February 14, 2023 - Ada Overton Walker

Today on Valentine’s Day 2023, Lyles Station Historic Schoolhouse and Museum celebrates the birthday and career of the glamourous Ada Overton Walker, the Queen of the Cakewalk, born in 1880.
The first African-American international superstar started out dancing on the sidewalk with a hurdy-gurdy and went on to enjoy international fame, rivaling Josephine Baker. Her performances displayed her talent as a singer, dancer, actress, and choreographer.
Overton Walker took on the entertainment world, demonstrating that Blacks in show business were not required to demean themselves to gain applause, that they could be both dignified and respected.
Under her supervision, she and her husband refined the cakewalk, what had previously been considered as lower-class entertainment suitable for dance halls into what was seen as a “quintessential black modernist expression-a high art worthy of being performed before royalty, for the white elite, and on the concert stage”-and she did, presenting a command performance at Buckingham Palace for Edward VII in the royal family’s private quarters.
Overton Walker saw her performances on the theatre and stage as a way to argue against the long-held belief that actresses were morally unfit, that actresses could improve the “social, cultural, moral, and material conditions of women.” She believed that race relations overall could be improved through the performing arts, stating, "I venture to think and dare to state that our profession does more toward the alleviation of color prejudice than any other profession among colored people."
Young Ada began performing as a member of “Black Patti’s Troubadours” as a chorus member, after studying dance as a child-although her family described her as dancing before she could walk. In 1899, she met her husband George Walker and joined his vaudevillian comedy duo of Williams and Walker as the resident choreographer, establishing her in history as the first female black choreographer. They counteracted the demeaning minstrel shows of the time with positive ragtime musicals featuring authentic African-American songs and dances.
Tom Fletcher, author of 100 Years of the Negro in Show Business, stated she could do almost anything, and no matter whether it was a buck-and-wing, cakewalk, or even some form of grotesque dancing, she lent the performance a neat gracefulness of movement which was unsurpassed by anyone."
Historian Eric Ledell Smith described her as “the best black female dancer in the United States.” She took on everything from African style dance to ballroom dance to tango with grace. Her dance performance of “Salome” was perhaps her most famous.
James Weldon Johnson, a prominent figure in the Harlem Renaissance, described her as having “a low-pitched voice with a natural sob to it, which she knew how to use with telling effect in putting over a song."
Simply put, Ada Overton Walker represented the consummate performer.
Decades before Julie Andrews played the leading role in Victor/Victoria, Overton Walker donned her husband’s costumes and took over his role on stage after he fell ill during the stage performance of Bandanna Land. After his death, she continued to impersonate him on stage, and performed “The Barbary Coast,” a new dance craze, on stage.
In 1914, the living legend Ada Overton Walker, became the legendary Ada Overton Walker. She passed away from kidney failure when she was only thirty-four.