Florence Mills

Photo: E. Azalia Hackley Collection of African Americans in the Performing Arts, Detroit Public Library

Florence Mills (1896 - 1927), was never captured on film and her voice was never recorded. Just two of the factors why, with each successive generation, Florence Mills always remains on the verge of being forgotten. Yet, there's something in the collective consciousness of African Americans that refuses to totally forget her. In the 1920's, she was the biggest star, period. She was the first Black woman to appear in the pages of Vogue and Vanity Fair. Her voice was high and birdlike. She was a small, petite woman with a winsome, wide-eyed beauty. Known as The Little Blackbird, she was most effervescent on stage with her high-kickin', tireless and high octane performances. Though born in Washington, DC., Harlem was home to Mills. After a grueling, whirlwind tour of England, Mills returned home gravely ill with appendicitis. Her death, a month later at the age of 31, set off an outpouring of love and grief, memory and flowers, affection and music that Harlem had ever seen. Her body lay in state for a week in the chapel of the Howell Undertaking Parlors at 137th & Seventh Avenue, and her funeral at Mount Zion African Methodist Episcopal Church attracted an estimated 5000 mourners. Numerous accounts suggest that at least 150,000 people lined the streets outside while hundreds of blackbirds were released by helicopter above. The great Duke Ellington wrote, "Black Beauty" in memory of the great lady.