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Griffin Sisters

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The Griffin Sisters , Emma (1874–1918) and Mabel (1877–1918) Griffin, were American vaudeville performers in the late 1800s and early 1900s who became entrepreneurs and social activists and opened one of the first booking agencies owned by Black women. They publicly spoke out by demanding higher wages and better working conditions for Black performers at a time when discrimination and racism were both common in the entertainment industry.

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85-600: The sisters were born in Louisville , Kentucky, Emma in 1874, and Mabel in 1877. Their mother, Blandina Montgomery Duncan, was a laundress who sometimes lived in other people's homes, their father Henry a laborer. They had two brothers, Henry and George. In 1894, Emma also began work doing laundry to earn extra income for the home. Average earnings for laundresses at that time was $ 1.00- $ 1.50 per week. The Griffin children and their mother lived with their maternal grandparents, Mary and George Montgomery. Their grandfather worked as

170-429: A "no-knock" search warrant which led to the killing of Breonna Taylor , a 26-year-old African-American woman. For months afterward, Taylor's family, members of the local community, and people around the world protested to demand that officers involved in the shooting be fired and criminally charged. These protests and demonstrations coincided and intertwined with the international George Floyd protests , as well as

255-543: A city-county merger . The official name of this consolidated city-county government is the Louisville/Jefferson ;County Metro Government, abbreviated to Louisville Metro. Despite the merger and renaming, the term "Jefferson County" continues to be used in some contexts in reference to Louisville Metro, particularly including the incorporated cities outside the " balance " which make up Louisville proper. The city's total consolidated population as of

340-564: A hostler at George Linderberger's Livery Stable. Emma and Mabel began singing in church, and studied music at Louisville's Black college, the Kentucky State Normal School. The family moved to Chicago in 1894, and the two young women got work performing at the recently opened Kohl and Middleton's Dime Museum. Dime Museums , popularized by PT Barnum , combined 'human oddities' like conjoined twins or armless people with entertainment and beauty pageants of attractive women. Emma

425-451: A block designated for whites. He was prosecuted and found guilty. The second case was planned to create a test case. William Warley , the president of the local chapter of the NAACP, tendered a purchase offer on a white block from Charles Buchanan, a white real estate agent. Warley also wrote a letter declaring his intention to build a house on that lot and reside there. With the understanding that

510-451: A center of breeding high-quality livestock throughout the 19th century. Ten thousand spectators watched the first Derby, which Aristides won. On March 27, 1890, the city was devastated and its downtown nearly destroyed when what scientists now estimate was an F4 tornado tore through as part of the middle Mississippi Valley tornado outbreak . It is estimated that between 74 and 120 people were killed and 200 were injured. The damage cost

595-534: A comment about Dudley's son, after which Dudley beat him up "$ 5,000 worth", according to Russell; Dudley was arrested and fined $ 1 and court costs, after which Russell sued him for $ 5,000. Other critics were less hesitant to praise Dudley's performance, and he is now credited with having brought "the street to the stage": "Dudley revitalized the Smart Set and made it into an enduring classic of the American popular stage." In

680-504: A decline in local manufacturing. The West End and older areas of the South End, in particular, began to decline economically as many local factories closed. In 1974, a major (F4) tornado hit Louisville as part of the 1974 Super Outbreak of tornadoes that struck 13 states. It covered 21 miles (34 km) and destroyed several hundred homes in the Louisville area, causing two deaths. Since

765-413: A duo with burlesque impresario Al Reeves . When the sisters began their Vaudeville career, it was still unusual for Black women to work as performers. Ninety-two per cent of Black women in 1900 were either working in agriculture or as domestic laborers; there were only 262 Black women in the U.S. who listed themselves on the census that year as entertainers. Black women were sometimes criticized in both

850-448: A month in the hospital. In 1915, Mabel had a stroke. Mabel and Emma gave up their booking agency, formed a traveling company with other women and went back on the road to help pay back their investors. They continued to receive rave reviews. But their health kept failing and medical and housing costs rose; in 1918, Black Chicago society hosted a benefit to raise money for them, attended by friends and luminaries like Mme CJ Walker , which

