Gene De Alessi’s Lives of Black Entertainers 1968

On this edition of From The Vault, we present Gene De Allessi‘s 1968 profile of black artists in America since the early 1900’s called Lives of Black Entertainers, produced in the studios of Pacifica Station KPFA in Berkeley, California.

You may recognize De Allessi’s name or voice as the interviewer of Lena Horne from Pacifica’s classic interview from 1966.

De Allessi mentions entertainers most of us know some of the greats such as Marion Anderson, Josephine Baker and Paul Robeson, but also many great talents that we haven’t heard much about such as Abbey Mitchell, Ira Aldridge and Roland Hayes.

Featured speakers/guests:

Marian Anderson, Josephine Baker, Will Marion Cook, Ethel Waters, Abbey Mitchell, Claude McKay, Roland Hayes.


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