Am I the only african american mentalist?????


check me out http://www.myspace.com/mentalv

Old post but to answer the original question, I am.

Branden Darcel,

I am

There's a few of us out here in these streets.

Search Benji Bruce on the Café.

Peace.

NM

I would recommend watching the documentary I watched last night, "Quiet Masters: The History and Relevance of the Black Magical Artist" produced and directed by Kenrick "ICE" McDonald. It's included free with Amazon Prime Video. The 96 minute film covers magicians, especially American ones, through history, starting with Richard Potter, the first American born professional magician and continuing through to today. One particular African American mentalist I was impressed with was Tessa Evason of the husband and wife mentalist duo, The Evasons.

Natural Mystic,
Nice to meet ya. Benji Bruce is actually one of my best friends and we talk pretty regularly, though he’s not really in the game anymore (moved on to other business ventures). Amazing mentalist though.

DaKine, I’m going to look that up! Thanks for the tip.

Bd

Https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B07HHF8G6N

Tessa Evanson is a remarkable person as well as a highly talented performer (as is her husband), and she is preceded in performing the two person telepathy act in this country by Lucille Kellies, who performed the act with her husband Jacob Kellies "the Black Wonder" as early as 1866. Maybe the first ones in America? Jacob was performing his a magic act prior to the Civil War, but took time out of performing to join Connecticut's first African American regiment and took Richmond, ending the war. After Lucille's untimely death, their daughter Viola presented the amazing act with her father Jacob. And yes, Henry "Box" Brown performed the second sight act with his second wife, a Cornish woman by the name of Jane. The two person telepathy act was a feature of Joseph Downing, who revolutionized the presentation of two person telepathy disguised as Prince Joveddah de Rajah. His act was highly acclaimed and a top money making vaudeville show. An assistant of his, Prince Ali Sadhoo, ended up going out on his own and also featured the two person telepathy act. Both of them used Caucasian assistants. Princess Mysteria (who performed the telepathy act with her husband) was probably the best known black mentalist of her time, adding her own twist to the presentation. Professor J. Hartford Armstrong, "King of the Colored Conjurors," featured the act using his brother, then wife, then daughter, as assistant. Black Herman included the two person telepathy act in his program, featuring "Madame Deborah Sapphirra from Spain." One of the earliest female black magicians/mentalists was Princess Sotanki, who also was a lion tamer, snake charmer, and exotic dancer. She led her own magic troupe before the turn of the century and had a remarkable life with plenty of mystery. The stories of all these incredible entertainers, and then some, can be read in my newest book That Old Black Magic, available on Lulu.

Jim,

Inquiring minds want to know,

What was the impetus for becoming the authority on African American magicians/mentalists?

NM

Funny you should ask. . . A lot of people have asked me that very question, and it all came about by accident. I was in college in Michigan in the 1970s, and took a course on African American studies (all the cool students were taking that class at that time). I was working my way through college performing magic shows. When were all assigned to write a term paper for the class, I decided to write my paper on African American magicians from history. I went through my library, then the libraries of magician friends, and then the local libraries including the Detroit public library, I could find NOTHING on the subject. Some of the best known magicians in town said there were none, which I refused to believe. I finally contacted Robert Lund, the proprietor of the American Museum of Magic, who put me in touch with Fetaque Sanders (and gave me some other names). Fetaque offered to help me with the project ONLY if it was not just a college term paper but an actual book to allow others to know the stories. I agreed, and spent a week and a half with him in Nashville. He, along with David Price and Robert Lund, gave me the clues I needed to do the research.
I found the stories that I uncovered were amazing and almost entirely untold stories from magic's history. First came my article on Fetaque that placed him on the cover of Linking Ring, followed by my series on Blacks in Magic that won a Linking Ring trophy. It took longer before the first book came out in 1995. That won a Society of American Magicians award. I went onto other projects and thought I was done with the subject. But every February I am asked to present my Powerpoint lecture at libraries and civic groups, local and otherwise, and all year long people keep sending me information on the subject, expanding on information and correcting information in the book, and after twenty years I found myself with boxes of notes on the subject. I was asked to update the information by some big names, and when I finished adding to the research I found myself with over 800 pages of notes. I had to cull the very best material for That Old Black Magic. I still find the material incredibly fascinating and mind blowing, and I believe that most people - not just magicians - will find it the same way. Thanks for asking.

Jim,

I just ordered "That Old Black Magic" as a token of appreciation for your hard work.

Thanks,

Walter