Cole and Wiley

Bob Cole was born Robert Allen Cole, Jr., in Athens, Georgia, the son of Robert Allen Cole, Sr., a successful carpenter and political activist in the black community. Cole received musical training in Athens and finished elementary school after his family moved to Atlanta. He made his first stage appearance in Chicago, performing in Sam T. Jack's The Creole Show in 1891; later he became the show's stage manager. He and his partner, Stella Wiley, moved around 1893 to New York, where they performed in vaudeville. By the end of the 1890s they had parted as man and wife and performing partners.

Stella Wiley was a singer and dancer who was previously married to the notable composer, producer and musician Bob Cole, credited with creating the first all-black musical production, “A Trip to Coontown” (1898), and a creative who worked to break down the minstrel-era racial stereotypes in theater.

Sources: David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Duke University; Oxford African American Studies, David Krassner