Jackie “Moms” Mabley (19 March 1894 – 23 May 1975) was an American standup comedienne and a pioneer of the so-called "Chitlin' Circuit" of African-American vaudeville.
Mabley was born Loretta Mary Aiken into a large family of twelve children in Brevard, Transylvania County, North Carolina. Her father, James P. Aiken, owned and operated several businesses while her mother, Mary, kept home and took in boarders. Her father died a sudden accidental d...
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Jackie “Moms” Mabley (19 March 1894 – 23 May 1975) was an American standup comedienne and a pioneer of the so-called "Chitlin' Circuit" of African-American vaudeville.
Mabley was born Loretta Mary Aiken into a large family of twelve children in Brevard, Transylvania County, North Carolina. Her father, James P. Aiken, owned and operated several businesses while her mother, Mary, kept home and took in boarders. Her father died a sudden accidental death when she was eleven. By the age of fifteen Mabley had been raped twice and had two children that were given up for adoption. After being forced by her stepfather to marry a much older man she despised and being encouraged by her grandmother to strike out on her own, she ran away to Cleveland, Ohio with a traveling minstrel show where she began singing and entertaining.
She took her stage name, Jackie Mabley, from an early boyfriend, commenting to Ebony magazine in a 1970s interview that he'd taken so much from her, it was the least she...
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