Credit: Courtesy of the Theater Collection, Free Library of Philadelphia
When black bankers E.C. Brown and Andrew Stevens built the Dunbar Theater in 1919 they hoped it would become a place where African Americans could see the finest acts and performances without discrimination, including this 1921 performance by the New York Lafayette Players of the religious play The Ninety and Nine . Unable to attract sufficient audiences, the partners in 1921 sold the theater to competitor John T. Gibson, who diversified the bill and started showing movies. In 1925 Gibson hired Hewitt Bunday, who became the first African-American film projectionist in the United States.
