Adrienne Wartts, Author at • Page 4 of 4

Academic Historian

Adrienne N. Wartts received her M.A. in American Culture Studies, with an emphasis in African American Studies, from Washington University in St. Louis. She is an adjunct professor of film studies at Webster University. As a contributing writer for Jerry Jazz Musician magazine, she has interviewed Rick Coleman, author of Blue Monday: Fats Domino and the Lost Dawn of Rock ‘N’ Roll and Elizabeth Pepin, author of Harlem of the West: The San Francisco Fillmore Jazz Era. Adrienne is the recipient of the 2009 Norman Mailer Writers Colony Scholarship for biography writing.

The Ville (St. Louis, MO)

The Ville is a residential and business district remembered as the cultural center of the African American community in St. Louis, Missouri. The Ville, located just northwest of downtown St. Louis, was open to African Americans during a time that much of the city was … Read MoreThe Ville (St. Louis, MO)

Lois Mailou Jones (1905-1998)

Visual artist Lois Mailou Jones was born in 1905 in Boston, Massachusetts to Thomas Vreeland and Carolyn Dorinda Jones. Her father was a superintendent of a building and later became a lawyer, her mother was a cosmetologist. Early in life Jones displayed a passion for … Read MoreLois Mailou Jones (1905-1998)

Daniel Haynes (1894-1954)

Daniel Haynes is best remembered for his portrayal of the preacher in the 1929 film Hallelujah, one of the earliest Hollywood films to examine black culture in America. Born in Atlanta, Georgia in 1894, Haynes made his screen debut as a bit player in the … Read MoreDaniel Haynes (1894-1954)

Lorenzo Tucker (1907-1986)

In an era when both movies and audiences were segregated, Lorenzo Tucker became African America’s leading man. Tucker was born in Philadelphia in 1907 to parents John and Virginia Lee Tucker. Lorenzo Tucker studied photography in trade school and briefly attended Temple University, where he … Read MoreLorenzo Tucker (1907-1986)

Maidie Norman (1912-1998)

Maidie Norman, who appeared in more than 200 Hollywood films, was born in Georgia in 1912 to Louis and Lila Gamble. Her father was an engineer and her mother was a homemaker. Norman received a B.A. in Literature and Theatre Arts from Bennett College in … Read MoreMaidie Norman (1912-1998)

Nina Mae McKinney (1913-1967)

Nina Mae McKinney, one of the first African American leading actresses in Hollywood, was born Nannie Mayme McKinney in 1913. The Lancaster, South Carolina native was reared by her great-aunt, Carrie Sanders on the Estate of Colonel LeRoy Sanders, where her family had worked for … Read MoreNina Mae McKinney (1913-1967)

Leigh Whipper (1876-1975)

Leigh Whipper, the first black member of the Actors’ Equity Association (1913), was born in Charleston, South Carolina in 1876. His father, William James Whipper, was a Civil War Veteran from Connecticut who settled in South Carolina during the Reconstruction period and became an attorney … Read MoreLeigh Whipper (1876-1975)