The HistoryMakers video oral history with Arthur Mitchell.

Dancer, choreographer and artistic director Arthur Mitchell was born on March 27, 1934 in Harlem, New York. After graduating from the High School of Performing Arts in Manhattan in 1952, he received scholarships to the Dunham School and School of American Ballet. He danced in Broadway's House of Flowers, and became the first African American permanent member of a major ballet company, the New York City Ballet (NYCB) when he performed in Western Symphony in 1955. George Balanchine choreographed Agon pas de deux, the first interracial duet in American ballet, for Mitchell and Diana Adams in 1957. Mitchell performed in numerous NYCB productions, including A Midsummer Night's Dream and Bugaku. In 1969, Mitchell and Karel Shook co-founded Dance Theatre of Harlem (DTH), the first black classical ballet company, producing well-received ballets such as Dougla, The Firebird, and Creole Giselle. In 2015, Columbia University acquired Mitchell's archives, its first major dance collection.

Julieanna L. Richardson, interviewer.

Recorded New York, New York 2016 October 5.

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