Today in our History – November 28, 1914 - Gertrude Hadley Jeannette was born.

GM – LIF– Today’s American Champion was an American?playwright ?and film and stage actress.?She is also known for being the first woman to work as a licensed taxi driver in New York City, which she began doing in 1942.?Despite being blacklisted during the?Red Scare ?in the 1950s,?she wrote five plays and founded the H.A.D.L.E.Y. Players in?Harlem, New York , remaining active in mentoring?African-American ?actors in New York City.

In the 1960s and 1970s she appeared in Broadway productions such as?The Long Dream,?Nobody Loves an Albatross ,?The Amen Corner ,?The Skin of Our Teeth ?and?Vieux Carré . She also appeared in films such as?Cotton Comes to Harlem ?in 1969,?Shaft ?in 1971,?and?Black Girl ?in 1972. She acted into her 80s and retired from directing theater at the age of 98.

Today in our History – N0vember 28, 1914 - ?Gertrude Hadley Jeannette?(November 28, 1914?– April 4, 2018)?was born.

Gertrude Jeannette was born on November 28, 1914 in?Urbana, Arkansas .?Salley Getrude Crawford Hadley, her mother, was a homemaker. Willis Lawrence Hadley, her father, taught on a?Native American reservation ?near?Spiro, Oklahoma . Gertrude Jeannette had five brothers and one sister, and grew up on a farm. The family moved to?Little Rock, Arkansas ?during the?Great Depression , and she enrolled at the?segregated ?Dunbar High School .

In 1935 she became the first woman to get a license to drive a motorcycle in New York City, and she joined her husband's?motorcycle club ?in the early 1940s.?In 1942, she took and passed the cab driver's test and became the first female cab driver in New York City.

In 1949, she was present at the?Peekskill Riots , when the?Ku Klux Klan ?attempted to lynch?Paul Robeson .?Her husband worked as a bodyguard for Robeson,?and during the riot, she and her husband rushed to the motorcycles to help get Robeson out.

Using money she earned as a taxi driver, she enrolled in a speech class to help manage her stammer. The one class she could find was at the?American Negro Theater ?in Harlem. Acting was part of the curriculum, and because of that, she studied along with notable actors such as?Sidney Poitier ,?Ruby Dee ?and?Ossie Davis .

"Singled out for her stage presence,"?in 1945, she played her first lead role in the play?Our Town.?She continued to drive a cab until 1949, when she landed a role in?Lost in the Stars ,?her first?Broadway ?production.

She began writing plays in 1950, writing about strong women that "no one would be ashamed to play." She wrote five plays, and as a "demanding" director, she mentored young black actors in New York. Her first play was her favorite. Titled?The Way Forward?and premiered in 1950, it related to her childhood.?

Jeannette also performed in it.?Jeannette relates being blacklisted during the?Red Scare ?of the 1950s due to her association?with her friend?Paul Robeson , who was also blacklisted.?Even though blacklisted, she set up a succession of theater companies in Harlem.

In the 1960s and 1970s she appeared in a number of Broadway theater productions. Among them were?The Long Dream?(1960),?Nobody Loves an Albatross ?(1963),?The Amen Corner ?(1965),?The Skin of Our Teeth ?(1975) and?Vieux Carré ?(1977). In 1970 she appeared in the film?Cotton Comes to Harlem , and in 1972 she appeared in the film?Black Girl .?Her film credits also include?Shaft .

In 1979, she founded the H.A.D.L.E.Y. players (Harlem Artist’s Development League Especially for You). She acted into her 80s, retiring from directing at the age of 98.

Jeannette was one of several prominent African American theater directors featured in the 13 minute documentary?Drama Mamas: Black Women Theatre Directors In the Spotlight and Remembered, which was shown at the?Reel Sisters of the Diaspora ?Film Festival in?Brooklyn, New York ?in March 2006.

Her husband, Joe Jeannette, first proposed to her on her?prom night , and she refused, "walking off the floor." They eloped to New York in 1933. Her only son, Robert, was born in 1935, dying at age five.?Her husband, a?prizefighter ?and president of the motorcycle club the Harlem Dusters,?died in 1956.

She?turned 100 ?in November 20.?She died on April 4, 2018 at the age of 103?at her home in Harlem. She was survived by many nephews and nieces. Research more about this great American Champion and share it with your babies. Make it a champion day!

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