Biographical Overview & Key Facts

Subject:

Master Juba

Role / Field:

Pioneering African-American tapdancer who influenced jazz and step dancing.

Born:

1825

Died:

1852

Century / Era:

1825s Historical Era

Database Source:

2Day Chrono-Wiki & Wikipedia CC BY-SA 4.0

Origins & Early Life

Master Juba (c. 1825 – c. 1854) was an African-American dancer active in the 1840s. He was one of the first black performers in the United States to play onstage for white audiences and the only one of the era to tour with a white minstrel group.

Pivotal Works & Achievements

His real name was believed to be William Henry Lane, and he was also known as "Boz's Juba" following Charles Dickens's graphic description of him in his 1842 travelogue American Notes. By affecting blackface performance, Juba was highly influential in the development of such American dance styles as tap, jazz, and step dancing. As a teenager, he began his career in the rough saloons and dance halls of New York's Five Points neighborhood, moving on to minstrel shows in the mid-1840s. "Master Juba" frequently challenged and defeated the best white dancers, including the period favorite, John Diamond. At the height of his American career, Juba's act featured a sequence in which he imitated a series of famous dancers of the day and closed by performing in his style.

Enduring Legacy & Impact

Being a black man, he appeared with minstrel troupes in which he imitated white minstrel dancers caricaturing black dance, obscuring his underlying ethnic identity with blackface. Even...

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Frequently Asked Questions about Master Juba