Black Performance and Cultural Criticism Valerie Lee and E. Patrick Johnson, Series Editors Seniors_Book4print.indb 1 5/28/2009 11:30:56 AM Seniors_Book4print.indb 2 5/28/2009 11:30:56 AM BEYOND LIFT EVERY VOICE AND SING The Culture of Uplift, Identity, and Politics in Black Musical Theater • Paula Marie Seniors The Ohio State University Press Columbus Seniors_Book4print.indb 3 5/28/2009 11:30:56 AM Copyright © 2009 by The Ohio State University. All rights reserved. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Seniors, Paula Marie. Beyond lift every voice and sing : the culture of uplift, identity, and politics in black musical theater / Paula Marie Seniors. p. cm. — (Black performance and cultural criticism) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-0-8142-1100-7 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN-10: 0-8142-1100-3 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. African Americans in musical theater—History. 2. Musical theater—United States—History. 3. Johnson, James Weldon, 1871–1938. 4. Johnson, J. Rosamond (John Rosamond), 1873–1954. 5. Cole, Bob, 1868–1911. I. Title. ML1711.S46 2009 792.6089'96073—dc22 2008048102 This book is available in the following editions: Cloth (ISBN 978-0-8142-1100-7) CD-ROM (ISBN 978-0-8142-9198-6) Cover design by Laurence Nozik. Type set in Adobe Sabon. Text design by Jennifer Shoffey Forsythe. Printed by Thomson-Shore, Inc. The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the Ameri- can National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials. ANSI Z39.48-1992. 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Seniors_Book4print.indb 4 5/28/2009 11:30:56 AM This book is dedicated to my scholar activist parents AUDREY PROCTOR SENIORS CLARENCE HENRY SENIORS AND TO MIss PARK SENIORS Their life lessons and love nurtured me. My parents modeled their activism after the quintessential African American scholar activist PAUL ROBESON gave me his name, and educated me by example about the importance of African American and ethnic studies, history, culture, learning, knowledge, and scholarship. I dedicate this book to my parents and Park with the sincerest and purest love and admiration. Seniors_Book4print.indb 5 5/28/2009 11:30:57 AM Seniors_Book4print.indb 6 5/28/2009 11:30:57 AM C ON T EN ts • List of Illustrations ix Acknowledgments xi Introduction 3 Chapter 1 The Origins of the Cole and Johnson Musical Theater Team 11 Chapter 2 Cole and Johnson’s Social and Political Thought: The Case of Shoo Fly Regiment and the Spanish-American War 39 Chapter 3 Theatrical Imaginings: Cole and Johnson’s The Shoo Fly Regiment 71 Chapter 4 The Red Moon: The Interconnections between Theater and History, the Black and Native Americanization Program at Hampton Institute 97 Chapter 5 Cole and Johnson and the Gibson Gal: Gender, Race, and Uplift 159 Epilogue 189 Notes 191 Bibliography 235 Index 271 Seniors_Book4print.indb 7 5/28/2009 11:30:57 AM Seniors_Book4print.indb 8 5/28/2009 11:30:57 AM I LLU st R at ION S • Figure 1. J. Rosamond Johnson, James Weldon Johnson, and Bob Cole 2 Figure 2. Bob Cole, James Weldon Johnson, and J. Rosamond Johnson 10 Figure 3. Bob Cole and family 12 Figure 4. Bob Cole, pehaps in his early twenties 13 Figure 5. James Weldon Johnson, Atlanta, n.d. Possibly 1887–1889 21 Figure 6. Cole and Johnson, Shoo Fly Regiment postcard, April 15, 1907 32 Figure 7. Shoo Fly Regiment sheet music 38 Figure 8. Shoo Fly Regiment and the Threat of Insurrection 62 Figure 9. “Civilization Begins at Home” 65 Figure 10. Siren Nevarro, Grizelle, The Filipino Dancer 66 Figure 11. Theodore Pankey, Lieutenant Dixon 66 Figure 12. Bob Cole and J. Rosamond Johnson in Shoo Fly Regiment 70 Figure 13. The Women’s Class of Atlanta University, 1894 76 Figure 14. The Red Moon sheet music 96 Figure 15. Amelia Perry Pride, Hampton graduate, 1879 105 Figure 16. Georgiana Washington, Hampton graduate, 1882 105 Figure 17. Abbie Mitchell circa 1898 147 Figure 18. The Red Moon sheet music 158 Figure 19. Bessie Tribble 163 Figure 20. Andrew Tribble 163 Figure 21. Ada Overton Walker and George Walker 164 Figure 22. Bob Cole and Stella Wiley 165 Figure 23. James Weldon Johnson and Grace Nail Johnson 165 Figure 24. Nora Johnson and Baby Mildred 166 Figure 25. Gertrude Townsend Robertson 166 Figure 26. Grace Nail Johnson as the Gibson Gal in Nicaragua 169 Figure 27. Grace Nail Johnson in “Men’s Clothing” 173 Figure 28. Ada Overton Walker and the Gibson Gal 180 Figure 29. “Aida [sic] Overton Walker in Vaudeville,” March 26, 1910 180 ix Seniors_Book4print.indb 9 5/28/2009 11:30:57 AM Seniors_Book4print.indb 10 5/28/2009 11:30:57 AM ACKNOWLEDG M EN ts • I WOULD LIKE TO thank the New York City opera diva Dr. Linda Elliott