Footnotes: The Black Artists Who Rewrote the Rules of the Great White Way (Sourcebooks, 2021)

Before Hamilton, before The Wiz, and even before Porgy and Bess, there was Shuffle Along, the all-Black Broadway musical from 1921 that was an enormous success at a time when no one was sure if America was ready for a show featuring nuanced, thoughtful portrayals of Black characters. Footnotes is the story of how composers Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake, along with comedians Flournoy Miller and Aubrey Lyles, overcame poverty, racism, and violence to harness the energy of the Harlem Renaissance and produce a runaway Broadway hit that launched the careers of many of the 20th century’s most beloved Black performers.

About the author
Caseen Gaines has written for Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, and New York magazine. He received an MA from Rutgers in American Studies, focusing on racial representations in popular culture.