The Alabama Troubadours And C.H. Perkins/A Band Of Afro-American Celebrities (broadsheet) -

14 1/2" X 10 1/2" Approx. Circa 1896-1897. Broadsheet printed on bothsides. There were two groups known as the Alabama Troubadours. The original (represented here) were those managed by C.H. Perkins. It advertised in New England from 1896 to 1897. They had moderate success attempting to put on shows in churches, public halls, and elsewhere for admission from 15 to 25 cents with reserved seats at 35 cents. Their broadsheets boldly note: A BAND OF AFRO-AMERICAN CELEBRITIES. They featured the soprano Madame Perkins known as "The Southern Nightingale". C.H. Perkins notes he is known as "The Great Tenor Songster". They announce that among their performers are 15 colored artists, [that are] Genuine colored People emancipated by President Lincoln's Proclamation. J.W. Gorman took over the name with his own African-American performers but used the term "greatest colored show" and minstrels in his ads. He was able to secure larger halls and admission was 50 cents to a dollar. The original Alabama Troubadours noted in the Barre Evening Telegram (Barre, Vermon) that they are not to be identified with Gorman's Minstrels as many believed. They write: "a company direct from the South and there is no better road". In the Colored American Magazine, August 1900 (Vol. 1, No. 3), it mentions Soprano singer Madame Perkins of Boston. Just as the Ink Spots lost so much in the early 1940's lost a small fortune by the failure to copyright their name, even so this was the case with the original Alabama Troubadours. Lightly stamped: Town Hall, Westbrook, Monday, Feb. 21st. [1898] There is no record of this broadsheet (printed on both sides) in OCLC.