Within seconds, the two silver coins that Nicole Cardoza pinched between her fingers had multiplied to four. In front of a mostly Black audience at Philadelphia’s the Deacon, a former First African Baptist church, the magician stood with her dress sleeves rolled up to show them that nothing was hidden there. Cardoza later pulled the coins from behind stunned participants’ ears as she shared the story of Ellen Armstrong, the first known headlining Black female magician. Armstrong and her father performed similar illusions in the same historically Black church in the early 20th century.
About 100 years later, Cardoza is one of the US’s only Black female magicians with her own touring show. Her Black Magic Tour blends stage magic and storytelling that highlights the Black illusionists who came before her. She said she prioritized performing in former and current Black churches as a means to “honor the magic that’s in how we gather as Black people, in how we hold space for one another”.
