Mildred Davenport (November 12, 1900 - 1990) was an African-American Broadway performer and dance teacher. She was the first African-American woman to appear with the Boston Pops orchestra.

Biography

She was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts to Mary Davenport and Samuel Davenport, a Pullman porter. She attended Boston Girls' High School, graduating in 1918, and then went on to the Sargent School for Physical Culture at Boston University. Afterwards she studied dance with

Ted Shawn Ted Shawn (born Edwin Myers Shawn; October 21, 1891 – January 9, 1972) was a male pioneer of American modern dance. He created the Denishawn School together with his wife Ruth St. Denis. After their separation he created the all-male company Te ...

. In the 1920s, she opened her first dance school, the Davenport School of Dance, where she taught for a decade. In 1932, she founded her second dance school, the Silver Box Studio, at 522 Columbus Avenue in Boston. In the 1930s, she performed in a number of

musicals 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 ...

and revues on Broadway, including ''Blackbirds'' and '' Flying Colors''. At a time when it was rare for African-American and white performers to appear together on the stage, she danced with performers like

Imogene Coca Imogene Coca (born Emogeane Coca; November 18, 1908 – June 2, 2001) was an American comic actress best known for her role opposite Sid Caesar on ''Your Show of Shows''. Starting out in vaudeville as a child acrobat, she studied ballet and wishe ...

and

Clifton Webb Webb Parmelee Hollenbeck (November 19, 1889 – October 13, 1966), known professionally as Clifton Webb, was an American actor, singer, and dancer. He worked extensively and was known for his stage appearances in the plays of Noël Coward, in ...

. In 1938, she danced interpretations of spirituals with the Boston Pops orchestra, becoming the first African-American woman to appear with the Boston Pops. She toured the East Coast for five years in a show entitled ''Chocolate Review''. In World War II, Davenport became one of the first black women to enlist in the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps, rising from first lieutenant to captain during the war. After the war, she worked for the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination for two decades (1947–1968) and served on the board of directors for the Boston branch of the

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&nb ...

. In 1973 Davenport received the Sojourner Truth Award of the National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women's Clubs, Boston and Vicinity Club. Davenport died in Boston, Massachusetts in 1990. A collection of her papers, photographs, dance programs, and other ephemera is held by UC Irvine's Special Collections and Archives.

References

External links

Guide to the Mildred Davenport papers at UC Irvine
{{DEFAULTSORT:Davenport, Mildred 1900 births 1990 deaths African-American dancers People from Roxbury, Boston Women's Army Corps soldiers 20th-century American dancers 20th-century African-American women 20th-century African-American people Girls' High School (Boston, Massachusetts) alumni