African American Theatre Research Paper

Black theater is as old as the first tribes in Africa who would dance with wooden masks to represent gods or legends (Kerr, p3). The playwrights of this time were the Griots, who were known as the keepers of history in African tribes and mark the beginning of African literary tradition (Freeman.) But when does the development of black playwright actually take off?

African Americans were highly influential in politics, music, and literature during the period of Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s. A great migration of African Americans made their way north, specifically to Harlem. As a result, Harlem, a neighborhood at the northern end of Manhattan, became a center for Afrocentric art, music, poetry, and politics” (P. Scott Corbett, et al). According to the article called “The Harlem Renaissance” published by Stevenson Keira states “As more African Americans became politicians, new political groups also developed alongside

The article is about black creative production (theater) since the play is directed by African American playwright Richard Wesley. In addition, the predominantly black casts are spectacular and deliver a strong performance. The ability to be multi-skilled in your craft displays creativity and versatility where the actors can utilize their many talents.

Firstly, a brief background of Early Black cinema is important to note. In 1915 The Plantation Genre (form of genre) came about with the release of Birth of a Nation an overtly anti-black film, which included three main mythic stereotypes. These included the “unlawful slave” who represented black slaves as unpredictable, cunning and violent; this representation was used as reasoning for whites sustaining control. The “subordinate slave” stereotype, which represented blacks as dependable, loving and accepting of their position; this allowed white audiences to displace any guilt about slavery. Additionally, there’s also what is known as the “clown entertainer” which included characteristics of innate humor and the

From the 1500s to the 1700s, African blacks, mainly from the area of West Africa (today's Senegal, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Gambia, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Dahomey, Togo, Nigeria, Cameroon, and Gabon) were shipped as slaves to North America, Brazil, and the West Indies. For them, local and tribal differences, and even varying cultural backgrounds, soon melded into one common concern for the suffering they all endured. Music, songs, and dances as well as remembered traditional food, helped not only to uplift them but also quite unintentionally added immeasurably to the culture around them. In the approximately 300 years that blacks have made their homes in North America, the West Indies, and Brazil, their highly honed art

the rest of the century. As you watch these videos notice how musicals come to represent

August Wilson’s plays relate directly to his African heritage, and were and are a part of his success. His expression of the struggles of the blacks

The United States has long been a country that has accepted that change is a necessity for prosperity and growth. However, each change within the nation's history was hard fought against those who resisted such change either through racism, bigotry, and blatant discrimination. African American cinema is enshrouded in history that depicts these themes of racism, struggle, and deprivation. Yet, this same cinema also shows scenes of hope, artistic spirit, intellectual greatness, and joy. Black actresses, actors, directors, producers, and writers have been fighting for recognition and respect since the great Paul Robeson. The civil rights movement of the 1950's and 60's was fueled by black cinema through films like A Raisin in the Sun.

or Fredrick Douglass. It never once crossed my mind that a genre of theatre was indeed a major contributor to the prosperity of African Americans. Marvin McAllister wrote deeply about influences of Minstrels in his book: Whiting Up: Whiteface Minstrels and Stage Europeans in African American Performance. McAllister is now an African American studies Associate Professor at the University of South Carolina, a location which promotes his credibility in his first major assertion that whiteface minstrels arose in Charleston, South Carolina. In his first chapter, McAllister claims that during the colonial and antebellum periods, whiteface minstrel shows derived from the living conditions in South Carolina. In comparison to other the other cities at the time, Charleston was relatively lenient towards slaves. An example of this is how South Carolina’s dependency on skilled Africans made room for negotiations. What McAllister is trying to do is inform the readers about the origins of how minstrels arose, an appropriate move for the introduction. These conditions, argued McAllister, allowed slaves to negotiate living out, which allowed for black slaves to move away from the master’s plantation and this created Charleston’s first black neighborhood: the Neck. Although I agree with McAllister, I would like to add that living out was the first form of unification of African Americans and advancement of their rights. Moving away from slave owners and coming together was essentially how whiteface minstrels

Bert Williams was born on November 12, 1874, in Nassau, Bahamas. After his family faced some economic issues, they moved from California to the Bahamas in 1884 to for better economic opportunities. Living in California is where his fascination with performances began, mainly medicine shows and seeing the magicians, singers, dancers, etc. Williams worked in the genre of the blackface minstrel show, which was one of the key components of a longstanding attempt by white Americans to degrade Americans of African descent. This project involves discovering the significance Bert Williams had on performances during his era. The goal of this paper is to show how incredible of a performer Bert Williams was and how his performances left such a lasting impact to this day. I argue that Bert Williams utilized performance techniques that were identifiable to typical Broadway audiences of the late 1800s to create opportunities for African-American performers to succeed in show business in the United States. He did this by being a black body using dominantly white performance techniques to subversively make white audiences become used to seeing black bodies doing the same things white bodies do on stage. Williams changed the focused the plots of his performances to situations in which any member of the audience could relate to, no matter their race. Additionally, he proved that minstrelsy shows could feature songs about black characters without containing violent and horrific stereotypes. He used his heritage and platform to be a trailblazer in opening opportunities for African-Americans to succeed in show business in the United States.

Even after the Harlem Renaissance was off the forefront of the nation’s mind, Langston Hughes continued to comment on the demoralization that white people have historically done unto the African-American community. In his 1940 poem, “Note on Commercial Theater”, Hughes looked to the writers for Broadway and the presentations of commercial theater and saw the appropriation of black culture and perversion of music introduced by the Harlemites. These writers made the music whiter while stripping the credit from those who established it. Despite not having the recognition of white people at that time, Hughes still knew that “someday somebody’ll / Stand up and talk about me, / And write about me—” even if it would only be himself (Note on Commercial Theatre 12-14). Somehow, somewhere, someone would always be able to identify the wrongs white people inflict on others and be able to pay homage to the struggle while still celebrating their culture. His awareness of the ability of the black community to join together and acknowledge progression demonstrates his confidence in that community as a whole. It does not matter whether or not his own words are heard in his time, but instead that someone else will take them to heart and further the progression towards a better situation. The promise of a future ties the entire black community together towards more opportunities for growth.

Over the course of approximately one-hundred years there has been a discernible metamorphosis within the realm of African-American cinema. African-Americans have overcome the heavy weight of oppression in forms such as of politics, citizenship and most importantly equal human rights. One of the most evident forms that were withheld from African-Americans came in the structure of the performing arts; specifically film. The common population did not allow blacks to drink from the same water fountain let alone share the same television waves or stage. But over time the strength of the expectant black actors and actresses overwhelmed the majority force to stop blacks from appearing on film. For the longest time the performing arts were

The articles The Ground on Which I Stand by August Wilson and Steps toward the Negro Theatre by Alain Locke were both phenomenal read. Wilson and Locke discussed the design of black theatre and how it needs to be and can be structured for the future. They also discussed the racial and dividing system in America society which branched off to theatre.

The theme of power is also established through the examination of the relationship between black artists and the world of mass communications in the early twentieth century. This relationship mirrors the position of black people in the society at large—a society dominated by white racism. Wilson establishes this early in the play through a series of musical imagery and idiomatic language, in which he uses both the style

plays with only black actors for a black audience. Brustein and Wilson were given fifteen to