935-405: A more racially progressive city than other Southern cities, although only when black citizens accepted a lower status than white citizens. Many historians have referred to this "veil" of segregation as a "polite" racism . Historian George Wright stated that polite racism "often deluded both blacks and well-meaning whites into believing that real progress was being made in their city". For example, in

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1020-644: A result of the training camp. In 1929, Louisville completed the lock and dam in the Falls of the Ohio and the city began referring to itself as "where Northern enterprise and Southern hospitality meet". Between the industrial boom of that year and through the Great Depression , Louisville gained 15,000 new residents, about 3% of them black, most fleeing poverty in rural areas. Throughout January 1937, 19.17 inches (48.7 cm) of rain fell in Louisville, and by January 27,

1105-745: A second residence in Washington DC, and networked within Black society there. They sublet theaters for the performances they managed, with plans for creating their own theater, the Air Dome. Emma Griffin developed a reputation as "a figure that all managers of colored theaters, and booking agents will have to reckon with. " The sisters began management of the Alamon Theater in Indianapolis, Indiana, in April 1914, and

1190-533: A white woman something to make [her] about six hundred dollars per week, when for the same thing, the white manager would not give me fifty dollars. Let us look at all these things which are killing us every day. " In 1913, they signed on as performers with an emerging Black theater owner/producer, Sherman H. Dudley , whose vaudeville circuit would later set the stage for the Theater Owners Booking Association . (TOBA) With Dudley as an advisor,

1275-496: A year with high temperatures at or above 90 °F (32 °C). The mean annual temperature is 58.2 °F (14.6 °C), with an average annual snowfall of 12.7 inches (32 cm) and an average annual rainfall of 44.9 inches (1,140 mm). The wettest seasons are spring and summer, although rainfall is fairly constant year round. During the winter, particularly in January and February, several days of snow can be expected. January

1360-667: Is included in the Louisville–Elizabethtown–Madison, KY–IN Combined Statistical Area (CSA), which also includes the Elizabethtown, KY MSA, as well as the Madison, IN Micropolitan Statistical Area . The Louisville area is near several other urban areas, especially Frankfort, Kentucky (the state's capital); Cincinnati , Ohio (the two cities' metropolitan statistical areas almost border each other); Lexington, Kentucky ; Bowling Green, Kentucky ; Nashville, Tennessee ; and

1445-534: Is not uncommon, with occasional tornado outbreaks in the region. Winter typically brings a mix of rain, sleet, and snow, with occasional heavy snowfall and icing. Louisville averages 4.5 days with low temperatures dipping to 10 °F (−12 °C); the first and last freezes of the season on average fall on November   2 and April   5, respectively. Summer is typically hazy, hot, and humid with long periods of 90–100 °F (32–38 °C) temperatures and drought conditions at times. Louisville averages 38 days

1530-412: Is the coldest month, with a mean temperature of 34.9 °F (1.6 °C). July is the average hottest month with a mean of 79.3 °F (26.3 °C). The highest recorded temperature was 107 °F (42 °C), which last occurred on July 14, 1936, and the lowest recorded temperature was −22 °F (−30 °C) on January 19, 1994. In 2012, Louisville had the fourth-hottest summer on record, with

1615-461: Is the correct pronunciation for the name of the much smaller Louisville, Colorado ). There are also acceptable hybrid ways of saying the name, such as / ˈ l uː ə v ɪ l / LOO -ə-vil , a mixture of the first and second pronunciations. The dominant local pronunciation, the LOO -ə-vəl pronunciation is widely practiced and accepted. Some even refer to it as the "only" correct way to pronounce

1700-488: The 2000 census , Louisville had a population of 256,231, down from the 1990 census population of 269,063. Due to the city-county merger that occurred in 2003, which expanded the city limits, the city's population increased to 597,337 at the 2010 census count. Louisville is the largest city in Kentucky, with 17.1% of the state's total population as of 2010; the balance's percentage was 13.8%. The 2007 demographic breakdown for

