James Hewlett (actor)

He was principal actor in and co-creator of William Alexander Brown's African Grove Theatre in New York City.

[1][2][3][4] Hewlett started performing as a vocalist and as an actor described as "Shakespeare's proud Representative" in the African Grove when it was just an exhibition held in Brown's tea garden.

[6] After the closure of the theatre, he began to tour performing excerpts from plays; historian Shane White suggests that Hewlett may have been "the best-known black New Yorker" around 1831.

[7] He also visited the United Kingdom and apparently performed in Liverpool, although documentary evidence of this is limited.

[8] George Thompson, who has researched the history of the theatre, concluded that Hewlett was a tailor and may have been an emigrant from the West Indies.