Emma Harris

Emma Richardovna Harris-Mizikina (Russian: Эмма Ричардовна Харрис-Мизикина; October 9, 1871, in Augusta — after 1940 in New York City; born Emma Elizabeth Matthews) was an American-born Russian actress, singer, dancer, cabaret artist, and writer.

Early life and education Harris was born to a poor Negro family in the southern city of Augusta, along Georgia's Savannah River, on October 7, 1871. At the end of the American Civil War in 1865, her parents, Sarah Green and Richard Matthews, left the Phinizy plantation to seek a better life and opportunities in the city. Green worked as a washerwoman, scrubbing clothes for the local white families, while Matthews labored daily in one of the city's numerous cotton processing mills. After Harris was born, two more children followed (Thomas, in 1873, and Josephine, in 1880).

By 1880, the family had settled in an old brick tenement on 319 Houston Street. Soon after, Harris began attending Edmund Asa Ware High School, the first public high school for African-Americans in Georgia. That summer, Harris was sent to Norfolk, Virginia, to live with her widowed Aunt Hattie Matthews to continue her studies and later attend the Negro Mission College, which opened in 1883. But a few years later, her aunt died, leaving the young Harris stranded in Virginia with no place to go. Instead of returning home, in 1892, Harris made her way to New York and found work as a chambermaid. On December 23, 1896, Harris met and married local janitor Joseph B. Harris. In September, the women fulfilled a month-long engagement at Vienna's Colosseum Theater. The following month was spent at Copenhagen's Cirkus Variete for the beginning of their brief Scandinavian tour.

In November, the troupe spent two successful weeks at Goteborg's Circus Madigan and two more weeks at Stockholm's Svensalen Variety Restaurant. Between their performances, on November 11, Ms. Kohn-Wöllner conducted several interviews with the Svenska Dagbladet newspaper, frequently pushing forward Wise (dressed in a black and white dress). Ms. Kohn-Wöllner mentioned her plans to organize a band for the troupe, the contract she signed with the Folies-Bergere (for January 1902) and to bring over Hardy, who was still waiting in America. The troupe returned to Germany in December to entertain at Berlin's Circus Schumann where they ended the year, preparing for another year of extensive touring.

The new year of 1902, the group opened in Magdeburg for a two-week engagement before moving on to France, where the women intended to perform at Paris' famous Folie-Bergere cabaret. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem as if that ever came into fruition and the troupe returned to Germany to appear in Braunswich's Bruning Theater and Halle's Walhalla Theater. The month of March was spent in Breslau's Liebich Etablissement, followed by performances at Danzig's Wilhelm Theater and Poznan's Kaisergarten in April. In May, the group disappears briefly from the limelight as Fannie Wise and S.T. Jubrey suddenly quit the group and returned home to the United States. During this time their replacements, standby performers, Corette Hardy and Fannie Smith (20-year-old from Philadelphia) were promptly brought over to Europe. Throughout June, the troupe toured across Switzerland, performing in Zurich and St. Gallen before returning north to Germany. The month of July was spent at Munich's Deutsches Theater, followed by a month at Leipzig's Central Theater (September) and Dresden (October).

After twenty-one months of touring across Europe, during their Dresden engagement, the entire troupe walked out on their German impresario. Kohn-Wöllner was taken to court and accused of exploiting them financially. Lead performer Ollie Burgoyne was elected as their new manager and, now as the "Five Louisianas", the women left for Berlin, where they entertained at the Orpheum Theater and Harmonie Circus. After a brief engagement in Trier and Aachen, the group suddenly disappeared. In March 1903, Ollie Burgoyne and Florence Collins renewed their American passports and departed for London to join the cast of Hurtig & Seamon's In Dahomey, which opened on March 16 at the Shaftesbury Theatre.

The four remaining women continued performing around Germany for the next three months before departing for the Russian Empire. After receiving a passport from Berlin's American Embassy (July 10, 1903), the troupe traveled northwest to Saint Petersburg, to appear for two months at the popular Krestovskiy Garden Amusement Park, where they opened on July 19. On September 29, the troupe opened in Moscow at Aumont's French Theater for another two months billed as the "4 Ebony Belles". The focal point of Moscow's lively nightlife, located just west of Triumphal Square, the Aumont Theater was an entertainment garden occupying several park-like acres that was a relief from the more genteel and prosperous classes of society, who weren't put off by the frivolous nature of the establishment's entertainment. That evening, as the crowds made their way from the theater towards the open-air café chantant, the troupe joined twenty variety acts onstage varying from trained animals and acrobats to operatic singers. The theater director, Charles Aumont, was a successful yet ruthless French-Algerian businessman that renovated the gardens in 1898 to make visitors feel like they had visited a magical world. He was well known for exploiting chorus girls and female performers to allure the largely male audience. After their turn onstage, the head Maître d’ (an African-American man named, Frederick Bruce Thomas), informed the women that as singers, they would be called upon after their performance to entertain the private parties.

