On 13 April 1840, William Henry Lane, also known as Juba, is credited with perfecting American Tap Dance.

Born in the USA in c1825, William Henry Lane, was the one of the first Black American’s who performed with the blackface Minstrels who toured the states in the 19th Century, under the name ‘Master Juba.’

He introduced a dance style based on a variety of folk and cultural moves that he had picked up over his years both with the blackface Minstrels and in his early life performing in saloons. An incredible dancer of what came to be known as American Tap Dance, he went on to tour England. His dancing was written about by Charles Dickens in his ‘American Notes for General Circulation (1842)’.

In 1848 “Boz’s Juba” travelled to London with the Ethiopian Serenaders, an otherwise white minstrel troupe. Boz’s Juba became a sensation in Britain for his dance style. He was a critical favorite and the most written-about performer of the 1848 season. Nevertheless, an element of exploitation followed him through the British Isles, with writers treating him as an exhibit on display. Records next place Juba in both Britain and America in the early 1850s.  He was largely forgotten by historians until a 1947 article by Marian Hannah Winter resurrected his story.

He died on 3 February in the fever ward of Liverpool’s Brownlow Hill workhouse c 1854 likely due to malnutrition and overwork.

“Bois Juba” was registered as having died in the fever ward of the Brownlow Hill infirmary in Liverpool, and was buried on 6 February 1854 in the free part of the cemetery of the nearby church of St Martin’s. St Martin’s was damaged by bombing during World War II and later demolished, and although graveyard burials were re-interred at St Mary’s Church, Walton-on-the-Hill the exact location of Juba’s grave is therefore unknown.