000			03693cam a2200397Ii 4500
001			on1137821780
003			OCoLC
005			20240726105227.0
008			200201t20182018vauab ob s001 0beng d
040			_aYDX _beng _erda _cYDX _dNT _dOCLCF _dOSU
020			_a9780813941059 _q((electronic)l(electronic)ctronic)
050	0	4	_aGV1545 _b.R534 2018
049			_aMAIN
100	1		_aHodgson, John A., _d1945- _e1
245	1	0	_aRichard Potter : _bAmerica's first Black celebrity / _cJohn A. Hodgson.
260			_aCharlottesville : _bUniversity of Virginia Press, _c(c)2018.
300			_a1 online resource (xx, 318 pages) : _billustrations, map
336			_atext _btxt _2rdacontent
337			_acomputer _bc _2rdamedia
338			_aonline resource _bcr _2rdacarrier
347			_adata file _2rda
504			_a2
520	0		_aApart from a handful of exotic--and almost completely unreliable--tales surrounding his life, Richard Potter is almost unknown today. Two hundred years ago, however, he was the most popular entertainer in America--the first showman, in fact, to win truly nationwide fame. Working as a magician and ventriloquist, he personified for an entire generation what a popular performer was and made an invaluable contribution to establishing popular entertainment as a major part of American life. His story is all the more remarkable in that Richard Potter was also a black man. This was an era when few African Americans became highly successful, much less famous. As the son of a slave, Potter was fortunate to have opportunities at all. At home in Boston, he was widely recognized as black, but elsewhere in America audiences entertained themselves with romantic speculations about his "Hindu" ancestry (a perception encouraged by his act and costumes). Richard Potter's performances were enjoyed by an enormous public, but his life off stage has always remained hidden and unknown. Now, for the first time, John A. Hodgson tells the remarkable, compelling--and ultimately heartbreaking--story of Potter's life, a tale of professional success and celebrity counterbalanced by racial vulnerability in an increasingly hostile world. It is a story of race relations, too, and of remarkable, highly influential black gentlemanliness and respectability: as the unsung precursor of Frederick Douglass, Richard Potter demonstrated to an entire generation of Americans that a black man, no less than a white man, could exemplify the best qualities of humanity. The apparently trivial "popular entertainment" status of his work has long blinded historians to his significance and even to his presence. Now at last we can recognize him as a seminal figure in American history
505	0	0	_aThe Hopkinton years, 1783-1795 -- _tThe Boston years and Europe, 1795-1803 -- _tThe apprentice years and early career, 1804-1815 -- _tAscent to fame, 1815-1819 -- _tThe grand North American tour, 1819-1823 -- _tReturn to New England, 1824-1829 -- _tA New England icon, a broken family, 1829-1835
530			_a2 _ub
650		0	_aMagicians _zUnited States _vBiography.
650		0	_aAfrican American magicians _zUnited States _vBiography.
650		0	_aAfrican American entertainers _vBiography.
650		0	_aEntertainers _zUnited States _vBiography.
650		0	_aVentriloquists _zUnited States _vBiography.
655		1	_aElectronic Books.
856	4	0	_uhttps://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&db=nlabk&AN=2358381&site=eds-live&custid=s3260518 _zClick to access digital title | log in using your CIU ID number and my.ciu.edu password
942			_cOB _D _eEB _hGV. _m2018 _QOL _R _x _8NFIC _2LOC
994			_a92 _bNT
999			_c93313 _d93313
902			_a1 _bCynthia Snell _c1 _dCynthia Snell