Analysis Of The Article ' The Ground On Which I Stand '

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?

Cowhig, Ruth. "Blacks in English Renaissance Drama and the Role of Shakespeare's 'Othello'." Shakespeare for Students: Critical Interpretations of Shakespeare's Plays and Poetry, edited by Mark W. Scott, Gale, 1992. Student Resources in Context, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/EJ2126700032/SUIC?u=dove10524&xid=714df15e. Accessed 21 Mar. 2018.

Reid covers three genres of African American film types such as comedy, black family film, and black action film whether it be independent and/or commercial films. Under the comedy genre, Reid evaluates three subtypes, which include Blackface Minstrelsy, Hybrid Minstrelsy and Satiric Hybrid Minstrel films. Blackface Minstrelsy was the only film subtype, I was familiar with in African American film history. Hybrid Minstrelsy and Satiric Hybrid Minstrel films were new genres learned from

“The Atlanta Exposition Speech” by Booker T. Washington, “The Talented Tenth” but W.E.B. DuBois, and “The Negro’s Place in American Life at the Present Day” by T. Thomas Fortune were written during the end of the nineteenth century when African Americans were faced with great challenges on a range of different levels. These documents are very like one another considering they are all addressing the same issues, but I also feel like each of them are unique from one another because of the person who wrote them. Washington focuses more on an industrial education so the blacks can go to school. He has the whites to believe that it will also affect them and make things better for them at the time and that they will

At Pittsburgh’s Halfway Art Gallery he found his audience for poetry, and got to meet some of Pittsburgh’s black literati. In 1981, Wilson submitted Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, and it was accepted in the O’Neill Center. It did however, undergo many changes in the summer of 1982, it went on to play at Yale and became the first Broadway play in 1984. His next play that he wrote was Fences. Now Fences is a interesting play to read, because reading the background information I feel as if he was writing this book from his point of view. His dad was not always there, his dad cheated on his mom, his mom raised the kids, and his dad was a worker and then came home and never messed with the kids or played with them. Not so much as he treated the kids like slaves, but in a way you could say he did. Reading the play and then writing this paper has been a wonderful experience. Reading the play gives us some back ground information about what the “1980s” were about. The racism, the abandonment, the shame, the cheating, we see it all in this play. Wilson did a good job at showing us what it was like to be a boy in this time when you wanted to play baseball but could not because you were black, or wanted to go somewhere and you could not because you were black. Some people would think that only “blacks” would like to read something like this because they would “understand” it, but that is not true. Reading Wilson’s

In 1990, after Paramount Pictures and playwright August Wilson came to a disagreement about the adaptation of his play Fences, Wilson published an Op-Ed in Spin magazine titled “I Want a Black Director.” The Spike Lee edited piece discussed what Wilson saw as the penultimate disagreement between himself and the studio, stating specifically:

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.

Primarily in this semester , we will talked about what we learned so far on African American leaders that used their voices and education to talk to their crowds, like Frederick Douglass who believed that we should act not as if were not a part of the world and ignore what may be happening to others but to stand up and take ownership by acting and making a nation a whole of happiness rather than a tragedy for others , Douglass uses pathos with his imagery and figurative language that provokes an emotional response, by connecting his audience on how it may feel to be without a family and how it feels not to be welcomed in a community by the color of your skin , he also implies how using the Fourth of July as a state of being free is an understatement because freedom is still not for all . he also used ethos such as being a credible source of his own life experience that he has been through being a slave himself and striving for freedom. And lastly, he used logos meaning his reason for why he was giving a speech on why slavery is wrong and how peace will not be as a community if it can’t be for a whole nation.

In the nineteen twenties it also produced the greatest writer of theatre plays, Eugene O’Neill. O’Neill had dark and violent views of human nature. He used the theatrical methods, that no one else have ever used before. The way that he used them carried an emotional power never seen before in America. Some of his best known plays were “Mourning Becomes Electra,” “The Iceman Cometh,” and “A Long Day’s Journey Into Night.”

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.

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

Introduction to African American Studies was the class that I decided to take this summer because I am genuinely interested in learning more about the cultures and lifestyles of African Americans through out history and I want to further my knowledge beyond just learning about what was taught to me in secondary school. I do not know much about African American studies as I have not taken any courses on it or relating to it in the past but I hope that I can gain a lot of information on the topic through out this intellectual experience. I also hope to gain a better understanding of the history of Africans and African Americas and be able to dive deeper into this topic instead of just hitting the surface as I feel as though my previous experiences with this topic have covered. In just this first weeks lesson I have learned about the three great principles that characterize the “Black Intellectual Tradition” and how these three principles are used and perceived.

Wilson's obituary offers a good summary. Charles Ishwood wrote it for the New York Times in 2005, though it was excerpted by Calvert for a theatrical study guide: "In bringing to the popular American stage the gritty specifics of the

August Wilson’s plays have a big impact from his life. In the 1960’s Wilson stepped into the black power movement while he worked on his poems and short stories. Eventually during the sixties, he reinvented himself into a playwright. His writing style and themes come from institutions like the Yale School of Drama, where the Dean of the Drama School at the time, theatre director Lloyd Richards, recognized Wilson's talent. Richards later collaborated with Wilson in New York on Broadway. Fences was Wilson’s second play to go to broadway, which won him the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for drama. Wilson took the responsibility to write his plays about black experiences for every decade for the 20th century. Wilson constructs socially realistic dramas that

A life of fame, luxury, and well known plays. This was unquestionably the life of Arthur Miller, who is one of America’s well known playwrights of the twentieth century. His impact on American theater is still recognized today and will continue to be looked at for years to come. However, Miller will not only be recognized by his plays but by his high profile marriage, his work in politics and the list goes on. Arthur miller is viewed through American literature by his life, literary works, and impact on American theater.