During the winter of 1903, the Louisiana Amazon Guard (Ebony Belles) finally dissolved. Alverta Burley married African-American entertainer, Oliver E. Brodie and the couple toured as "Brodie & Brodie". Harris convinced Coretté Hardy and Fannie Smith to remain in Russia with her and they formed the "Harris Trio". For the next six months, the trio performed between Saint-Petersburg and Moscow. In March 1904, the duo became the "Harris Trio" with the addition of Fannie Smith, and together they departed for Helsinki with an engagement at the illustrious Hotell Fennia, where Finnish high society enjoyed to mingle. During the summer of 1904, the Harris Trio, together with Ollie Bourgoyne and Jennie Scheper (from the Florida Creole Girls) formed a new company known as the "Creole Troupe" and continued touring the principal Russian cities. On January 22, 1905, while attending a party, hosted by popular American jockey, William Caton, in central Saint-Petersburg, the women witnessed the Bloody Sunday riots outside the Tsar's palace and across the city. The trio immediately packed up and returned to Moscow, where they resumed working at the Aumont Theater. In February, while performing in the city of Vyatka, the trio decided to dissolve

Russian Civil War (1918–1925) As soon as Harris returned home to Moscow, on March 3, 1918, the newly formed Soviet Union backed out of the war after signing the Brest-Litovsk Treaty. Ten days later, 30,000 German and Austrian troops marched into Ukraine. By mid-March, the Germans were already in Odessa and the new puppet state became known as the Hetmanate. The region became terribly dangerous; besides the Red Army attempting to push out the Germans, the Ukraine's notorious criminal gangs (their brazen behavior comparable to Chicago's gangsters) began a reign of terror with nightly burglaries and murders in the streets. On March 11, as Moscow was declared the new capital of Soviet Russia, Lenin and the Soviet government arrived from Petrograd, hastily settling themselves in the city. Harris attended a rally held in Red Square, where Lenin gave a powerful speech. Standing on Skull Place before St. Basil's Cathedral, Lenin was explaining the meaning of the Bolshevik cause when he spied Harris at the front of the crowds. Extending his right hand, he spoke directly to Harris, "The ideal communist is to open the road for all the downtrodden races of the world. For you, comrade, especially, as we regard your race the most downtrodden in the world. We want you to feel when you come to Russia that you are a human being. The Red Army is ready to give its life at any time for all the downtrodden races!" Immediately the crowds hoisted Harris up upon their shoulders and bore her triumphantly through the cheering audience.

Around this time, Harris had purchased a 15-room house located at 4 Kalanchevskaya in eastern Moscow's working class Krasnaya Vorota neighborhood. The five-story Art Nouveau style house, designed by the architect Alexander Nikiforov and built between 1875 and 1880, was located in the railroad-infested Krasnoselsky district. As usual, the sumptuously decorated house was kept in order by a team of servants and also doubled as a brothel.

Due to the deteriorating health conditions in Moscow, cholera and typhoid began to spread. Moscow was also on the verge of starvation; the main food products were issued on the cards, and prices on the black market were too high. Inevitably, the stations in Moscow became one of the main places where buyers and sellers met. Living between Moscow's three major railroad stations, Harris became a frequent black market shopper, having very little issues due to her numerous connections to Russia's criminal underground. Her connections also proved to be valuable when the Bolsheviks' new Cheka secret police began targeting private residences to confiscate, rob and extort the bourgeoisie. Across the city, homeowners and tenants were often thrown into the street as representatives of the new order drove into their houses and apartments. It was certainly interesting that throughout the course of this plundering, a popular African American actress was able to maintain control over her massive home in the heart of Moscow.

That summer, Harris found herself unemployed. No longer the wealthy aristocrat she once was, she now listed in the category of the declasse bourgeoisie. The Soviet government began liquidizing and nationalizing all of its theaters, cabarets and music halls. Even the once popular Aquarium establishment was being occupied by a local military garrison. Besides earning enough income from her successful brothel, she soon found employment with the Narkompros. Shortly after the October Revolution, the old system of education and culture management was deposed and the new system, gradually and with great difficulty, was created. With the establishment of Soviet power, teachers, university professors and cultural figures were unable to find a common language for the development of education and culture in the new Soviet Union. In response, the People's Commissariat of Education (Narkompros) was organized.

Much of 1919, Harris was sent east to Simbirsk with a delegation of the Narkompros to aid in the establishment of educational and cultural centers. Her primary job was that of an interpreter and English teacher to Soviet officials. Simbirsk (now Ulyanovsk), a bustling provincial city on the banks of the Volga and Sviyagi rivers with a population of nearly 64,000, was on the frontlines of the Russian Civil War's Eastern Front. Due to the Civil War, the city was in ruins, local industry was disrupted due to a lack of fuel, tools and raw materials. Street lighting disappeared, boulevards and parks were neglected, houses were destroyed, and bazaars and shops were abandoned. Not far from the city, Commander Jan Blumberg and his 5th Army armed with 10,000 men, 42 guns and 142 machine guns held off the White Army's Western Army led by Mikhail Hanzhin. Since February 7, the city had been the headquarters of the Revolutionary Military Council (headed by Commander Sergei Kamenev and Sergei Gusev), leaving the city swarming with military personnel.