and Dr. Susan Hayes of New York University for encouraging me to pursue the master’s degree and the PhD at a incredibly difficult turning point in my life, when I was grieving for the death of my cherished mommy and strug- gling with the transition from dancer and singer and wrestling with moving beyond a performance career. They provided comfort, unbending support and guidance, and compelled me to take the leap into academia. Miss Kharen Fulton, Director of Graduate Admissions at Emory University, steered me through this transition and I count her as a true friend. I cannot express how much these women mean to me, how much I cherish their friendship, or how grateful I am to them for guiding me at that sorrowful juncture in my life. The Department of Ethnic Studies at University of California, San Diego pro- vided a rich environment for scholarship. They also gave me travel grants, a research grant, and a dissertation fellowship. I thank the department whole- heartedly for helping me to make a smooth transition from dancer and singer to scholar, no small feat indeed. I must express my gratitude to Sandy Crooms, Senior Editor at Ohio State University Press, who proved one of the most supportive, understand- ing, patient, and kind persons in this whole process, and she is a dog person! What else can you ask for in an editor? I am so thankful that I met her and that she accepted Beyond Lift Every Voice and Sing, although by the time I finished with the corrections, I had written two books. Thank you, Valerie Lee and E. Patrick Johnson, editors of Black Perfor- mance and Cultural Criticism Series, for including my book in their series. I also must thank Eugene O’Connor, the in-house editor, and Benjamin Shriver, the copy editor for The Ohio State University Press. I must express my appre- ciation to Dr. Jenny Greene, who through a casual conversation let me know she knew Dr. Jewel Plummer Cobb, the niece of Bob Cole. She graciously xi Seniors_Book4print.indb 11 5/28/2009 11:30:57 AM xii ~ Acknowledgments introduced me to her, thus making this a richer study. I am indebted to Dr. Jewel Plummer Cobb for her munificence of spirit and candor, for inviting me into her home, sitting for interviews, and allowing me access to her price- less archives on Bob Cole. I am ever grateful to the two anonymous readers who recommended Beyond Lift Every Voice and Sing for publication. They offered a critical, thoughtful, and erudite analysis of the manuscript that led to its transformation. Heath Renfroe proved invaluable as a friend, scholar, and editor as he read the manuscript, gave me thoughtful intellectual cri- tiques, and helped me to craft the book. Beyond Lift Every Voice and Sing began as a dissertation, and my com- mittee remained an extraordinary one that included Dr. George Lipsitz, Dr. Ramon Gutierrez, Dr. Ross Frank, Professor George Lewis, Dr. Benetta Jules Rosette, and Dr. Jane Rhodes. After reading Telling Histories: Black Women Historians in the Ivory Tower, a must read for all African American scholars and graduates students, I realize how truly amazing they are, for they gave me boundless support for my research and the dissertation. My mentors, Dr. Ramon Gutierrez, Dr. Ross Frank, Dr. George Lipsitz, and Professor George Lewis, provided kindness and constant guidance over the years and I am truly grateful to them. Ramon and Ross read the book proposal, gave me comments, and aided me in my pursuit of the coveted book contract. I am thankful to Dr. Benetta Jules Rosette, who mentored me and whose Arts, Culture, and Knowledge group, including my friends and colleagues Dr. Ricardo Guthrie, Dr. Cristin McVey, J. R. Osborn, Dr. Jonathan Markovitz, Lea Marie Ruiz, Dr. Francesca Castaldi, and Mylene Ribadeniera, offered an intellectual environment that sustained me as we met weekly, ate pizza and cookies, and assessed the manuscript. I am also grateful to Dr. Jack Allison, Dr. John Gilbert, and Dr. Pina Mozzanni of New York University, whom I met while pursuing the master’s degree in vocal performance. Drs. Allison and Gilbert encouraged me to pursue my subject, black composers of musical theater. I am ever indebted to Dr. Kelly Wyatt for introducing me to a wide array of African American composers. Dr. Michael Truong of the University of California, Merced, Ivonne Avila, Dr. Katrina Bledsoe, the talented filmmaker Adriene Hughes of UC San Diego, actress Verna Hampton, Dr. Charlotte Houston, Ray Zenick, Kharen Fulton, Sharon McFarland, Angelo Adkins, Paul Crutchfield, Pat Garruba, Nadine Saxton, and my aunt Doris Proctor proved to be a great and sup- portive family, and I love them all for bringing brilliance into my life and sustaining me through graduate school and beyond.