Jesse Allison Shipp, Sr. (March 24, 1864 in

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

- May 1, 1934 in

Jamaica, Queens, New York Jamaica is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. It is mainly composed of a large commercial and retail area, though part of the neighborhood is also residential. Jamaica is bordered by Hollis to the east; St. Albans, Springf ...

)''National Cyclopedia of American Biography: Volume 14.''
New York: James T. White and Co., 1910; pg. 244. was an American actor,

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

, and

theatrical director A theatre director or stage director is a professional in the theatre field who oversees and orchestrates the mounting of a theatre production such as a play, opera, dance, drama, musical theatre performance, etc. by unifying various endeavors a ...

, who is best remembered as a pioneer

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

writer of

musical theater Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movement ...

in the United States, and as the author of the book upon which the landmark play ''

In Dahomey ''In Dahomey: A Negro Musical Comedy'' is a landmark 1903 American musical comedy described by theatre historian Gerald Bordman as "the first full-length musical written and played by blacks to be performed at a major Broadway house."Bordman, Ge ...

'' was based. Shipp played an influential role in expanding black theater beyond its

minstrel show The minstrel show, also called minstrelsy, was an American form of racist theatrical entertainment developed in the early 19th century. Each show consisted of comic skits, variety acts, dancing, and music performances that depicted people spe ...

origins and is recalled as perhaps the first African-American director of a Broadway performance.

Biography

Early years

Born in 1864 in Cincinnati, his father Thomas Shipp was born about 1821 in the

slave Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

state of

South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

. His mother Ellen Shipp was of

bi-racial Mixed race people are people of more than one race or ethnicity. A variety of terms have been used both historically and presently for mixed race people in a variety of contexts, including ''multiethnic'', ''polyethnic'', occasionally ''bi-ethn ...

heritage, and was born around 1830 in the slave state of

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

."Ellen Shipp,"
Notable Kentucky African Americans Database, University of Kentucky, www.uky.edu/ Sometime prior to the outbreak of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

both had managed to leave the

Southern United States The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...

to live in freedom in Ohio. Shipp attended

public school Public school may refer to: * State school (known as a public school in many countries), a no-fee school, publicly funded and operated by the government * Public school (United Kingdom), certain elite fee-charging independent schools in England an ...

in Cincinnati, graduating from high school at the age of 16. Upon graduation he immediately entered the work force, working as a

retail clerk A retail clerk, also known as a salesclerk, shop clerk, retail associate or (in the United Kingdom) shop assistant or customer service assistant, is a service role in a retail business. A retail clerk obtains or receives merchandise, totals bil ...

and driving a laundry wagon. In his free time Shipp got together with three of his peers and formed a

musical quartet In music, a quartet or quartette (, , , , ) is an ensemble of four singers or instrumental performers; or a musical composition for four voices and instruments. Classical String quartet In classical music, one of the most common combinations o ...

, which sang evenings in the German section of Cincinnati.

Career

Shipp joined a

minstrel A minstrel was an entertainer, initially in medieval Europe. It originally described any type of entertainer such as a musician, juggler, acrobat, singer or fool; later, from the sixteenth century, it came to mean a specialist entertainer who ...

show based in

Indianapolis, Indiana Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Mari ...

but left after three weeks. In 1887 he took his own quartet on the road, and they remained together for the next seven years, achieving success playing in conjunction with a variety of traveling minstrel companies. Following the disbanding of his quartet in 1894, Shipp became an actor in the traveling black theater of the day, including roles in such popular performance as ''Uncle Tom's Cabin'' from 1894 to 1895, John William Isham's ''Oriental America'' in 1896 and 1897, and ''A Trip to Coon-Town'' from 1897 to 1899. Shipp was hired by the

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...

team of

Bert Williams Bert Williams (November 12, 1874 – March 4, 1922) was a Bahamian-born American entertainer, one of the pre-eminent entertainers of the Vaudeville era and one of the most popular comedians for all audiences of his time. He is credited as being ...

and

George Walker George Walker may refer to: Arts and letters *George Walker (chess player) (1803–1879), English chess player and writer *George Walker (composer) (1922–2018), American composer * George Walker (illustrator) (1781–1856), author of ''The Cos ...

in 1900 as a stage manager, writer, and performer for their troupe's productions. A series of plays were written in subsequent years for Williams and Walker including books from which the seminal plays ''

'' and ''Abyssinia,'' works noted for better plot development and character development than had been typical of black theatre in the era. Unfortunately for historians of American black theatre, some of Shipp's original treatments have not been preserved, with the book for ''In Dahomey'' surviving only in fragments. Around 1908 Shipp went to work for

