ED DANAHUE

Elvis Presley swears in to the U.S. Army, March 24, 1958. (Associated Press photo/Public Domain)

ROSS SIMPSON

NEW YORK (AP) — The Shubert Organization’s Cort Theatre on Broadway will be renamed after James Earl Jones, fulfilling a
promise by the theater giant to honor a Black artist in such
a way.

According to a statement by the Shuberts,The James Earl Jones
Theatre renaming is "in recognition of Mr. Jones’ lifetime of
immense contributions to Broadway and the entire artistic
community,"

The Cort Theatre is 110 years old and was built by and named for
John Cort, general manager of the Northwestern Theatrical
Association, who died in 1929. There are 41 Broadway theaters,
four are named for women and now two for Black artists.

Hiram Rhodes Revels (September 27, 1827 – January 16, 1901)

Hiram Rhodes Revels, a Republican from Natchez, Mississippi, 
was sworn into the U.S. Senate on February 25, 1870, becoming
the first African American ever to sit in Congress.

During the Civil War, Revels, a college-educated minister, helped
form African American army regiments for the Union cause,
started a school for freed men, and served as a chaplain for the
Union army.

Drawing of Revels being sworn in.

The first organized immigration of freed enslaved people to Africa
from the United States departed New York harbor on a journey to Freetown, Sierra Leone, in West Africa. The immigration was largely
the work of the American Colonization Society, a U.S. organization founded in 1816 by Robert Finley to return formerly enslaved
African people to Africa. However, the expedition was also partially funded by the U.S. Congress, which in 1819 had appropriated
$100,000 to be used in returning displaced Africans, illegally
brought to the United States after the abolishment of the slave
trade in 1808, to Africa.

The program was modeled after British’s efforts to resettle formerly enslaved people in Africa following England’s abolishment of the
slave trade in 1772.

Most Americans of African descent were not enthusiastic to
abandon their homes in the United States for the West African
coast.