Richard Potter

Richard Potter is credited as the first American-born stage magician and one of the earliest documented Black performers in the United States. Born to a freedwoman, he trained in ventriloquism and conjuring and built a career touring the lecture halls and taverns of the early republic.

Potter's performances combined sleight of hand, ventriloquism, and balloon sculpture, and he was widely admired at a time when American entertainment was still in its infancy. His career is a landmark in both the history of American magic and the history of African American performance.