ABT Negro Unit’s Black Ritual and Edith Hurd

The American Ballet Theatre’s all-Black Negro Unit, which was founded in 1940 as part of the Federal Theatre Project, included Edith Hurd, along with Lawaune Kennard, Lavinia Williams, Anne Jones, Dorothy Williams, Elizabeth Thompson, Evelyn Pilcher, Edith Ross, Leonore “Azelean” Cox, Mabel Hart, Maudelle Bass, Clementine Collinwood, Carole Ash, Bernice Willis, and Muriel Cook.  The Negro Unit only performed one ballet during its existence—Black Ritual or Obeah, which was choreographed by Agnes de Mille and premiered in 1940.

Edith Hurd performed with members of Black Ritual in other works. Hurd and Bernice Johnson joined in the original Broadway cast of Swingin’ the Dream, which premiered in 1939. In the same year, she, Edith Ross, and Muriel Cook were part of the original cast of Lew Leslie’s Blackbirds of 1939. She then performed with Dorothy Williams, Valerie Black, Edith Hurd, Mabel Anderson, and Evelyn Pilcher in Carmen Jones in 1943. 

More about Edith Hurd

Edith Hurd was born in 1916 and was a member of the Negro Unit of Ballet Theatre. She performed in the original Broadway casts of Lew Leslie’s Blackbirds of 1939, Swingin’ the Dream (1939), ‘Op-O’-Me Thumb (1924), and The Will O’ the Wisp (1923). Hurd was also featured in Carmen Jones on Broadway, which ran from December 1943 to February 1945.

Hurd passed away in 1987.

Sources:

Black Ritual (Obeah), American Ballet Theatre
Edith Hurd, Playbill
The Complete Books of 1930s Broadway Musicals by Dan Dietz

Caprice Turchiano

 

 

Madeline Crawford