1785-458: The 2020 census was 782,969. However, the balance total of 633,045 excludes other incorporated places within the county and is the population listed in most sources and national rankings. The Louisville-Jefferson County, KY-IN Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) includes Louisville-Jefferson County and 12 surrounding counties , seven in Kentucky and five in Southern Indiana . As of 2023,

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1870-528: The Black Lives Matter movement and a broader movement of racial unrest . As a result of the incident, the police chief was fired and four officers received federal charges, but no significant systemic changes were made. On April 10, 2023, a mass shooting occurred at the Old National Bank , killing five people, and injuring nine others. The suspect, who was a bank employee and who officials said

1955-585: The C-46 Commando cargo plane, among other aircraft. In 1946, the factory was sold to International Harvester , which began large-scale production of tractors and agricultural equipment. In 1950, the Census Bureau reported Louisville's population as 84.3% white and 15.6% black. Throughout the 1940s, there were more black police officers than any other Southern city, though they were allowed to patrol only black districts. This, in part, made Louisville seem like

2040-478: The Falls of the Ohio . Louisville is an Upper South city located in a Southern state that is influenced by both Southern and Midwestern culture . It is sometimes referred to as either one of the northernmost Southern cities or as one of the southernmost Northern cities in the United States. Louisville is located in Kentucky's outer Bluegrass region . Its development has been influenced by its location on

2125-578: The Indianapolis, Indiana area (especially Columbus, Indiana , to the north of Southern Indiana). The downtown business district of Louisville is located immediately south of the Ohio River and southeast of the Falls of the Ohio. Major roads extend outwards from the downtown area in all directions. The airport is about 6.75 miles (10.86 km) south of the downtown area. The industrial sections of town are to

2210-526: The Monogram Theater, the Indianapolis Crown Garden and other venues. An audience favorite was an act in which they both crossdressed as men, Emma as President Taft and Mabel as his conversation partner. "The amazing thing about their work," wrote one reviewer, "is the originality and unlikeliness of all they do." In her newspaper letters and interviews, Emma continued to speak out about

2295-594: The Southeast , and the 27th-most-populous city in the United States . By land area, it is the country's 24th-largest city , although by population density, it is the 265th most dense city. Louisville is the historical county seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County , on the Indiana border. Named after King Louis XVI of France, Louisville was founded in 1778 by George Rogers Clark , making it one of

2380-642: The Southern National Bank building. The buildings of West Main Street in downtown Louisville have the largest collection of cast iron facades of anywhere outside of New York's SoHo neighborhood. Since the mid-20th century, Louisville has in some ways been divided into three sides of town: the West End, the South End, and the East End. In 2003, Bill Dakan, a University of Louisville geography professor, said that

2465-641: The Whitman sisters ; these women supported each other and interacted socially at society events of Black leaders. Soon, they were making enough money from their agency and their own performances to help support their family as well as donate to social organizations in Washington and Chicago. In 1914–15, they earned the 21st century equivalent of approximately $ 200,000 per year. The sisters remained unmarried and without children throughout their lives. Historian Michelle R. Scott noted that although this gave their audiences

2550-657: The "S. H. Dudley's Georgia Minstrels", who were performing in Galveston ; later that same year he was on tour with P. T. Wright 's Nashville Students Company. He gained a reputation for writing popular coon songs (including a hit song called "Mr. Coon, You'se Too Black For Me"), and performed with a number of minstrel comedians in shows in the same vein, including A Holiday in Coonville (his own production) and Coontown Golf Club (a production by Tom Brown and Sam Cousins ). When he toured with Tom Brown and Billy Kersands in 1902, it

2635-679: The 1980s, many of the city's urban neighborhoods have been revitalized into areas popular with young professionals and college students. The greatest change has occurred along the Bardstown Road/Baxter Avenue and Frankfort Avenue corridors as well as the Old Louisville neighborhood. In recent years, such change has also occurred in the East Market District (NuLu). Since the late 1990s, Downtown has experienced significant residential, tourist and retail growth, including

