January 25, 1896 - November 1, 1927

• Florence Mills (born Florence Winfrey) was one of the greatest entertainers and singing, dancing jazz performers the world has ever seen.

• She was one of the all-time greatest stars of the black theatre, the first black international female superstar of the Twentieth century and a major figure of the Harlem Renaissance

• Florence Mills was steeped in the traditions of  African-based black music and black dance that gave the world the Spirituals ('sorrow songs'), the Blues, Ragtime, Jazz and the basis of much of today's popular culture

• She was also a truly lovable, charitable, socially and intellectually aware woman, who spoke out for the rights of her fellow African Americans.

• Florence Mills is largely forgotten and neglected today, mainly because the primitive recording techniques of the early twentieth century couldn't capture her remarkable voice, and she was never filmed, so no record of her performance remains.

• The purpose of this site is to help reclaim for her the status and respect her remarkable talents and heroic personality warrant, in the eyes of the world and of her fellow African-Americans, to whom she was so important in the 1920s.

•  Check the links below to learn about Florence Mills' true greatness, or better still, read  The Book !  

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One of Florence's most fervent admirers was the great Paul Robeson.  During a difficult time in his life she helped him by finding him a slot in her show Plantation Revue. Paul said:
“I donned some overalls and a straw hat and warbled ‘Li’l Gal’ to a chorine. How thrilling it was to listen to Florence Mills sing nightly”
 “Li’l Gal.” was a charming dialect poem by Paul Laurence Dunbar, originally set to music by J. Rosamund Johnson for the Cole and Johnson show The Shoo-fly Regiment. Here is Paul's version:

Li'l Gal

(From: The Collector's Paul Robeson: Smithsonian Folkways  MON61580)

                                   Florence Mills: Month by Month
                                   ^JULY               
    
 1911    Plays Happy Hour Theatre, Philadelphia with Mills Sisters
 1914    Plays Palace Theatre DC with Mills Sisters
 1919    Plays Pantages Theatres, Edmonton and Calgary, with Panama Trio
 1920    Florence Mills Trio featured @ Lincoln Theatre (Harlem)
 1922    Stars in Plantation Revue @ Lafayette Theatre (Harlem)
 1922    Stars in Plantation Revue on 48th St Theatre (first Black mainline  Broadway show)
 1923    Stars in Dover Street to Dixie @ London Pavilion
 1924    Her new show, Dixie to Broadway, opens at Asbury Park (Main St Theatre)
 1926    In Blackbirds of 1926, sharing bill with Paul Whiteman @ Paris Les Ambassadeurs
 1926    Simultaneously stars in Blackbirds @ Champs Elysees, and Dixie  to Paris @ Les Ambassadeurs in Paris
 1927    Plays Blackbirds @ Glasgow Alhambra and Manchester Palace, for 2 weeks though seriously ill

This site is presented by Bill Egan. To contact me or make suggestions (hopefully polite) e-mail me at: (replacing  [AT] with @  )
Bill [AT] FlorenceMills.com
For information on Florence Mills: Info [AT] FlorenceMills.com
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