The National Negro Opera Company (1941–1962) was the first

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libr ...

company in the

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. Organized in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

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, under the direction of Mary Cardwell Dawson, the company was launched with a performance at the local Syria Mosque. The star was La Julia Rhea, and other members included

Minto Cato Minto Cato (born La Minto Cato, August 23, 1900 – October 26, 1979) was a mezzo-soprano opera singer and show performer during the Harlem Renaissance from the 1920s to the late 1940s. Life and career Minto Cato was born in Little Rock, Arkansa ...

Carol Brice Carol Brice (April 16, 1918 – February 15, 1985) was an American contralto. Born in Sedalia, North Carolina, she studied at Palmer Memorial Institute and later at Talladega College in Talladega, Alabama, where she received a Bachelor of Music ...

, Robert McFerrin, and Lillian Evanti. During its 21-year run, NNOC also mounted productions in Washington D.C.,

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, and

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. The company disbanded in 1962 upon Dawson's death. Although the company toured nationally, its offices and studios were housed in a three-story Queen Anne-style house at 7101 Apple Street in Pittsburgh's Homewood neighborhood. Constructed as a private residence, it was purchased by William A. "Woogie" Harris (brother of the photographer Charles "Teenie" Harris) in the 1930s. The NNOC moved to Washington, D.C. in 1942, but the company continued to use the third floor as a local guild office and studios until the company disbanded. After the Opera departed, the building transitioned into a social hub and boarding house known as Mystery Manor, often hosting visiting celebrities and athletes who were excluded from the local segregated hotels. In 1994 the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission designated the NNOC's house on Apple Street a historic structure; it became a Pittsburgh City Historic Landmark in 2008. In 2003 and again in 2013, the Young Preservationists of Pittsburgh included the building on their "Top 10" preservation opportunities. Purchased in 2000 by Pittsburgh residents Jonnet Solomon and Miriam White, after years of plans to transform the historic building into a museum and arts center, it remains dilapidated. In 2020, the National Trust for Historic Preservation added the building to its annual list of America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places. Restoration work on the structure began in 2022, with a targeted completion date of 2024.

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