of the reception of his performances.