Mar 20 at 10:30 AM - Sale 2697 -

Sale 2697 - Lot 230

Estimate: $ 7,000 - $ 10,000
(ENTERTAINMENT--THEATER.) Ira Aldridge broadside for his starring role in "The Slave," and performing his Jim Crow song. Letterpress broadside, 13½ x 8¼ inches; disbound on left edge, minor wear including small puncture in upper text area, inked number in upper corner. Chichester, England: City Press, 30 July 1847
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Ira Frederick Aldridge (1807-1867) was an African-American actor who was born in New York but emigrated in 1824 in search of greater opportunities. He slowly worked his way up through the regional theaters of Great Britain and Ireland, often billing himself as a native of Africa. He was brought in to play Othello at Covent Garden's Theatre Royal, and went on to a long career as one of England's leading actors. He is the only actor of African descent to be honored with a plaque at the Shakespeare Memorial Theater.

This program is from a benefit performance for Aldridge at the height of his fame. By this point, he was known as "the African Roscius" after the ancient Roman actor. The show was "for the benefit of the African Roscius and positively his last appearance" (last in the small city of Chichester during this tour, we presume). He was billed to star in "The Slave! or, The Blessings of Liberty" as Gambia the Slave; followed by his performance of the "Negro melody 'Oppossum up a Gum Tree'"; and finally "the African Roscius will sing his new and peculiar version of Jim Crow, with local allusions to the races, the railway, elections &c." How we doin' out there, Chichester?

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