Probably the first American-born magician was Richard Potter, born in 1783 in Massachusetts, just as the American Revolution ended. Richard was black, and no records of earlier American magicians have been found. The nation’s first magician began as the assistant of a (1/x)

Scottish magician John Rannie, who would seemingly decapitate and restore a chicken during his act (David Blaine performed a similar piece centuries later in a TV special). Later Richard became very successful as a ventriloquist and eventually Rannie stepped back to allow him...

his own career.
He did very well, saving enough to start a farm and build a home for his family, where he would host large dinner parties. On one occasion, when a church official objected to alcohol being served, Potter yelled ‘If you are not tolerant of the spirits, then...

spirits will not be tolerant of you!’ The magician-ventriloquist broke open a bottle, to reveal a baby chick inside. It looked at the church elders and shouted ‘Boo!’. They fled in fear.
In his act, Potter fried eggs in a beaver hat, swallowed swords, caused an egg to dance...

and spat flames and sparks. He made chicks appear in ladies’ pockets, and bumblebees in men’s hats. He became by some reports, the best known magician and ventriloquist of his time.
Richard died in 1835 aged 52, and his wife Sally a year year later, aged 49. Their son...

Richard Jr inherited the estate and performed for a while longer as Little Potter: though all records of the son end in 1840. Some years later though, Houdini took a keen interest in Potter Sr, following reports that he had performed a version of the elusive Hindu Rope Trick...

according to one report, he threw up a ball of yarn, up which Sally and he both climbed before vanishing into thin air.
Given the discrimination he and other black performers have faced throughout history, it is well worth remembering that this unique man was very likely the...

first American-born magician.

(Thank you to the terrific Conjure Times: Black Magicians in America by Jim Haskins & Kathleen Benson)