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2720-403: The 287,012 households, 29.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.2% were married couples living together, 14.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.2% were not families. About 30.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.37 and the average family size

2805-609: The Black and white press for performing onstage, as it was looked upon as immoral. In the early 1900s, the sisters began working for the Western Vaudeville Managers Association ,(WVMA) one of three major booking agencies. Considered 'real vaudeville' these agencies provided more security and steady work for entertainers but took a substantial cut of performer's salaries. Emma and Mabel, billed as "Character change artists" and "entrancing vocalists", performed all over

2890-628: The East End has been seen as middle and upper class . According to the Greater Louisville Association of Realtors, the area with the lowest median home sales price is west of Interstate 65, in the West and South Ends. The middle range of home sales prices are between Interstates 64 and 65 in the South and East Ends, and the highest median home sales price are north of Interstate 64 in the East End. Immigrants from Southeast Asia tend to settle in

2975-576: The Griffin Sisters Theatrical Agency opened in Chicago in December 1913 as the “first and only colored women’s theatrical booking agency in the United States.” The agency also offered training in vaudeville performance, negotiated for higher salaries for Black performers and found jobs for domestic workers and stagehands. The sisters called on Black investors to invest in their agency, set up

3060-463: The Louisville ordinance made it illegal for him to live there, Warley withheld payment, setting in motion a breach of contract suit by Buchanan. By 1917 the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear the case of Buchanan v. Warley . The court struck down the Louisville residential segregation ordinance, ruling that it violated the Fourteenth Amendment 's due process clause. In 1917, shortly after

3145-526: The MSA had a population of 1,365,557, the 43rd largest in the nation . The correct pronunciation of the name of Louisville is heatedly debated. The three most popular pronunciations are, in order: All three are generally considered acceptable; the Louisville Visitor Center says that only the rare / ˈ l uː ɪ s v ɪ l / LOO -iss-vil is completely unacceptable (though it

3230-633: The Majestic Theater in Washington, D.C. in June 1914.They also sublet the Pekin theater in Chicago and other theaters across the country to help establish their own vaudeville circuit. As Black female entrepreneurs in Vaudeville, they joined a small group of other Black women entertainers and entrepreneurs who actively worked for higher pay, greater autonomy and better conditions, which included Sisieretta Jones and

3315-403: The Ohio River crested at a record 57.15 feet (17.42 m), almost 30 feet (9.1 m) above flood stage. These events triggered the "Great Flood of 1937" , which lasted into early February. The flood submerged 60–70 percent of the city, caused complete loss of power for four days, and forced the evacuation of 175,000 or 230,000 residents, depending on sources. Ninety people died as a result of

3400-428: The Ohio River, which spurred Louisville's growth from an isolated camp site into a major shipping port. Much of the city is located on a very wide and flat floodplain surrounded by hill country on all sides. Much of the area was swampland that had to be drained as the city grew. In the 1840s, most creeks were rerouted or placed in canals to prevent flooding and disease outbreaks. Areas generally east of I-65 are above

3485-540: The Smart Set for years with great success, though one critic, Sylvester Russell (a writer for the Indianapolis Freeman ), was hard on him from the beginning, presumably because he felt that Dudley's minstrel show background made him unworthy; in 1906, Russell referred to him as "this loathsome comedian who hails from the Lone Star State." It seems that Dudley took all this in stride until 1911, when Russell made

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3570-663: The South End, while immigrants from Eastern Europe settle in the East End. Louisville has a humid subtropical climate ( Köppen Cfa ), typical of the Upper South , and is located in USDA plant hardiness zones 6b and 7a. Springlike conditions typically begin in mid-to-late March, summer from mid-to-late-May to late September, with fall in the October–November period. Seasonal extremes in both temperature and precipitation are not uncommon during early spring and late fall; severe weather

3655-483: The United States' entry into World War I , Louisville was selected as the site of Camp Zachary Taylor. Camp Taylor was one of the country's largest World War I training camps. It was home of the 84th Infantry Division and trained over 150,000 men by the end of war, including F. Scott Fitzgerald . The camp was closed in 1921. Many of the buildings and infrastructure in the Camp Taylor neighborhood of Louisville are there as

