Shuffle Along the African American musical with words and lyrics by Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake, and a libretto about a mayoral race written by Flournoy Miller and Aubrey Lyles, caused a sensation when it was originally presented at New York's 63rd Street Theatre on 23rd May 1921. It was the first musical written and performed by African Americans to be performed on Broadway, and ran for 504 performances in New York, an unusually long run at the time. It launched the careers of Josephine Baker, Adelaide Hall and Paul Robeson, and was such a hit that it regularly caused 'curtain-time traffic jams' on 63rd Street with patrons driving to the theatre.

The musical toured to white theatres around the United States, and with its synthesis of ragtime and operetta and a sixteen-girl chorus line, had an enormous impact on the development of the Broadway musical during its most vibrant years. It introduced catchy songs that immediately became hits including I'm Just Wild About Harry, Love Will Find a Way, and In Honeysuckle Time,and proved to be a vital part of the black cultural renaissance of the 1920s.