Sam Lucas
[2][3][4] Lucas' career began in blackface minstrelsy, but he later became one of the first African Americans to branch out into more serious drama, with roles in seminal works such as The Creole Show and A Trip to Coontown.
[5] He was vocal about liberating himself from the minstrel profession and was the only composer of spirituals in his time to present them consistently within the context of jubilee concerts.
Meanwhile, he found ways to integrate his African-American roots into the mostly white form; for instance, his tune "Carve Dat Possum" borrowed its melody from a black religious song, although Henry Hart (musician) may have been the source.
As black minstrelsy grew popular with the general public, Lucas became one of its first celebrities, particularly known for his portrayals of pitiable, comic characters.
In 1875, for instance, he performed alongside Emma and Anna Hyers in Out of Bondage, a musical drama about a freed slave who is made over to fit into upper-class, white society.
Their answer was to stage a serious production of Uncle Tom's Cabin with a black man in the lead role.
[citation needed] Lucas rejoined the Hyers Sisters for The Underground Railroad, only to go back to blackface acts after its run.
Much of this output shows a more African American perspective when compared to work of other black composers, such as James Bland.
In 1907, Lucas starred in the second showing of an original musical comedy from Cole and Johnson, The Shoe-Fly Regiment, which ran from June 3, 1907, to August 17, 1907.
[16] Lucas later performed in another original musical comedy The Red Moon, portraying Bill Webster, a barber.
[18] In 1913, Lucas starred in the unfinished film, Lime Kiln Field Day, produced by the Biograph Company and Klaw and Erlanger.
[19][20] This silent film was shot on location in the South with scenes of its fields of cotton and Mississippi river boats.
[citation needed] After completing Uncle Tom's Cabin, Lucas died in 1916 from pneumonia, following liver disease for many years.