3740-491: The United States, including Alaska, earning from $ 50 to $ 100 per week. Like other Black performers, they did not earn as much as their white counterparts, and faced discrimination in lodging, travel and bookings. The sisters, especially Emma, used the press and the courts to speak out about the treatment they received. In San Francisco in 1905, they filed suit against a white manager who fired them, alleging racial discrimination. The manager claimed he let them go because their act

3825-452: The Washington, D.C. area). After 1917 Dudley devoted himself to producing black musicals, including updated Smart Set productions. He sold his theaters around 1930 (due to economic forces "beyond his control" ), and retired to a farm in Maryland where he bred thoroughbred racehorses. In 1903 Dudley married Alberta Ormes, with whom he'd been performing since at least 1901, and was on tour

3910-530: The West End, west of 7th Street and north of Algonquin Parkway, is "a euphemism for the African American part of town" although he points out that this belief is not entirely true, and most African Americans no longer live in areas where more than 80% of residents are black. Nevertheless, he says the perception is still strong. The South End has long had a reputation as a white, working-class part of town, while

3995-493: The addition of major sports complexes KFC Yum! Center , Lynn Family Stadium and Louisville Slugger Field , conversion of waterfront industrial sites into Waterfront Park , openings of varied museums (see Museums, galleries and interpretive centers below), and the refurbishing of the former Galleria into the bustling entertainment complex Fourth Street Live! , which opened in 2004. On March 13, 2020, four plainclothed officers from Louisville Metro Police Department executed

4080-502: The basis for the Theater Owners Booking Association (T.O.B.A.). His circuit was advertised in a weekly column published in black newspapers, "What's What on the Dudley's Circuit", and by 1914 it included over twenty theaters, "all owned or operated by blacks and as far south as Atlanta." T.O.B.A. was founded by people associated with Dudley's circuit, and while the organization was white-owned it had black regional managers, including Dudley (for

4165-495: The city Jim Crow practices were not maintained by law so much as by custom. Similar to many other older American cities, Louisville began to experience a movement of people and businesses to the suburbs in the 1960s and 1970s. Middle class residents used newly built freeways and interstate highways to commute to work, moving into more distant but newer housing. Because of tax laws, businesses found it cheaper to build new rather than renovate older buildings. Economic changes included

4250-531: The city $ 2.5 million (equivalent to $ 69 million in 2019). Established in 1896, Neighborhood House Louisville was the first settlement movement house in the state. Following the Civil War and the Emancipation Proclamation, freed slaves settled in a neighborhood of Louisville called Little Africa, nicknamed "the gateway to the South," near the present neighborhood of Park DuValle . The neighborhood

4335-458: The desires of white audiences for 'the exotic other'. As talented singers, comedians and dancers, they acted as lures to draw audiences in to see the rest of the show. In 1895, Emma and Mabel were hired as chorus girls with John Isham 's The Octaroons, a travelling vaudeville show of 50 Black and mixed-race performers. They worked with the Octaroons for two years. In 1898, they moved on to work as

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4420-526: The discrimination that black performers faced and the need for Black self-determination in entertainment. “[Colored acts] are not wanted in white theaters," she said, "and white agencies tell us to our faces that they cannot use us and on every side the doors are shut in our face. It is time that we pull together and work for ourselves and [let] the white man see that we can do it without him.” When white ' coon shouters ' approached her to learn how to better perform their songs, Emma turned them down, denouncing

4505-477: The entire Louisville Metro area was 74.8% White (71.7% non-Hispanic), 22.2% African American, 0.6% Native American, 2.0% Asian, 0.1% Hawaiian or Pacific islander, 1.4% other, and 1.6% multiracial. About 2.9% of the total population was identified as Hispanic of any race. During the same year, the area of premerger Louisville consisted 60.1% White, 35.2% African American, 1.9% Asian, 0.2% Native American, and 3.0% other, with 2.4% identified as Hispanic of any race. Of

