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93:, combined 'human oddities' like conjoined twins or armless people with entertainment and beauty pageants of attractive women. Emma was described as darker skinned, shorter and 'more voluptuous'; Mabel was tall and svelte with 'hair slightly kinked and dyed a beautiful antique gold hue". Both sisters were relatively light skinned and able to present as 'racially ambiguous. ' though throughout their careers they declared their 'race pride' in being Black women. Typical of dime museum shows and vaudeville of that time, the sisters satisfied the desires of white audiences for 'the exotic other'. As talented singers, comedians and dancers, they acted as lures to draw audiences in to see the rest of the show.
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79:
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210:. (TOBA) With Dudley as an advisor, the Griffin Sisters Theatrical Agency opened in Chicago in December 1913 as the “first and only colored women’s theatrical booking agency in the United States.” The agency also offered training in vaudeville performance, negotiated for higher salaries for Black performers and found jobs for domestic workers and stagehands. The sisters called on Black investors to invest in their agency, set up a second residence in Washington DC, and networked within Black society there. They sublet theaters for the performances they managed, with plans for creating their own theater, the Air Dome.
266:
53:
186:"White men and women are browning up, blacking up and turning up, and our colored men are training them to do the colored people’s work.”she said. "I, Miss Emma Griffin, have had many big time white women to ask me to teach them how to do a coon song as I do. They have offered me much money, but I have refused, for I never teach a white woman something to make about six hundred dollars per week, when for the same thing, the white manager would not give me fifty dollars. Let us look at all these things which are killing us every day. "
64:, Kentucky, Emma in 1874, and Mabel in 1877. Their mother, Blandina Montgomery Duncan, was a laundress who sometimes lived in other people's homes, their father Henry a laborer. They had two brothers, Henry and George. In 1894, Emma also began work doing laundry to earn extra income for the home. Average earnings for laundresses at that time was $ 1.00- $ 1.50 per week.
125:
When the sisters began their
Vaudeville career, it was still unusual for Black women to work as performers. Ninety-two per cent of Black women in 1900 were either working in agriculture or as domestic laborers; there were only 262 Black women in the U.S. who listed themselves on the census that year
297:
Historians have noted the importance of The
Griffin Sisters as both performers and businesswomen. "Despite the dominance of white men in the American entertainment industry," wrote Michelle R. Scott, "the Griffin Sisters’ entrepreneurial efforts represent a monumental moment in black female agency
273:
The sisters suffered from respiratory problems throughout their career. In 1914, while performing onstage, Emma collapsed and spent a month in the hospital. In 1915, Mabel had a stroke. Mabel and Emma gave up their booking agency, formed a traveling company with other women and went back on the
156:
The sisters, especially Emma, used the press and the courts to speak out about the treatment they received. In San
Francisco in 1905, they filed suit against a white manager who fired them, alleging racial discrimination. The manager claimed he let them go because their act was poor and contained
244:
The sisters remained unmarried and without children throughout their lives. Historian
Michelle R. Scott noted that although this gave their audiences the illusion that they were 'romantically available, it also allowed them greater ability to control their lives. They kept a rented residence in
136:
Emma and Mabel, billed as "Character change artists" and "entrancing vocalists", performed all over the United States, including Alaska, earning from $ 50 to $ 100 per week. Like other Black performers, they did not earn as much as their white counterparts, and faced discrimination in lodging,
165:
In 1910, they moved back to
Chicago as a home base and began performing primarily for Black audiences, writing their own material. They performed to rave reviews at the Monogram Theater, the Indianapolis Crown Garden and other venues. An audience favorite was an act in which they both
301:
They set the stage for Black female entrepreneurs and performers who followed them including five women with TOBA who owned theaters. Their activism opened the gates for later celebrities like Bessie Smith and Ethel Waters, who continued to push for better conditions for Black performers.
35:
performers in the late 1800s and early 1900s who became entrepreneurs and social activists and opened one of the first booking agencies owned by Black women. They publicly spoke out by demanding higher wages and better working conditions for Black performers at a time when
176:“ are not wanted in white theaters," she said, "and white agencies tell us to our faces that they cannot use us and on every side the doors are shut in our face. It is time that we pull together and work for ourselves and the white man see that we can do it without him.”
