Randy Shine has a trick or two up his sleeve.
He’s been practicing magic for 17 years, after he saw fellow students performing card tricks in a cafeteria on his college campus at Penn State.
"It was just a hobby at the time. It was just something to do during study breaks, during weekends," he says. "I just never thought that I would end up becoming a professional magician, but life has a way of taking on a different course.”
Now he travels around the country and the world performing at colleges and theaters.
He even preformed at President Barack Obama’s inauguration.
Now he’s a president himself - of the International Association of Black Magical Artists.
“African American magicians...we are out there,” Shine says. “We are. You may not see us, but we are out there performing.”
In fact, Randy says African Americans hold a special place in the history of magic in America.
“The very first American born magician was a bi-racial man named Richard Potter who was born in New England,” he says.
It’s a fact that is often forgotten to history.
With every trick, he hopes that thriving legacy of African American magic will not be forgotten again.
“Preserving that history so it could be passed down and it won’t be lost. So 50, 100 years from now people will say ‘I know about this person, I read about this person’.”
Randy will be performing at the Palm Beach State College Loxahatchee Groves campus Wednesday at 3:30. For more info, call Palm Beach State at 561-790-9000.
Click here for more information on Randy.
Click here for more Black History Month events in West Palm Beach.
