OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. – Once a hub for Black culture and arts, the Jewel Theater has begun restoration to return Oklahoma City’s Deep Deuce District. Revival efforts were made possible through a $1 million grant from the Mellon Foundation and advocacy efforts by state leaders.
“I didn’t know how I was gonna make this promise come into reality, but thank God we had community and people in the fold that said yes we want to continue to create and keep legacy in place,” said Ward 7 Councilmember and Oklahoma state Senator-elect Nikki Nice.
Originally built in the summer of 1931, The Jewel Theater was constructed and owned by Hathyel L. James and Percy H. James. The theater was revered highly by the city’s Black community, serving as a safe haven where they could watch movies without assigned segregated seating. As time went on, the business expanded to hosting concerts and plays.
James retired for health reasons in the 1960s and the theater closed soon after. Now, the theater has the opportunity to once again become a staple in Deep Deuce.
Despite closing over 50 years ago, the foundation stood the test of time. The original building was designed to be 28ft wide and 115ft long situated at 904 NE 4th Street.
Early restoration efforts include repairing the roofing and replacing interior and exterior brickwork. Phase one is expected to take nine months to a year until completion.
Significance of Historically Black Theaters
Black Americans have long established a place for themselves within the arts of stage performance. Early roots may have you believe that Black theater originated with minstrel shows, where white actors would depict Black people using blackface. However, Black theater can be traced back to days of enslavement.
Early African Americans would use performance to retell cultural folklore to preserve African knowledge and traditions. Plantation owners allowed these performances solely for their own benefit.
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As time progressed, particularly following slavery abolition, Black Americans gained more agency over their own stories. Black theater flourished in places like Harlem, Washington D.C. and Chicago. In 1925, Garland Anderson’s play Appearances, the first Broadway performance by a Black author, debuted. A decade later, Langston Hughes’s Mulatto became the first Broadway commercial success for a Black playwright.
Following World War II Black theater began to promote more progressive ideals rooted in racial revolution.
From Theatre to Theater
As the entertainment world shifted to focus more heavily on film media rather than live performance, the nature of Black theaters transformed. Segregation prevented Black Americans from experiencing movie magic to its fullest potential. Black communities took it upon themselves to create their own spaces dedicated to the art of storytelling.
The nature of systemic racism in America meant that Black theaters often had the latest movie releases withheld from them. Movie distributors prioritized more established theaters that practiced segregated seating. This fact meant that white and Black Americans had very different movie experiences.
Little by little, Black movie theaters began to pop up nationwide. The Jewel Theater founders also opened three other theaters in Ardmore, Wewoka and Amarillo, Texas. The Jewel first closed its doors in the 1960s, around the time the federal government abolished segregation. Just as society took time to accept desegregation, Black Americans slowly ventured into mainstream theaters.
From beginnings rooted in “making something out of nothing,” Black film culture eventually flourished. The contributions of early enslaved ancestors to Black American theater were not in vain. In 2013, 12 Years a Slave became the first film directed by a Black filmmaker to win the Oscar for Best Picture.