235:
Soon, they were making enough money from their agency and their own performances to help support their family as well as donate to social organizations in
Washington and Chicago. In 1914–15, they earned the 21st century equivalent of approximately $ 200,000 per year.
157:'objectional content.' The following year in the same city, they were attacked and physically ejected from a bar by the saloonkeeper because of their color; the San Francisco Call and Post covered the difficulties they had getting their case heard by a judge.
74:
Emma and Mabel began singing in church, and studied music at
Louisville's Black college, the Kentucky State Normal School. The family moved to Chicago in 1894, and the two young women got work performing at the recently opened Kohl and Middleton's Dime Museum.
274:
road to help pay back their investors. They continued to receive rave reviews. But their health kept failing and medical and housing costs rose; in 1918, Black
Chicago society hosted a benefit to raise money for them, attended by friends and luminaries like
183:' approached her to learn how to better perform their songs, Emma turned them down, denouncing the white appropriation of Black culture in coon songs which were popular then and played off racist stereotypes of Black people.
285:, where she was praised for her talent and her ability to make people laugh onstage, as well as for her activism in politics as a suffragette and her campaigns for better conditions for Black performers. She was buried in
223:
As Black female entrepreneurs in
Vaudeville, they joined a small group of other Black women entertainers and entrepreneurs who actively worked for higher pay, greater autonomy and better conditions, which included
118:'s The Octaroons, a travelling vaudeville show of 50 Black and mixed-race performers. They worked with the Octaroons for two years. In 1898, they moved on to work as a duo with burlesque impresario
133:,(WVMA) one of three major booking agencies. Considered 'real vaudeville' these agencies provided more security and steady work for entertainers but took a substantial cut of performer's salaries.
194:
170:
as men, Emma as
President Taft and Mabel as his conversation partner. "The amazing thing about their work," wrote one reviewer, "is the originality and unlikeliness of all they do."
173:
In her newspaper letters and interviews, Emma continued to speak out about the discrimination that black performers faced and the need for Black self-determination in entertainment.
278:, which was billed as 'the first benefit with moving pictures.' But Mabel became ill again, then 11 weeks later, on August 28, 1918, Emma died "in her sister's arms" of bronchitis.
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The sisters began management of the Alamon Theater in Indianapolis, Indiana, in April 1914, and the Majestic Theater in Washington, D.C. in June 1914.They also sublet the
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as entertainers. Black women were sometimes criticized in both the Black and white press for performing onstage, as it was looked upon as immoral.
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78:
682:
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19:
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Emma Griffin developed a reputation as "a figure that all managers of colored theaters, and booking agents will have to reckon with. "
67:
The Griffin children and their mother lived with their maternal grandparents, Mary and George Montgomery. Their grandfather worked as a
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A woman and family doing laundry in 1900. Emma Griffin began her working life doing other people's laundry for $ 1.00-$ 1.50 per week.
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105:
Ad in the Santa Cruz Surf April 24, 1905 for Griffin Sisters with other Vaudeville Acts at the Unique Theater in Santa Cruz CA
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A 1906 article about the Griffin Sisters' efforts to get justice exposed discrimination and corruption in San Francisco
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640:
198:
Jan 29 1914 New York Age Ad for Griffin Sisters Theatrical Employment Agency and Vaudeville School in Chicago
152:
1906 San Francisco Call and Post Cartoon of Vaudeville entertainers the Griffin Sisters trying to get justice
366:"These Ladies Do Business with A Capital B: The Griffin Sisters As Black Businesswomen in Early Vaudeville"
23:
Mabel and Emma Griffin, AKA The Griffin Sisters, African-American Vaudeville entertainers and entrepreneurs
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as their mailing address. Throughout their career, they sent money home to their mother and grandmother.
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in Chicago and other theaters across the country to help establish their own vaudeville circuit.
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393:
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232:; these women supported each other and interacted socially at society events of Black leaders.
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289:, Chicago. Existing sources do not mention Mabel's date of death or place of burial.
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In 1913, they signed on as performers with an emerging Black theater owner/producer,
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32:
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T.O.B.A Time: Black Vaudeville and the Theater Owners Booking Association
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641:"The Griffin Sisters: Popular Vaudeville Performers and Businesswomen"
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82:
1890 Advertisement for Kohl and Middleton's Dime Museum in Chicago
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18:
31:, Emma (1874–1918) and Mabel (1877–1918) Griffin, were American
571:
Blacks in Blackface: A Sourcebook on Early Black Musical Shows
206:, whose vaudeville circuit would later set the stage for the
114:
In 1895, Emma and Mabel were hired as chorus girls with
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1916 New York Dispatch Ad for The Famous Griffin Sisters
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In the early 1900s, the sisters began working for the
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and business acumen in American vaudeville theater."
