The 1920's brought the second great era of musicals that were written by, staged by, and starring African-American theater artists to Broadway. In this episode I profile these brilliant creators and stars including Eubie Blake & Noble Sissle, Flournoy Miller & Aurbry Lyles, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, and their musicals -- "Shuffle Along", "Runnin' Wild", "Blackbirds of 1929", "Hot Chocolates" and more. It also includes a brief history of that great African-American/Irish-American co-creation -- Tap Dancing.
And featuring music by The Paragon Ragtime Orchestra -- for more music from this era check out their terrific "Black Manhattan" series of recordings.