Leon Claxton and the great Joe Louis
Tampa Bay Times - by Paul Guzzo - Published Feb. 24, 2022
TAMPA — Redd Foxx and Chuck Berry were two of the most famous Black entertainers of their time. Each got a big break in front of white audiences performing for a Black producer whose fame once eclipsed theirs.
From the 1930s through 1960s, Leon Claxton’s Black variety shows were celebrated throughout the United States and Canada as part of the traveling carnival and state fair circuit.
When Claxton took a break from the road, home was Tampa, where he was a businessman who might have been the city’s first Black millionaire. Read more.
