In collaboration with the History Book Festival, join us for a talk with Caseen Gaines, author of Footnotes: The Black Artists Who Rewrote the Rules of the Great White Way, an offering of the 2021 virtual History Book Festival.

Before Hamilton, before The Wiz, and even before Porgy and Bess, there was Shuffle Along, the all-Black Broadway musical from 1921 that was an enormous success at a time when no one was sure if America was ready for a show featuring nuanced, thoughtful portrayals of Black characters. Footnotes is the story of how composers Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake, along with comedians Flournoy Miller and Aubrey Lyles, overcame poverty, racism, and violence to harness the energy of the Harlem Renaissance and produce a runaway Broadway hit that launched the careers of many of the 20th century’s most beloved Black performers.

Caseen Gaines has written for Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, and New York magazine. He received an MA from Rutgers in American Studies, focusing on racial representations in popular culture.

We invite you to support the author by purchasing copy of their book from Browseabout Books. Call-in orders are accepted at (302) 226-2665 or you can stop by the store to purchase a copy. For store hours, please visit their website. Each copy purchased comes with a signed bookplate.

NOTE: this meeting is being conducted through Zoom. You MUST REGISTER to receive instructions for joining the meeting.

If you have need assistance with registration or getting your Zoom invitation, please email the History Book Festival.

Basic written instructions for using Zoom may be found here and a brief video tutorial may be found here. Closed captioning is available for this session. Information on enabling closed captioning in Zoom may be found here.