The production competed directly with the most popular and well-funded Broadway shows of its time. We could see ourselves on stage and contribute to its success. Its lasting legacy would build the careers of millions of Black performers and crew members, & foster imaginations through representations

A 16-year-old Josephine Baker also made history as a performer on the first all-female chorus line on Broadway, through her role in the original run of the musical. This musical helped launch the careers of legends like Hal Johnson, William Grant Still, Florence Mills, Paul Robeson, & Bessie Allison

Black Love had finally been portrayed on the stage. The production desegregated Broadway audiences. Diverse audiences surged into theaters. The set was minimal, the costumes were hand-me-downs, and it even portrayed negative stereotypes alongside its positive depiction of our community.

It’s exciting to see the past and the present connect. While we’re holding companies accountable for their DEI dissolutions, Ruggles would boycotted the sale of food products made without slave labor through the Quakers' Free Produce Movement at his grocery store in the 1800s

The destruction of the bookstore wouldn’t stop Ruggles or weaken his role in the antislavery movement. It actually pushed him in further. His writing and publishing continued and he used his home as a station on the early days of the Underground Railroad. He even helped Frederick Douglass escape!

89 of those African American medical officers went and served in France during the war.

These HBCUs were actively recruiting alumni to volunteer their medical services. Because of segregation, a new Medical Officers Training Camp needed to be created specifically for us out in Des Moines, Iowa.