How Did The Original ‘Shuffle Along’ Even Happen?

“How did Eubie Blake, whose parents were both slaves, end up having a deep, deep desire to write musicals? He could write rags. He could write pop tunes. What he really wanted to write were Broadway shows. It’s astonishing to me that the child of slaves said, ‘I want to write a Broadway musical.’ That’s an extraordinary thing. Why would he want to do that? Why would anybody want to write a musical?”