1846 - George Washington Smith dances Albrecht in the first American production of Giselle

1868 - George Washington Smith Restages The Black Crook

1890 - Maria Sergeyevna Skorsiuk joins the Russian Imperial Ballet

1919 - Ella Gordon opens the Gordon School of Dance in New York City

1926 - Essie Marie Dorsey founds the Essie Marie Dorsey School of Dancing / Mabel Jones Freeman founds the Studio for Classical Dancing

1931 - Katherine Dunham forms Ballet Négre

1933 - Hemsley Winfield dances in and choreographs Metropolitan Opera's The Emperor Jones

1937 - American Negro Ballet gives its debut performance / Mildred B. Haessler founds the Mildred B. Haessler Ballet Company in Chicago, Illinois

1939 - Bernice Hammond founds Hammond Dance Studio, Washington DC

1940 - Negro Unit of Ballet Theatre is founded

1941 - Jones-Haywood School of Ballet is founded in Washington DC

1946 - Sydney King and Marion Cuyjet found the Sydney-Marion School of Dance in Philadelphia / The First Negro Classic Ballet is founded

1947 - First Negro Classic Ballet debuts / Talley Beatty and Betty Nichols perform Lew Christensen’s Blackface with Balanchine's Ballet Society

1948 - Therrell C. Smith School of Dance is founded in Washington DC / Ruth Williams School of Dance is founded in NYC / Sydney King School of Dance is founded in Philadelphia, PA / Marion Cuyjet founds the Judimar School of Dance

1950 - Arthur Bell dances in the World Premiere of Frederick Ashton's Illuminations with New York City Ballet

1951 - Janet Collins joins the Metropolitan Opera Ballet

1952 - Louis Johnson performs in Jerome Robbins’ Ballade with NYCB

1954 - Negro Dance Theater is founded / Delores Browne, John Jones, and Billy Wilson perform in Antony Tudor’s Offenbach in the Underworld

1955 - Arthur Mitchell joins New York City Ballet / Raven Wilkinson joins the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo in New York City / Janet Collins retires from the Metropolitan Opera Ballet

1957 - Ward Fleming founds Ballet Americana/New York Negro Ballet