Born Nannie Mayme in Lancaster, South Carolina in 1912, (passing away 3 May 1967), McKinney was a talented performer with a relatively short career. As with many of the big name black women stars of the period she could sing, dance, act, was a talented comedian… all that good stuff. She starred in Lew Leslie’s stage show Blackbirds of 1928, and there was discovered for the film Hallelujah!. She also starred in Safe in Hell (1931), Gang Smashers (aka Gun Moll 1938) The Devil’s Daughter (aka Pocomania 1939), and a number of other films (you can read more about those here).
There are some more excellent photos in Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies, and Bucks: An Interpretive History of Blacks in American Films By Donald Bogle, which is a key work in American race and film studies (it’s dealing in large part with racial stereotypes in cinema).)
See Nina Mae McKinney dancing and singing in this excerpt from the 1929 film Hallelujah!:
