Florence Mills, world renowned entertainer during the 1920s, began her career at the age of five by winning a dance contest. By the age of eight, she had made her stage debut, billed as "Baby Florence Mills," in the Williams and Walker production of , singing "Miss Hannah from Savannah," taught to her by vaudeville artist Aida Overton Walker, wife of George Walker. A native of Washington, D.C., Mills performed "in the drawing rooms of various Washington diplomats" during the early years of her career. She went on to perform with the Bonita Company as one of the "picks" - the singing and dancing "pickaninnies." After leaving the Bonita Company, Mills and her two sisters, Olivia and Maude, formed a trio (1910), which eventually became a duo after the departure of Olivia. Maude later left the duo and Mills teamed up with Ada "Bricktop" Smith and Cora Green to form the Panama Trio. At some point the Trio performed on the same bill as the Tennessee Ten and Mills became involved with one of the troupe's members, Ulysses S. Thompson. In 1923, Mills and Thompson married.

Although Mills performed widely, a career transforming opportunity came to pass when she replaced Gertrude Saunders as the lead in (1921). She became an instant success with both the Harlem community and the larger white audiences. After a year of performing in , she left to star in Lew Leslie's (1922), which was enlarged and renamed . After a Broadway run, the production retitled , toured London and in 1924 returned to New York. In 1926, Lew Leslie starred Mills in , which also toured London as well as Paris. In London as in New York, Mills was received by enthusiastic audiences and praised for her outstanding talent. On various occasions the Prince of Wales came to see the show. Her English popularity was so vast that dolls were named after her and "shops designated light brown goods as the Florence Mills' shade."

Upon returning to New York on October 12, 1927, Mills was hospitalized suffering from pelvic tuberculosis. She died on November 1, 1927, after undergoing an unsuccessful operation. The news shocked the world and shook the Harlem community. Five thousand people attended Mills' funeral at Mother Zion A.M.E. Church in Harlem. It was reported that more than 100,000 people packed the streets for her funeral procession. The newspapers reported that as the procession reached 145th Street, "a low flying airplane released a symbolic flock of blackbirds." Mills was buried in the Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, New York.