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Greensboro Historical Museum Archives

 

BRIEF INVENTORY

MSS. Collection #104

Title: Luis Felicia Papers

Dates: 1945 – 1995

Quantity: 1 box

Types of Material: photographs, printed material

Accession Number: 1991.162.1

Brief Description: Luis Felicia served as head of Service Club #1 at the Army Air Force Base (Overseas Replacement Depot) in Greensboro during World War II and taught military servicemen to dance. Felicia was a professional dancer prior to WWII and after the war opened Felicia Studios of Dance, at which he trained a generation of Greensboro students in popular and classical dance. During the 1950s, Felicia was the first dance instructor to teach African American girls ballet, and in the 1960s he integrated his classes and held joint recitals. He continued to teach until 1970 when his hearing began to deteriorate. He worked in concession stands afterwards and into the 1990s.

Items include: a dance program, a telephone directory of the Army Air Force Overseas Replacement Depot AAF Redistribution Station No. 5 in Greensboro (1945), a pamphlet with general information about Greensboro, newspaper clippings featuring him teaching dance to servicemen, his dance revues, teaching dance after the war, and about his life, and three military newspapers (The ORD News, August 14, 1945; The Rotator, August 1, 1946; and The Rotator, August 16, 1946). Wartime photographs feature dances, work in the base, military ceremonies, Eleanor Roosevelt visiting wounded servicemen at a Greensboro hospital, Betty Lou Drake entertaining servicemen, and servicemen engaged in recreational activities. Photographs of his dance classes after the war (approximately 90 images) include both African American and Caucasian classes and individual student pictures (all in costume).

Major Names/Subjects: Ballet
                                         Dance
                                         Felicia, Luis, 1911-2008
                                         Military bases—North Carolina—Newspapers
                                         Overseas Replacement Depot
                                         Roosevelt, Eleanor, 1884-1962
                                         United Service Organizations (U.S.)
                                         World War, 1939-1945—North Carolina—Greensboro

Date Surveyed: 1/18/2012