Ephraim Williams (circus owner)

Prof Eph Williams
Born
Ephraim Williams

(1860-07-19)July 19, 1860
Nashville, Tennessee
Died13 December 1921(1921-12-13) (aged 60–61)
Jacksonville, Florida
Burial placeRiverside Cemetery (Oshkosh, Wisconsin)
Occupation(s)Circus proprietor; equestrian performer
Years active1885−1921
Spouse
  • Rhoda Amelia Black
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1892; died 1918)​

Ephraim Williams (July 19, 1860 – December 13, 1921)[1][2] was an American circus owner. Also known as Prof. Eph Williams, he was the first Black circus owner in the United States in the 1880s, and he was likely the only Black circus owner in the country until his death.[3][4][5] He owned several circuses including the Ferguson and Williams Monster Show, Professor Williams' Consolidated American and German Railroad Shows, and an all-Black tent show named Silas Green from New Orleans, which became one of the longest-running tent shows in history.[4] He called himself "The Black P.T. Barnum".[3] In 1897, the Freeman newspaper described him as "the only Negro circus owner in America."[6]

  1. ^ "Pioneer Showman Dies". Oshkosh Northwestern. December 16, 1921. p. 4.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference :3 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b Loohauis-Bennett, Jackie (July 7, 2009). "Troupe tells story of black performers". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Retrieved March 19, 2024.
  4. ^ a b Hughes, Sakina M. (2021). "Reconstruction, Railroads, and Race: The American Circus in the Gilded Age and the Progressive Era". In Arrighi, Gilliam; Davis, Jim (eds.). The Cambridge Companion to the Circus. Cambridge University Press. pp. 44–45. ISBN 978-1-108-48516-6.
  5. ^ Sampson, Henry T. (October 30, 2013). Blacks in Blackface: A Sourcebook on Early Black Musical Shows. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0-8108-8351-2.
  6. ^ Abbott, Lynn (2002). Out of sight : the rise of African American popular music, 1889-1895. Internet Archive. Jackson : University Press of Mississippi. p. 98. ISBN 978-1-57806-499-1.