4590-430: The falls. By 1828, the population had grown to 7,000 and Louisville became an incorporated city. Early Louisville was a major shipping port and enslaved African Americans worked in a variety of associated trades. The city was often a point of escape for fugitive slaves to the north, as Indiana was a free state. During this point in the 1850s, the city was growing and vibrant, but that also came with negativity. It

4675-602: The first black operated vaudeville circuit and led the way for what became the Theatre Owners Booking Association (T.O.B.A.). Reportedly, Dudley was born in 1872 in Dallas , Texas (some sources list his year of birth as around 1870 or 1873 ), "of humble parentage". A jockey early in his youth, he turned to theater and gained a reputation by singing in a medicine show on a Dallas street corner, singing " Dese Bones G'wine Rise Again ". By 1897 he had his own show,

4760-485: The first black vaudeville circuit, initially around Washington and Virginia; he had bought his first theater, in Baltimore, in 1912. In August 1912, he played his last season with the Smart Set, from then on devoting himself to his "circuit of theaters." By 1916 the "Dudley Circuit" had extended into the south and Midwest, enabling black entertainers to secure longer term contracts for an extended season; his circuit provided

4845-463: The first one was "correct". LUUV -əl is a less common, particularly rural way of saying the name. While it is considered acceptable, it is not as widely heard as the others. The history of Louisville spans hundreds of years, and has been influenced by the area's geography and proximity to the Falls of the Ohio River . Since the Falls created a barrier to river travel, settlements grew at this portage point. The first European settlement in

4930-506: The flood plain, and are composed of gently rolling hills. The southernmost parts of Jefferson County are in the scenic and largely undeveloped Knobs region , which is home to Jefferson Memorial Forest . The Louisville-Jefferson County, KY-IN Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), the 43rd largest in the United States, includes the Kentucky county of Jefferson ( coterminous with Louisville Metro), plus twelve outlying counties—seven in Kentucky and five in Southern Indiana . Louisville's MSA

5015-562: The flood. It led to dramatic changes in where residents lived. Today, the city is protected by numerous flood walls . After the flood, the areas of high elevation in the eastern part of the city had decades of residential growth. Louisville was a center for factory war production during World War II. In May 1942, the U.S. government assigned the Curtiss-Wright Aircraft Company, a war plant located at Louisville's air field, for wartime aircraft production. The factory produced

5100-521: The home of boxer Muhammad Ali , the Kentucky Derby , Kentucky Fried Chicken , the University of Louisville and its Cardinals , Louisville Slugger baseball bats, and Fortune 500 company Humana . Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport , the city's main commercial airport, hosts UPS's worldwide hub. Since 2003, Louisville's borders have been the same as those of Jefferson County, after

5185-478: The illusion that they were 'romantically available, it also allowed them greater ability to control their lives. They kept a rented residence in Chicago, but used black newspapers The Chicago Defender and the Indianapolis Freeman as their mailing address. Throughout their career, they sent money home to their mother and grandmother. The sisters suffered from respiratory problems throughout their career. In 1914, while performing onstage, Emma collapsed and spent

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5270-520: The late nineteenth and early twentieth century as an individual performer, a composer of ragtime songs, and as a member and later owner of various minstrel shows including the Smart Set Company . Dudley is also notable as one of the first African Americans to combine business with theater, by starting a black theater circuit, in which theaters were owned or operated by African Americans and provided entertainment by and for African Americans. He created

5355-562: The latter by his understudy, Salem Tutt Whitney ; their 1909-10 production, His Honor, the Barber was written by a white playwright, Edwin Handford , with music written for the show by black composers James Tim Brymn , Chris Smith , and James Burris . The show opened in New Jersey for a mixed audience, and by the time of the final run Aida Overton Walker had joined the cast. By this time, Dudley

5440-406: The local indigenous population, but they moved out by the late 1780s. In 1803, explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark organized their expedition across America in the town of Clarksville, Indiana at the present-day Falls of the Ohio opposite Louisville, Kentucky. The city's early growth was influenced by the fact that river boats had to be unloaded and moved downriver before reaching