674:Madame C.J. Walker: The Making of an American Icon
462:"Warrant and Bond Clerk Usurps Function of Judges"
429:. University of Illinois Press. pp. 50–61.
44:were both common in the entertainment industry.
484:"Griffin, Mabel and Emma (The Griffin Sisters)"
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604:"Manager Charged with Mistreating Performers"
8:
828:20th-century African-American businesspeople
783:19th-century African-American businesspeople
537:. University of Chicago Press. p. 31.
488:Notable Kentucky African Americans Database
677:. Rowman and Littlefield. pp. 58–59.
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416:
414:
563:
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803:Businesspeople from Louisville, Kentucky
512:. Bakersfield Morning Echo. May 30, 1905
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71:at George Linderberger's Livery Stable.
709:"Emma Griffin Dead; Well Known Onstage"
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602:Walton, Lester A. (December 11, 1913).
460:Crawford, James C (February 21, 1906).
370:The Journal of African American History
311:
281:Emma's obituary made the front page of
131:Western Vaudeville Managers Association
813:20th-century African-American singers
808:19th-century African-American singers
647:. Black Then: Discovering Our History
574:. Scarecrow Press. pp. 245–246.
510:"Color Line Drawn on Griffin Sisters"
16:Duo of American vaudeville performers
7:
798:Actresses from Louisville, Kentucky
793:20th-century American businesswomen
245:Chicago, but used black newspapers
833:African-American women in business
208:Theater Owners Booking Association
14:
818:Singers from Louisville, Kentucky
711:. New York Age. September 7, 1918
464:. The San Francisco Call and Post
628:. New York Age. August 12, 1915.
390:10.5323/jafriamerhist.101.4.0469
382:10.5323/jafriamerhist.101.4.0469
788:20th-century American actresses
778:American vaudeville performers
1:
639:Jones, Jae (16 June 2021).
531:Gebhardt, Nicholas (2017).
364:Scott, Michelle R. (2016).
849:
568:Sampson, Henry T. (2013).
423:Scott, Michelle R (2023).
60:The sisters were born in
490:. University of Kentucky
190:Theatrical entrepreneurs
671:Ball, Erica L (2021).
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626:"Theatrical Jottings"
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137:travel and bookings.
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97:Vaudeville performers
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261:Later life and death
254:Indianapolis Freeman
248:The Chicago Defender
534:Vaudeville Melodies
606:. The New York Age
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200:
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58:
25:
684:978-1-4422-6039-9
581:978-0-8108-8351-2
544:978-0-226-44869-5
436:978-0-252-05403-7
204:Sherman H. Dudley
89:, popularized by
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283:The New York Age
226:Sisieretta Jones
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29:Griffin Sisters
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376:(4): 469–503.
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38:discrimination
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732:"Death Index"
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276:Mme CJ Walker
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240:Personal life
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739:. Retrieved
736:Ancestry.com
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649:. Retrieved
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179:When white '
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168:crossdressed
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87:Dime Museums
85:
73:
66:
59:
28:
26:
823:Sister duos
773:1918 deaths
768:1877 births
763:1874 births
741:January 27,
715:January 27,
690:January 27,
651:January 27,
610:January 27,
587:January 27,
550:January 27,
516:January 27,
494:January 27,
468:January 27,
442:January 27,
403:January 27,
110:On the road
757:Categories
306:References
116:John Isham
62:Louisville
48:Early life
33:vaudeville
398:151662539
120:Al Reeves
91:PT Barnum
251:and the
228:and the
161:Chicago
69:hostler
681:
578:
541:
433:
396:
388:
293:Legacy
42:racism
394:S2CID
386:JSTOR
743:2024
717:2024
692:2024
679:ISBN
653:2024
612:2024
589:2024
576:ISBN
552:2024
539:ISBN
518:2024
496:2024
470:2024
444:2024
431:ISBN
405:2024
40:and
27:The
378:doi
374:101
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
