Haskins, James: Conjure Times
Black Magicians in America
©2001 Walker & Company
Hardcover, pages 174
ISBM 13: 9780802787620
ISBN 10: 0802787622

Magic as entertainment thrills and excites modern audiences and enjoys widespread popularity, with large-venue performances and big-budget elevision specials. For America's black magicians, however, their uncommon story has long been shrouded in the mists of the past. Throughout United States history, black magicians have achieved great skill in many eras and on many stages. However, because of slavery and, later, racial segregation and discrimination, few have ever been able to make their living as magicians. Those who have succeeded are rare indeed. Fewer still left a mark on history and many exist only as names on old playbills or in newspaper advertisements. Uncovered at last is a unique aspect of the African-American cultural experience. Conjure Times is an illuminating portrait of these unheralded pioneers and a tribute to African-Americans who paved the way for, and will inspire, future generations

Contents

Acknowledgments xi
Introduction Black Conjurers in Time 1
1. Richard Potter: The First American- born Magician 7
2. Henry "Box" Brown: An Escaped Slave Turned Magician 22
3. Minstrel Magicians 36
4. William Carl on the Vaudeville Stage 50
5. The Refined Entertainment of the Celebrated Armstrongs 62
6. "Oriental" Conjurers 73
7. Black Herman: "Once in Every Seven Years" 87
8. Fetaque Sanders: From Discrimination to Equal Rights
9. Black Magicians in a Changing American Society 116
10. Today's Black Magicians 133

Notes 157
Bibliography 161
Index 165