5525-577: The name of the city. LOO -ee-vil , while respecting the proper pronunciation of the name of the French king who gave Louisville its name, is significantly less common among locals. It is, however, frequently used by those not from the area. In 2001, local journalist and historian George H. Yater noted that older natives tended toward the second pronunciation, and that both the first and second pronunciations were used equally in local radio and television broadcasting; however, new personalities were taught that

5610-484: The next Smart Set show, The Black Politician (1906), Dudley got to use his jockey skills riding a horse on stage, and when in October 1906 a donkey named Shamus O'Brien was added (though another source lists the donkey's name as "Patrick" ), the donkey and Dudley received high praise from critics, even from Russell. In 1909, the Smart Set split up in a Northern and a Southern Smart Set, the first being directed by Dudley and

5695-502: The oldest cities west of the Appalachians . With the nearby Falls of the Ohio as the only major obstruction to river traffic between the upper Ohio River and the Gulf of Mexico , the settlement first grew as a portage site. It was the founding city of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad , which grew into a 6,000-mile (9,700 km) system across 13 states. Today, the city is known as

5780-484: The south and west of the airport, while most of the residential areas of the city are to the southwest, south, and east of downtown. In 2010, the 22,000-seat KFC Yum! Center was completed. Twelve of the 15 buildings in Kentucky over 300 feet (91 m) are located in downtown Louisville. Another primary business and industrial district is located in the suburban area east of the city on Hurstbourne Parkway. Louisville's late 19th- and early 20th-century development

5865-477: The stage for Black female entrepreneurs and performers who followed them including five women with TOBA who owned theaters. Their activism opened the gates for later celebrities like Bessie Smith and Ethel Waters, who continued to push for better conditions for Black performers. Louisville, Kentucky Louisville is the most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky , sixth-most populous city in

5950-491: The temperature rising up to 106 °F (41 °C) in July and the June all-time monthly record high temperature being broken on two consecutive days. As the city exemplifies the urban heat island effect, temperatures in commercial areas and in the industrialized areas along interstates are often higher than in the suburbs, often as much as 5 °F (2.8 °C). Between 1970 and 2000, Louisville lost population each decade. As of

6035-619: The vicinity of modern-day Louisville was on Corn Island in 1778 by Col. George Rogers Clark, credited as the founder of Louisville. Several landmarks in the community are named after him. Two years later, in 1780, the Virginia General Assembly approved the town charter of Louisville. The city was named in honor of King Louis XVI of France, whose soldiers were then aiding Americans in the Revolutionary War . Early residents lived in forts to protect themselves from raids from

6120-540: The war was over. The first Kentucky Derby was held on May 17, 1875, at the Louisville Jockey Club track (later renamed Churchill Downs ). The Derby was originally shepherded by Meriwether Lewis Clark Jr. , the grandson of William Clark of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, and grandnephew of the city's founder George Rogers Clark. Horse racing had a strong tradition in Kentucky, whose Inner Bluegrass Region had been

6205-464: The white appropriation of Black culture in coon songs which were popular then and played off racist stereotypes of Black people. "White men and women are browning up, blacking up and turning up, and our colored men are training them to do the colored people’s work.”she said. "I, Miss Emma Griffin, have had many big time white women to ask me to teach them how to do a coon song as I do. They have offered me much money, but I have refused, for I never teach

6290-482: Was 2.97. The age distribution is 24.3% under the age of 18, 8.9% from 18 to 24, 30.4% from 25 to 44, 22.8% from 45 to 64, and 13.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 91.60 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.60 males. Sherman H. Dudley Sherman Houston Dudley (1872 – March 1, 1940) was an African-American vaudeville performer and theatre entrepreneur. He gained notability in

6375-523: Was a major stronghold of Union forces , which kept Kentucky firmly in the Union. By the end of the war, the city of Louisville itself had not been attacked, although skirmishes and battles, including the battles of Perryville and Corydon , took place nearby. After the war, returning Confederate veterans largely took political control of the city, leading to the jibe that Louisville joined the Confederacy after