Anti-revolutionary in sympathy, during her sojourn in the city, Harris became involved with various White Army military officers, aiding them in their schemes against the new Soviet government. During the summer of 1919, after Simbirsk was briefly captured by the Czechoslovak Legion, she returned home to Moscow, continuing to work with the White Army, offering her Moscow home as a hiding spot and meeting place for them. On September 24, the Cheka raided the Mizinkin residence where they discovered numerous soldiers holed up. The entire group (including Harris) were swiftly arrested and taken to the infamous Lubyanka Prison. In 1918, the Council of People's Commissars was liquidated and nationalized. Around May 1919, the building was transferred to the Special Section of the Moscow Cheka. While Harris sat quietly in her cell, the White Guard soldiers were executed by firing squad. On November 19, Harris was brought before a Cheka official, who was looking into her case. She immediately denied any knowledge of the counterrevolutionaries, claiming she was simply running a legitimate business and didn't engage in politics with her clientele. The official replied, much to her surprise, "You know the only reason we didn't shoot you was because you’re a Negro. You’re free to go now. I advise you to find some useful work. Keep out of trouble." Harris was promptly released.

In late 1928, an American communist from Idaho, James Pierce, arrived at the Soviet Union for a five-year stay in Leningrad and Moscow. By September, he secured a room at Kalanchevskaya 4, eventually becoming very close with Harris. Her apartment had become a regular Saturday evening meeting place of American expats. In between serving home-cooked meals, Harris pounding out jazz numbers on her piano, coupled with her melodious singing, added a dash of color to the drab grey Russian winter.

During the 1930s, Harris became one of the lead speakers for the International Red Aid (MOPR), travelling Russia and giving fiery speeches protesting against racism, singing spirituals and writing poems for Soviet newspapers.

On June 26, 1932, Harris, Coretti Arle-Titz, Robert "Bob" Ross and Robert Robinson gathered at Nikolayevsky Station to welcome twenty-two Afro-American artists that were invited to the Soviet Union to produce a film depicting Negro laborers in their difficult working conditions in the American South. The film was based on Vladimir Mayakovsky’s 1925 poem, Black & White, which protested American racism and imperialism. The film was sponsored by the Comintern and was to be produced by the Russo-German film company Meschrabpom. Harris pushed towards the front of the crowd of government officials, writers and actors while shouting, "Bless God! Lord! I’m sure glad to see some Negroes! Welcome! Welcome! Welcome!" She spent the majority of her time entertaining her new colleagues at the Hotel Metropol, eventually receiving a role in the film. Other times, the group traveled over to the Krasnaya Vorota district, where Harris entertained them from the comfort of her home. She washed their dirty laundry and prepared supper for them. Harris had some of the best food in Moscow and yet had only an ordinary workers’ ration card, but she knew all about the black markets and speakeasies. In a city where almost nothing was open after midnight, Harris could always find a place to buy a drink. Her clientele was mostly American, however, because her Russian neighbors had no money to supply the ingredients. During his visits, Langston Hughes noticed her neighborhood was a smoky, smelly, noisy area, and he often complained about why she remained living there. "Man, you ain't seen no rooms for rent signs, have you?" she answered. But she added, "If anything busts loose against them Bolshies, I'm gonna highball out’a here on the first and fastest train out of one of them stations for anywhere on the down line."

During the first week of July, an Anti-Scottsboro rally, organized by the International Red Aid, was held at the Park of Rest & Culture, where Harris, her face illuminated by the blazing floodlights and voice magnified by loudspeakers, performed a number of spirituals and delivered a fiery speech in fluent Russian before the masses. Not long after the disappointing reality that Black and White wasn't to be, Harris found herself employed as a saleswoman for one of Moscow's Torgsin shops, where she was frequently seen leaving with a bulging bag filled with cooking ingredients and vodka, which she called "Russian corn whiskey".

In early 1933, while employed as the chief correspondent for the Stankoimport State Trust, the long years of Russian exposure failed to remove much of Harris's deeply-ingrained American values, which frequently caused her to become overcome with nostalgia. As she grew older, her desire to see America grew stronger, and when the United States finally recognized the Soviet Union during the summer, the American consulate helped to arrange for her return to New York. That August, after an interview mentioning a wish to visit the US, Harris was granted permission to travel to Latvia to receive an American passport before boarding the S.S Milwaukee from Hamburg, back to New York after 32 years.

Later life (1934–1940)

Harris was invited to several functions across New York City speaking of her success and experiences in Russia, up until February 1934, when she was suddenly hospitalized and placed in a nursing home due to her failing health. In December 1937, during an interview with journalist Theodore Poston, she mentioned that she was no longer interested in remaining in the United States, slowly saving funds to return home to the Soviet Union. Unfortunately, she was unable to return and, by 1940, she had moved to Brooklyn, living with her nephew, Richard Matthews, and his family, where she remained, hoping to return to Russia after the war, until her death.