Research Catalog

Details

Additional authors

1. Thompson, Ulysses S.

Description

1. .9 lin. ft.

Summary

1. The collection consists of personal and professional papers. The Personal papers series is comprised of biographical information, letters and miscellaneous materials.
2. The Professional papers series documents Mills' career and consists of letters, professional files and printed material. The letters reflect messages of support and good wishes, which Mills received from fans, friends, fellow performers and others. The professional files contain contracts for "Shuffle Along" (1921) and "Plantation Revue" (1922). Printed materials include programs for Mills' performances, nationally and internationally, and clippings. Also included in the professional papers is a scrapbook that primarily contains clippings featuring Mills' professional and personal life. Several caricatures of Mills can also be found in the scrapbook; a few clippings feature Ulysses S. Thompson, Mills' husband and fellow performer.

Donor/Sponsor

1. Schomburg NEH Blacks on Stage: African-American Theater Arts Collections Project.

Subject

1. Mills, Florence, 1896-1927.
2. Thompson, Ulysses S.
3. Leslie, Lew, 1886-1963.
4. Johnson, Helen A.
5. Helen Armstead-Johnson Theater Collection.
6. African Americans in the performing arts.
7. African American actresses.
8. African American women singers.
9. African American women entertainers.
10. African American dancers.
11. African Americans -- Music.
12. African American women.

Genre/Form

1. Scrapbooks.
2. Reviews (Criticism)

Language

1. English

Note

1. Artifacts transferred to the Arts and Artifacts Division.
2. Photographs transferred to the Photographs and Prints Division.

Source (note)

1. Helen Armstead-Johnson;
2. Helen Armstead-Johnson

Biography (note)

1. Florence Mills (1895-1927), world renowned entertainer during the 1920s, made her stage debut at age 8, billed as "Baby Florence Mills" in the Williams and Walker's production of "Sons of Ham." She went on to perform with the Bonita Company as one of the singing and dancing "pickaninnies," and later with Ada Bricktop Smith and Cora Green, formed the Panama Trio (1910). Mills married fellow performer Ulysses S. Thompson in 1923.
2. Mills' career took a dramatic turn in 1921 when she replaced Gertrude Saunders as the lead in the hit Broadway show "Shuffle Along." She became a sensation in the production and after a year, went on to star in Lew Leslie's "Plantation Revue" (1922), which was enlarged and renamed "From Dover to Dixie." Following the Broadway run, the production toured London retitled "From Dixie to Broadway," and in 1924 returned to New York. Two years later Mills starred in Leslie's "Blackbirds," which also toured London as well as Paris. On her return to the U.S., her popularity at its peak, Mills became ill and died shortly thereafter of peritonitis. Reportedly five thousand people attended the popular star's funeral at Mother Zion A.M.E. Church in Harlem.

Indexes/finding aids (note)

1. Finding aid available.

Provenance (note)

1. The collection was donated to Helen Armstead-Johnson by Ulysses Thompson, widower of Florence Mills, in 1970. It was subsequently donated by Helen Armstead-Johnson along with other theater related collections to the Schomburg Center.

Linking entry (note)

1. Forms part of: Helen Armstead-Johnson Theater Collection.

Processing action (note)

1. Processed
2. Cataloged

Connect to:

1. Finding Aid