6460-441: Was billed as 'the first benefit with moving pictures.' But Mabel became ill again, then 11 weeks later, on August 28, 1918, Emma died "in her sister's arms" of bronchitis. Emma's obituary made the front page of The New York Age , where she was praised for her talent and her ability to make people laugh onstage, as well as for her activism in politics as a suffragette and her campaigns for better conditions for Black performers. She

6545-647: Was buried in Lincoln Cemetery , Chicago. Existing sources do not mention Mabel's date of death or place of burial. Historians have noted the importance of The Griffin Sisters as both performers and businesswomen. "Despite the dominance of white men in the American entertainment industry," wrote Michelle R. Scott, "the Griffin Sisters’ entrepreneurial efforts represent a monumental moment in black female agency and business acumen in American vaudeville theater." They set

6630-580: Was clear that he was a popular, well-known artist in the South, and was billed as "the Lone-Star comedian". By 1903, he received star billing. In the summer of 1904 he left that company and moved to Chicago to take over the leading role in Gus Hill 's Smart Set Company after the death of Tom McIntosh , performing in the show A Southern Enchantment . In 1904 he also opened a cafe and bar on State Street in Chicago with boxer Jack Johnson. Dudley performed with

6715-456: Was described as a "thriving community" by the 1920s, and declined between the 1940s and 1950s. In 1914, the city of Louisville passed a racially based residential zoning code, following Baltimore, Atlanta, and a handful of cities in the Carolinas. The NAACP challenged the ordinance in two cases. Two weeks after the ordinance enacted, an African-American named Arthur Harris moved into a house on

6800-416: Was described as darker skinned, shorter and 'more voluptuous'; Mabel was tall and svelte with 'hair slightly kinked and dyed a beautiful antique gold hue". Both sisters were relatively light skinned and able to present as 'racially ambiguous. ' though throughout their careers they declared their 'race pride' in being Black women. Typical of dime museum shows and vaudeville of that time, the sisters satisfied

6885-497: Was livestreaming the rampage, was killed by the police after exchanging fire with them. Louisville and Jefferson County have a combined area of 397.68 square miles (1,030.0 km ), of which 380.46 square miles (985.4 km ) is land and 17.23 square miles (44.6 km ) (4.33%) is covered by water. Louisville is southeasterly situated along the border between Kentucky and Indiana , the Ohio River , in north-central Kentucky at

6970-516: Was poor and contained 'objectional content.' The following year in the same city, they were attacked and physically ejected from a bar by the saloonkeeper because of their color; the San Francisco Call and Post covered the difficulties they had getting their case heard by a judge. In 1910, they moved back to Chicago as a home base and began performing primarily for Black audiences, writing their own material. They performed to rave reviews at

7055-493: Was spurred by three large suburban parks built at the edges of the city in 1890. The city's architecture contains a blend of old and new. The Old Louisville neighborhood is the largest historic preservation district solely featuring Victorian homes and buildings in the United States; it is also the third-largest district containing such architectural distinctions in the United States. Many modern skyscrapers are located downtown, as well as older preserved structures, such as

7140-476: Was the center of planning, supplies, recruiting, and transportation for numerous campaigns, especially in the Western Theater . Ethnic tensions rose, and on August 6, 1855, known as " Bloody Monday ", Protestant mobs attacked German and Irish Catholic neighborhoods on election day, resulting in 22 deaths and widespread property damage. Then by 1861, the civil war had broken out. During the Civil War , Louisville

7225-534: Was widely known as the "Lone Star Comedian" and had begun to expand his business ventures, moving into theater in an attempt to have a black-owned and operated string of venues around the United States, a dream of his since at least 1907. By about 1910 Dudley was based in Washington D.C., where he served as general manager and treasurer of the Colored Actors' Union . In 1911 he set up S. H. Dudley Theatrical Enterprises, and began buying and leasing theaters to develop

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