Afro-Americans in Imperial Russia: Irene Ford

Clara Irene Ford (1877-1906)

Clara Irene Ford, born December 17th, 1877 in New York traveled to Europe early-1895 with a group consisting of Walter Wilkins (Dec.25, 1874 - Petersburg, VA) and Josephine B. Kent (Dec.25, 1873 - Washington DC)

Under the direction of German Impresario, Adele Weltenburg, the trio toured around Germany, Sweden and Russia for a year. On November 29th, 1895, Irene and Josephine signed a four-year contract with Frau Weltenburg, and continued touring successfully across Germany, Scandinavia and Russia until 1898. At some point, Marguerite Rhodes (Apr.27, 1877 - Washington DC) and Victoria Crockett (Aug.20, 1876 - Manhattan, NY) also joined the troupe.

In 1899, Irene Ford went solo, adopting the pseudonym, "Brazil Girl" performing her exotic songs and dances for eight consecutive years.

1899:
Berlin, Germany {Applied for passport} (Feb.3)
Copenhagen, Denmark- Circus Variete (Mar.6)/Amsterdam, Holland- Circus Carre (Mar.16-19)
Riga, Latvia- Variete Monopol (Apr.4-30)
Saint Petersburg, Russia- Aquarium Theatre (Sep.13)

1900:
Posen, Germany- Apollo Theater (Nov.?)
Berlin, Germany- Passage Theater (Nov.4-Dec.30)

1901:
Dresden, Germany {Applied for passport} (Feb.11)
Hamburg, Germany- Apollo Theater (Sep.14)
Hamburg, Germany- Apollo Theater (Dec.1)

1904:
Moscow, Russia- Aumont Theatre (May 1-5)

1905:
Moscow, Russia {Applied for passport} (Dec.24)

1906:
Moscow, Russia {Entertains Laura Bowman & Pete Hampton during their visit} (?)
Kiev, Ukraine {Clara Irene Ford dies mysteriously in Kiev} (Nov.28)

Since her arrival in Europe, Ms. Ford established a permanent residence in Moscow and after 1904, spent the majority of her time performing mainly around the Russian Empire.

In early 1906, together with Ollie Burgoyne, she entertained Afro-American duo, Hampton & Bowman during their Moscow engagement. In her later memoires, Laura Bowman recalls that Irene Ford was a popular attraction that had a string of Russian lovers from whom she frequently received expensive gifts.

On November 28th, 1906, during the chaos of the 1905 Revolution, Clara Irene died at age 28 in the provincial city of Kiev. Although her death was reported by the American Consulate, they never mentioned in any of the reports exactly her cause of death.