The Evans Family had a vaudeville family dance act in the mid-1900s. The Evans were the only complete American family in a war zone during World War II in the course of their performance tours of US military bases. The Evans family continued touring the US through 1960, playing engagements in all major cities and making television appearances.
Mary Dudley (born Mary Elizabeth Goode; April 8, 1912 – March 17, 1964), known as Mary Dee, was an American disc jockey who is widely considered the first African-American woman disc jockey in the United States. She grew up in Homestead, Pennsylvania, and then studied at Howard University for two years. After having her family, she attended Si Mann School of Radio in Pittsburgh, and on August 1, 1948, went on the air at WHOD radio. Gaining national attention, Dee broadcast from a storefront, "Studio Dee", in the Hill District of Pittsburgh from 1951 to 1956. She moved her show, Movin' Around with Mary Dee, to Baltimore and broadcast from station WSID from 1956 to 1958. In 1958, she moved to Philadelphia and hosted Songs of Faith on WHAT until her death in 1964.
Dee is considered a pioneer in developing the radio format that combines coverage of community affairs with music and news. She was one of the first two black women admitted to the Association of American Women in Radio and Television, and was successful in campaigning for the organization to forgo meetings in segregated facilities. During her lifetime she received numerous awards for her civic work. In 2011 she was honored posthumously with the Thomas J. MacWilliams Lifetime Achievement Award from the Media Association of Pittsburgh.
Maxine Sullivan (May 13, 1911 – April 7, 1987), born Marietta Williams in Homestead, Pennsylvania, United States, was an American jazz vocalist and performer.
As a vocalist, Sullivan was active for half a century, from the mid-1930s to just before her death in 1987. She is best known for her 1937 recording of a swing version of the Scottish folk song "Loch Lomond". Throughout her career, Sullivan also appeared as a performer on film as well as on stage. A precursor to better-known later vocalists such as Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan, Sullivan is considered one of the best jazz vocalists of the 1930s. Singer Peggy Lee named Sullivan as a key influence in several interviews.
Susanne E. Laird (July 18, 1908 – November 7, 1933), also known by her married name Susan Scavey, was an American competition swimmer who represented the United States at the 1928 Summer Olympics.
Laird was born in Homestead, Pennsylvania, and was one of four girls, including Josephine McKim and Lenore Kight, who trained at the Carnegie Library Athletic Club under coach Jack Scarry, her uncle, to represent the United States as members of the Olympic swim team. She began swimming at age 14 on the advice of a physician after developing St. Vitus Dance. The doctor believed swimming as a daily exercise would help to cure her nervous condition.
Laird won her first championship in 1924 at Lake Elizabeth in Pittsburgh, completing the 50-yard freestyle in 32 seconds. She placed second in the 100 meters and third in the 300-yard medley at the 1926 Sesquicentennial in Philadelphia. That year, she went on to win the national 100-yard junior championship. In 1928 she qualified for the American Olympic Team, and traveled aboard the S.S. President Roosevelt to Amsterdam, the Netherlands, for the 1928 Summer Olympics. Laird finished fifth in the women's 100-meter freestyle. She also helped the American relay team to qualify for the final of the women's 4×100-meter freestyle relay as they set a new world record in the semifinals. Laird did not receive a gold medal, even though the American team finished first in the event final, because she did not swim in the final.
After graduating from Temple University in 1930, Laird was appointed girls' coach and physical education instructor at Homestead High School, a position she held until her death from a rare blood disorder and subsequent pneumonia at age 25.