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In Britain, black dancers appeared in musicals and revues from
the early 20th century. In the 1920s Florence Mills starred in
the
Broadway musical Shuffle Along (which inspired the growing popularity
for tap dancing) and later Plantation Review which toured
to London in 1924.
Her next musical Blackbirds opened in London in 1926
and her song ‘I’m a little Blackbird looking for a Bluebird’ became
Mills’s theme song. Her singing was beautiful and her dancing
had a comedy streak that audiences loved. Florence Mills became
a star in both New York and London. In the UK reviewers proclaimed
her talent and she was the talk of London.
Tragically Florence died at the age of thirty two after an operation
to remove her appendix. Thousands of people attended her funeral
in Harlem.
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Introduction
Harlem Renaissance
