I was looking to see if there were any other famous magicians of color and there are actually more than I had thought. One man, Benjamin Rucker (aka Black Herman) was a prominent Harlem magician of his time. What was interesting was the uses of dark spaces such as in his claims of being from the “dark jungles of Africa” (Chireau), yet he was born in the US. Additionally the creation of his persona itself as a caricature shows the influence African superstitious customs had on magic and the creation of illusion.
Works Cited
Chireau, Yvonne P. “Black Herman’s African American Magical Synthesis: Between Folklore and Vaudeville”, Cabinet, Summer 2007, http://www.cabinetmagazine.org/issues/26/chireau.php.