Goddess Energy and Black History Month
Olivette Miller
b. 2/2/1914 Aquarius, Chicago
d. April 27, 2003, Vegas
Olivette was the daughter of performers. Her mother was a sought after dancer and entertainer and her father, Flournoy Miller was a highly influential person in Black Vaudeville, Black Theater (Broadway especially), and the advent of Black films.
Her uncles were also producers for Vaudeville shows and performers as well.
Olivette attended an Ivy League prep school as well as a boarding school in Rhode Island.
She was musically inclined and took to studying the harp at Julliard as well as in Paris.
She played with several jazz performers and toured with an all Black orchestra during WWII.
Olivette is credited with having a small part in Rage in Harlem (1991). She also had frequent residencies in Vegas and played Broadway.
She was considered an eccentric socialite and she fought hard to keep her father's legacy and contributions to Black music, theater, and cinema alive. His papers, along with hers, are housed at Emory University with the Flournoy Miller Papers.
I love seeing Black women occupy spaces otherwise not reserved for them AND doing so in excellence.