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| Black Herman | The World's Greatest Magician |
Benjamin “Black Herman” Rucker was one of the greatest Magician/Mentalist/Author/ Entertainers to ever grace the face of this planet however he has become an obscure figure buried in the back pages of American history. I first heard about Black Herman listening to Bobby Hemmitt lectures. He talked about a powerful black magician from Harlem with mystical abilities who could just walk through walls. Hemmitt said that
Black Herman was imprisoned several times and he easily walked out of the jail on so many occurrences that they gave up trying to arrest him.
Black Herman’s contributions to magic and entertainment were unparalleled at his time. He performed for sold out, multiracial audiences during a time when segregation was legal. A tall black man with a commanding presence, Black Herman enjoyed a prosperous career for 20 years and left behind a legend. He created a larger-than-life, almost superhuman persona of himself.
Black Herman learned the art of staged illusions from a performer called
Prince Herman, who was first his teacher and later his partner. Prince Herman took on the young Benjamin, only
16 at the time as an assistant and later business partner. The two sold patent medicine as well as
performing prestidigitation, making their act as much a medicine show as a
stage show. He died only one year after
working with young Benjamin.When Prince Herman died, in 1909, Rucker, only 17 years old, took the name Black Herman and continued to tour, focusing on the stage act and dropping the medicine show aspects of his performance. Black Herman named himself after his two mentors, Prince Herman and a magician he respected, Alonzo Moore (ca. 1870-1914), considered by many to be the greatest African American magician of his day. Alonzo Moore was dubbed the Black Herrmann, after the famous Herrmann family of magicians.
