Kenrick "Ice" McDonald
Henry "Box " Brown
BlackPast.org Blog
Tuesday, August 5, 2014
Hazel Singer writes:
The world of magicians, also known as illusionists, is not one that most
of us enter, other than to be entertained. There is a long history of
magicians in the African American community. The most recent entry into
the history books is the election in July 2014 of Kenrick "Ice" McDonald
as president of the Society of American Magicians, one of the most
prestigious and oldest societies in the world. Mr. McDonald is the first
African American to hold this post. An interview with Mr. McDonald can
be heard at this link.
***
The first known African American magician was Richard Potter,
born in Hopkinton, New Hampshire in 1783. His father was a white
British tax collector/baronet and his mother an African servant. He was
educated in Europe and then had a successful 25 year career performing
throughout New England and Canada. He died in 1835, aged 52.
The most well known African American magician was Henry "Box" Brown.
Mr Brown's legendary status was born when he shipped himself, in a box,
from Richmond, Virginia to freedom in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Born
in 1816, a slave on the Barrett plantation in Richmond, Virginia, he is
believed to have died in 1889. While Mr. Brown did not practice the arts
of illusion after his most amazing first act, that singular success
sealed his reputation.
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