2004 Hall of Fame Inductee
Mantan Moreland

2004 Hall of Fame Inductee

Mantan Moreland

Born in Monroe, Louisiana, Mantan Moreland entered into the field of entertainment through vaudeville. Moreland’s start in the film industry began in the late 1930’s. Known to many in later years as “Birmingham Brown” in the 1940’s “Charlie Chan films, Moreland along with actors Herb Jeffries (the Bronze Buckaroo), Matthew “Stymie” Beard (Our Gang) and Spencer Williams (Amos ‘n Andy), filmed “Harlem On the Prairie (1937) and “Two-Gun Man from Harlem” (1938), two of the first movies ever made casting black actors as western heroes and in leading roles as well. These actors knew that there needed to be heroes of the west represented on the silver screen that encompassed all cultures, as it was a fact historically that there were many black cowboys in the old American West. Mantan Moreland went on to star in over one-hundred other films and made special guest appearances on television before his death on September 28, 1973.

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