While they did perform in black face, they refused to perform demeaning minstrel acts.Īida Overton Walker was a leading lady to the stage and the inspiration for Aisha De Has(Medda-Newsies Live) along with Mae West(I’ll do a bio on her soon!). In 1911, again wearing male drag, 'That’s Why They Call Me Shine was sung by Aida Overton Walker in the Broadway production of His Honor: the Barber. Aida Overton Walker (1880-1914), Actress, dancer and singer Sitter in 3 portraits Singer, dancer, actress and choreographer. Williams and Walker were one of the few all-black acts allowed to perform on white vaudeville stage. Aida Overton Walker 1907.jpg 1,528 × 2,107 649 KB Aida Overton Walker 1910.jpg 500 × 705 86 KB Aida-overton-walker-pearl-necklace-white-studio-84-cpy. She also earned the nickname “The Queen of the Cakewalk,” after popularizing the dance of the same name. While performing with the group, Aida met her future husband, prominent vaudeville performer George Walker.Īfter their marriage, Aida began working as a choreographer for his groundbreaking vaudevillian comedy duo Williams and Walker. A turn-of-the-century vaudeville performer, Overton Walker earned worldwide stardom and the title the Queen of the Cake Walk, named after a dance that became a cultural phenomenon. She is the real life Medda Larkin.Īida was a 19th Century Vaudeville actress who worked in New York and also provided haven to the “newsies” or news boys who had no place to stay.īorn in New York City on Valentine’s Day 1880, Aida Overton began her career while still a teenager as a chorus member of Black Patti’s Troubadours Aida Overton Walker was someone I needed deeply, the British Ghanaian visual artist and actor Heather Agyepong tells me. B-eautiful: Aida Overton: The Real Medda Larkin
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