(July 24, 1807 - 1867)
Actor/Playwright

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• Born July 24, 1807 his place of birth is variously listed as New York (most likely), Maryland and Senegal (where reported to be of a royal tribe in Africa). Billed as the "African Roscius."
  

• The son of a straw vendor, Daniel Aldridge who had high standing in the Old Zion Church.
  

• First U.S. actor to achieve critical and popular acclaim on the European stage. He was the first Negro to play roles such as Macbeth, Shylock and King Lear.
  

• 1820-1824 - Educated at the African Free School which was established in New York in 1787 by the Manumission Society. The main purpose of the school was to create a Negro intelligentsia which later participated actively in the leadership of the Abolitionist movement.
  

• 1822 - Performed his stage debut for the African Company in New York under the guidance of the lead actor, James Hewlett. The role was that of Rolla in Pizarro.
  

• After the 1823 closing of the African Company, Aldridge moved to England. His first engagement was at the Royal Coburg Theater in London in which he played Oroonoko in the play, The Revolt of Surinam: or A Slave's Revenge.
  

• Continued to perform in other plays at the Royal Coburg Theater such as The Slave (Morton) in which he played Gambie, as Cristophe in The Death of Cristophe, in King of Haiti (Amherst), and the title role in Shakespeare's Othello.
  

• 1825 - Attended Glasgow University where he received several premiums and medals for Latin composition.
  

• 1827 - Performed in numerous plays in Britain. The first was the title role in Shakespeare's King Lear. Others included Zanga in The Revenge, Mungo in The Padlock (Bickerstaff), Hassan in The Castle Spectre (Lewis) and Ginger Blue in Virginian Mummy (Rice).
  

• 1833 - Performed at Covent Garden. This was the first time a U.S. actor had performed at one of the greatest stages in the English-speaking world. As expected, he had a mixed response. Half the audience loved him and the other half booed him with racial slurs. He continued to perform in the lesser houses of England, Ireland and Scotland.
  

• 1847 - Completed The Black Doctor, an adaptation of a French play. Fabian (likely Aldridge due to his own mixed heritage), a mulatto doctor heals, loves and marries a daughter of a French aristocrat.
  

• 1853 - Despite having a strong reputation and being very popular, Aldridge was ignored by the major London theatres. He left London to start his first continental tour.
  

• He became very popular in the German states where he became a favorite of royalty and the recipient of numerous honors due to his great performances as Othello, Macbeth and Shylock.
  

• 1855 - Returned to England to tour the provinces.
  

• 1863 - Made England his adopted home and became a British citizen never to return to the U.S.
  

• Aldridge married twice, first to Margaret Gill in 1825 (died 1864), then to his second wife, Amanda Pauline von Brandt in 1865. Although he fathered at least five children, it is not clear that Margaret knew of them. Ira Daniel (1847), Irene Laranah Pauline (1860), Ira Frederick Olaff (1862), Amanda...
  

• 1867 - Died in Poland while performing at Lodz due to an affliction of the heart.
  

• Received numerous awards abroad including an honor from the Republic of Haiti for service to his race, the Prussian Gold Medal for Arts and Science from King Frederick, and the Medal of Ferdinand from Franz Joseph of Astria for his performance of Othello.
  

Note should be taken that the contradictory nature of the available information on Aldridge's performance is indicative of the attempts by jealous and fearful white critics to malign a first great Black Shakespearean actor.

"... a dark star whose brilliance has been dimmed by sins of omission and commission of the white world."

Hatch, James V. Black Theater, U.S.A: 45 Plays by Black Americans, 1847-1974. New York: The Free Press, 1974.

Hay, Samuel A. African American Theatre: An Historical and Critical Analysis. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1994.

Hill, Errol, ed. The Theatre of Black Americans: A Collection of Critical Essays. New York: Applause Theatre Book Publishers, 1980, 1987.

Hill, Errol. Shakespeare in Sable: A History of Black Shakespearean Actors. Amherst: The University of Massachusetts Press, 1984.

Marshal, Herbert and Mildred Stock. Ira Aldridge: The Negro Tragedian. Rockcliff: London, 1958.