Scrapbook and ephemera related to the life and career of Bernice Harrison, prima ballerina for the First Negro Classical Ballet, including photographs, clippings, programs, and periodicals.

Bernice Harrison was a dancer with the First Negro Classical Ballet Company (FNCB), founded in 1947 in Los Angeles by Joseph Rickard. Rickard founded the company after seeing Harrison's daughter, Angela Harrison, turned away from a ballet school and told that Blacks could not study classical dance. The FNCB was the first ballet school in Los Angeles for Black students. Bernice Harrison enrolled her daughter and also began taking classes at the school, eventually becoming a central presence in the company alongside other older students. She performed in several productions choreographed by Rickard, including Cinderella, Raisin' Cane, and A Little China Figure, and is considered the first Black woman to dance en pointe.

1.75 Linear Feet (2 boxes)

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