Gary Simmons’ “Ghost Reels” drawing installation is on view in The Drawing Center stairwell through January 2018. According to Simmons, the work reflects “the memories of actors that have been blurred in the history of Hollywood film . . . a kind of silence in both voice and visibility.” Here we explore the contributions of African American actors and musicians of the early 20th century. 〰 George Theophilus Walker was the first African American composer to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize for music, for his 1996 work “Lilacs”. Born in Washington, D.C. in 1922, Walker was performing publicly as a pianist by the age of 14 and was the first black instrumentalist to perform at Town Hall in New York, in 1945. Walker composed his first piece, “String Quartet no.1”, in 1946. His extensive musical education took place in the United States and in Europe. He graduated from Oberlin College at 18 years old, then as the first black graduate of Curtis Institute of Music in 1945. In the 1950s he develop...