“Aggressive Colored Women of the 20th century: The Griffin Sisters and Female Agency in Black Vaudeville

In 1914 the black vaudeville sister act, the Griffin Sisters, took ads out in the national black press declaring that they were “hanging out a shingle.” After nearly 20 years on stage, Emma and Mabel Griffin announced the opening of their own theatrical booking agency, school, and theaters in Chicago and Washington DC, representing a monumental moment in black female agency in vaudeville theater. Using show advertisements and reviews, newspaper interviews, census schedules, and city directories, this poster explores the entrepreneurial efforts of the Griffin Sisters between 1910-1918. As the Sisters became as adamant about managing their business enterprises as they did their carefully constructed stage personas, theater critics began referring to the Griffins as “aggressive” and “ladies” who “did business a capital B.” This poster illustrates the challenges these women had in redefining respectable images on stage, while asserting black racial pride and financial autonomy off stage. I contend that the Griffin Sisters serve as a key window to the racial and gendered landscape of American vaudeville theater, and the struggles for black female economic empowerment in early 20th-century America.