Negro Actors Guild of America (NAG) was formed in 1936 and began operation in 1937 to create better opportunities for black actors during a period in

America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

where the country was at a crossroads regarding how its citizens of color would be depicted in film, television and the stage. Formed 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 ...

, during the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

and the height of the

Harlem Renaissance The Harlem Renaissance was an intellectual and cultural revival of African American music, dance, art, fashion, literature, theater, politics and scholarship centered in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, spanning the 1920s and 1930s. At the t ...

, the NAG sought to give financial aid to Black performers. The NAG also stressed in its formal articles within the Certificate of Incorporation the need for more realistic roles for people of color, helped foster the skills of African American actors, and worked to generate more acting opportunities for the black community in the industry. The founding members of NAG were

Fredi Washington Fredericka Carolyn "Fredi" Washington (December 23, 1903 – June 28, 1994) was an American stage and film actress, civil rights activist, performer, and writer. Washington was of African-American descent. She was one of the first black American ...

W. C. Handy William Christopher Handy (November 16, 1873 – March 28, 1958) was an American composer and musician who referred to himself as the Father of the Blues. Handy was one of the most influential songwriters in the United States. One of many musici ...

Paul Robeson Paul Leroy Robeson ( ; April 9, 1898 – January 23, 1976) was an American bass-baritone concert artist, stage and film actor, professional football player, and activist who became famous both for his cultural accomplishments and for his p ...

, and

Ethel Waters Ethel Waters (October 31, 1896 – September 1, 1977) was an American singer and actress. Waters frequently performed jazz, swing, and pop music on the Broadway stage and in concerts. She began her career in the 1920s singing blues. Her not ...

Bill "Bojangles" Robinson Bill Robinson, nicknamed Bojangles (born Luther Robinson; May 25, 1878 – November 25, 1949), was an American tap dancer, actor, and singer, the best known and the most highly paid African-American entertainer in the United States during the f ...

was named honorary president.

Noble Sissle Noble Lee Sissle (July 10, 1889 – December 17, 1975) was an American jazz composer, lyricist, bandleader, singer, and playwright, best known for the Broadway musical ''Shuffle Along'' (1921), and its hit song "I'm Just Wild About Harry". Ea ...

was the first elected president, 1937–1957; followed by

Leigh Whipper Leigh Rollin Whipper (October 29, 1876 – July 26, 1975) was an American actor on the stage and in motion pictures. He was the first African American to join the Actors' Equity Association, and one of the founders of the Negro Actors Guild of ...

, 1957–1960;

Frederick O'Neal Frederick O'Neal (August 27, 1905 – August 25, 1992) was an American actor, theater producer and television director. He founded the American Negro Theater, the British Negro Theatre, and was the first African-American president of the Actors ...

, 1960–1964; Charles "Honi" Coles, 1964-ca. 1980; and James Randolph, 1980–1981.

History

The establishment of the NAG was, in many ways, meant to correct for the errors of other unions. The most obvious was it eliminated the racism of the

Actors' Equity Association The Actors' Equity Association (AEA), commonly referred to as Actors' Equity or simply Equity, is an American labor union representing those who work in live theatrical performance. Performers appearing in live stage productions without a boo ...

, which refused membership to Black actors. But it also merged the focus of the

Screen Actors Guild The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) was an American labor union which represented over 100,000 film and television principal and background performers worldwide. On March 30, 2012, the union leadership announced that the SAG membership voted to m ...

(SAG) with the theater focus of Actors' Equity to maximize the number of eligible members. The NAG was also the first Black organization of its kind in the U.S. to receive state incorporation. NAG founder

was a black stage and film actress who moved to Harlem during the Great Migration. Though her light skin and green eyes helped her "pass" as a white woman, she reveled in her heritage and chose to go against the barriers of stereotypical roles in film for African Americans. Washington was a talented singer and dancer; she became a chorus girl, then an actress, where she traveled all through Europe for her stage productions. She eventually landed a major role in the film '' Imitation of Life,'' which ironically, was about a " passing" white woman. Her acting career ended soon after, due to the fact that she was constantly identified with the person she played in the film. Washington dedicated much of her life to the organization, even sacrificing her acting career for the advancement and prosperity of the Guild. Washington, whom was resentful of the limitations of African Americans in the film industry, brought together a talented, diverse group of artists from stage and screen. Members included

, an

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 ...

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

composer, lyricist, bandleader, singer and playwright. W.C. Handy, an African-American

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

and musician widely known as the "Father of the Blues", vaudeville novelty act performer Alan Corelli,

, the first African-American member of the

, and Dick Campbell, a key figure in theater and a tireless advocate for black actors in general.

Structure

Noble Sissle served as the organization's first president, while Washington served as the Guild's executive director and secretary. Leigh Whipper succeeded Sissle in 1957 as the Guild's president. He later caused some controversy when he accused

Otto Preminger Otto Ludwig Preminger ( , ; 5 December 1905 – 23 April 1986) was an Austrian-American theatre and film director, film producer, and actor. He directed more than 35 feature films in a five-decade career after leaving the theatre. He first gai ...

, the director for the film ''

Porgy and Bess ''Porgy and Bess'' () is an English-language opera by American composer George Gershwin, with a libretto written by author DuBose Heyward and lyricist Ira Gershwin. It was adapted from Dorothy Heyward and DuBose Heyward's play '' Porgy'', itse ...

'', of discriminating against African Americans. The Guild served as one of the primary financial and social resources for African American entertainers. It provided health care, arranged transportation and hotel accommodations, and financed funeral services for the black thespian community. Much of the funding for the Negro Actors Guild came from the Federal Theater Authority and internal fundraising.

Bill “Bojangles” Robinson Bill Robinson, nicknamed Bojangles (born Luther Robinson; May 25, 1878 – November 25, 1949), was an American tap dancer, actor, and singer, the best known and the most highly paid African-American entertainer in the United States during the f ...

was instrumental in fundraising efforts, often performing in benefit concerts 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 ...

for the Guild. Robinson later served as the Guild's first honorary president From 1938 to 1940, the Guild published a quarterly journal, "The Negro Actor", which was later replaced by a monthly newsletter, as membership grew, and by the 1940s the Guild had more than seven hundred members. Among their more famous members were

Hattie McDaniel Hattie McDaniel (June 10, 1893October 26, 1952) was an American actress, singer-songwriter, and comedian. For her role as Mammy in ''Gone with the Wind'' (1939), she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, becoming the first African ...

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 ...

Lena Horne Lena Mary Calhoun Horne (June 30, 1917 – May 9, 2010) was an American dancer, actress, singer, and civil rights activist. Horne's career spanned more than seventy years, appearing in film, television, and theatre. Horne joined the chorus of th ...

Sammy Davis, Jr. Samuel George Davis Jr. (December 8, 1925 – May 16, 1990) was an American singer, dancer, actor, comedian, film producer and television director. At age three, Davis began his career in vaudeville with his father Sammy Davis Sr. and the ...

and arts critic

Lester Walton Lester Aglar Walton (April 20, 1882 – October 16, 1965) was a St. Louis-born Harlem Renaissance polymath and intellectual, a well-known figure in his day, who advanced civil rights in significant and prescient ways in journalism, entertainm ...

Dissolution

By the 1970s, the organization slowly faded as the film and theater industries became increasingly integrated. The mishandling of funds and factional infighting led to the Guild's collapse in 1982.

References

{{authority control 1937 establishments in the United States Actors' trade unions Trade unions established in 1937 Trade unions disestablished in 1982 African-American trade unions Labor relations in the United States Labor relations in New York City Labor relations in New York (state)

History

Structure

Dissolution

Archives

References