Nina Mae Mc Kinney, a native of Lancaster, SC born in 1912, became known as the Black Garbo. Starring on Broadway in the 1928 musical Blackbirds with Bill Bojangles Robinson, she was notice by a famed Hollywood director, Vidor, who cast her in the film Hallelujah which received critical acclaim and made McKinney one of the first Black actresses in a leading role. She also became the first Black actress to sign a 5 yr. contract with MGM. She was cast in movies but the studios had a strict code that prohibited Black actresses to have glamorous roles on par with her caucasian counterparts and MGM consistently cut large portions of her role in films she made with them. For better opportunities, she migrated to Europe where she found work as a cabaret performer as well as in film and on the BBC. She lived for a while in Athens Greece after her failed marriage with an American movie director. Her return to America
in the late thirties met with some success. She did race films, yet could only gain minor roles in Hollywood film. She continued her career on stage and found herself back in Europe in the late fifties to take advantage of more opportunities there. Her dreams of Hollywood stardom were stifled because she couldn’t be cast in premiere roles like those she excelled in on the European scene but her expansive and diverse work, along with stage presence and stunning beauty
established Nina Mae McKinney as a great talent. She passed at the age of 54 in New York and since have received many honors.

Contributed By Ms. C. Buford for Black History Month 2020