Robert T. Motts Robert T. Motts was an African American saloon owner and gambling racket leader, who established and managed Chicago's Pekin Theatre, an epicenter of African-American theater. Motts was an organizer in the Republican Party. He also owned theaters i ...

and his Pekin Stock Company of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

.Bernard L. Peterson, Jr., "Dressing Room Club," in ''The African American Theatre Directory, 1816-1960: A Comprehensive Guide to Early Black Theatre Organizations, Companies, Theatres, and Performing Groups.'' Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1997; pg. 164. Shipp was hired as the resident playwright for the non-touring company. Shipp authored a number of critically acclaimed plays during this interval, but the demands of his employer for a constant stream of fresh fare forced Shipp to increasingly make use of traditional vaudeville forms. Motts would die in July 1911. By 1910 the Pekin Stock Company was in decline, wracked by competition from other theatres in Chicago, which had begun to supplement their dramatic performances with the showing of movies.Peterson, "Jesse Shipp Stock Company," in ''The African American Theatre Directory, 1816-1960,'' pg. 181. Jesse Shipp took over the operation, renaming it the Jesse Shipp Stock Company, employing Sam Corker as permanent stage manager, and making use of many of the remaining Pekin players. A number of plays were staged by the company in the

Pekin Theatre Established on June 18, 1905, Chicago’s Pekin Theatre was the first black owned musical and vaudeville stock theatre in the United States. Between 1905 and around 1915, the Pekin Club and its Pekin Theatre served as a training ground and showca ...

, including several written by Shipp. The Jesse Shipp Stock Company was itself disbanded in 1911, however. In 1913, Shipp produced and directed a performance of Gilbert and Sullivan's ''Mikado'' for the Howard Theatre in Washington, D.C. The production featured the well-known contralto, Daisy Tapley singing Katisha and Dr. Charles Sumner Wormley playing the title character. In 1921 Shipp established the second key African-American dramatic club in New York City's

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street (Manhattan), 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and 110th Street (Manhattan), ...

district, the Dressing Room Club.Peterson, "Dressing Room Club," in ''The African American Theatre Directory, 1816-1960,'' pg. 59. Located at the Harlem Community House on 7th Avenue, the Dressing Room Club declared as its official goals the impressing of the world with "the dignity and economic value of the Negro element of the profession" and preservation of the history of the Negro in theatricals. Over 250 members of New York's black theatre leaders were members of this organization headed by Shipp, including writers, performers, composers, and musicians. Ship was intimately involved with the Harlem Productions Company in 1925 and 1926 — a group first organized to produce the musical farce ''

Lucky Sambo ''Lucky Sambo'' was a 1925 musical comedy staged on Broadway. It originally toured as ''Aces and Queens'' in 1923 and 1924. It was by Porter Grainger and Freddy Johnson. It played at the Colonial Theatre (New York City). Time magazine described it ...

.''Peterson, "Harlem Productions Company," in ''The African American Theatre Directory, 1816-1960,'' pg. 90. Debuting June 6, 1925, nine performances were staged on

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

at the Colonial Theatre, with Shipp playing the key supervisory role of stage manager.

Death and legacy

Jesse A. Shipp, Sr. died on May 1, 1934 in

Jamaica Hospital Jamaica Hospital Medical Center is a private, non-profit teaching hospital and emergency facility in the Jamaica neighborhood of Queens, New York City, on the service road of the Van Wyck Expressway at Jamaica Avenue. The hospital is a clinical ...

Jamaica, Queens Jamaica is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. It is mainly composed of a large commercial and retail area, though part of the neighborhood is also residential. Jamaica is bordered by Hollis to the east; St. Albans, Springfi ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. He had lived with his wife in

Richmond Hill, Queens Richmond Hill is a commercial and residential neighborhood located in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Queens. The area borders Kew Gardens and Forest Park to the north, Jamaica and South Jamaica to the east, South Ozone P ...

; he was buried at St. Michael's Cemetery in

Astoria, Queens, New York Astoria is a neighborhood in the western portion of the New York City Boroughs of New York City, borough of Queens. Astoria is bounded by the East River and is adjacent to three other Queens neighborhoods: Long Island City, Queens, Long Island ...

. Shipp has been lauded as a pioneer in moving black theatre beyond its

origins towards a more fully developed artistic form and is remembered as one of the first, if not the first, African-American director of a Broadway performance.Peterson, "Williams and Walker Company," ''The African American Theatre Directory, 1816-1960,'' pg. 203.'' Shipp's son, Jesse A. Shipp, Jr. (1886-1922), followed his father's footsteps into the world of show business as the founder of the Shipp Association, a dramatic booking agency based in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Footnotes

Selected plays