Odessa Warren Grey

According to her entry in Frank Lincoln Mather's Who's Who of the Colored Race: A General Biographical Dictionary of Men and Women of African Descent (1915), she was born in Greenfield, Ohio, on August 13, 1883, to Edward A. and Sadie K. (Tyre) Warren.

[3][4] After Madge left the stage to marry the world lightweight boxing champion Joe Gans,[5] Warren continued to perform in vaudeville, and in 1902, joined Williams and Walker's production In Dahomey.

For example, in May 1909, "Miss Odessa Warren" participated in a benefit for the "Children's Home" of St. Philip's Episcopal Church of Harlem, that was organized by Aida Overton Walker, Richard C. McPherson and John E. Nail and held at the old Grand Central Palace at Lexington Avenue and East 43rd Street.

Coming on after the opening number, Warren, with fellow dancer and actress Maggie Davis (who later married Jesse Shipp) gave a spirited rendition of Joe Jordan's "That Teasin' Rag"; "Misses Davis and Warren are considered two of the best chorus girls in the business, and they lived up to the reputations they established.

[15] In unedited footage of a film shot in 1913, Warren stars opposite Bert Williams as a local beauty he's trying to woo.

In addition to the legendary Bert Williams the film also features Sam Lucas, Abbie Mitchell and J. Leubrie Hill with members of the Darktown Follies Company.

[16] The film was being produced by the Biograph Company for Klaw and Erlanger, and was directed by Edwin Middleton, T. Hunter Hayes, and Sam Corker Jr.

However, the film was never released and the reels were found in 1938 by Museum of Modern Art staff members at an abandoned Biograph Studios site in New York.

"[20] Sadie Warren took over her husband's share of the newspaper; she hired Jesse Shipp as its managing editor and T. Thomas Fortune to write editorials.

[20] While involved with the day-to-day operations of the newspaper, Warren also continued with her millinery shop, which in September 1923 moved to 2293 Seventh Avenue, just below West 135th Street.

[26] He also played professional baseball, and served in World War I as a member of the 369th Infantry Regiment (United States), the "Harlem Hellfighters.