The American Negro Theatre

From the group’s first public performance in June 1940 until its collapse in late 1949 or early 1950, the American Negro Theatre (ANT) stood as Harlem’s preeminent theatrical organization. From modest beginnings (including an initial treasury of less than twenty cents), this company grew in visibility and prestige, achieving prominence both in Harlem and on Broadway, and influencing the evolution of American culture with respect to inclusion of black artists and representations of race. The ensemble achieved new heights for African American artistic autonomy and self-expression within the theater. At the same time, the ANT undertook groundbreaking interracial collaborations and advanced the cause of integration in the theater, through its frequent partnerships with white artists. The ANT’s ongoing fame derives in large part from the accomplishments and visibility achieved by many of its alumni as professional artists, following the company’s demise. Ruby Dee, Sidney Poitier, Harry Belafonte, Earle Hyman, Alice Childress, Clarice Taylor, Frederick O’Neal, William Greaves, and many others worked with ANT early in their careers—gaining experience and training that helped propel them into greater public visibility later in life. Another source of renown for the ANT was the creation of the wildly popular Anna Lucasta—which began in Harlem before transferring to a historic two-year run on Broadway, an engagement in London’s West End, and two Hollywood film adaptations. Anna Lucasta still stands as the longest-running play in Broadway history with an entirely African American cast. Despite its collapse amid financial hardships after ten years of activity, the ANT’s influence—both on African American cultural expression as well as on commercial entertainment in the United States—has been transformative and far-reaching.

When Juliet Turns Black: Social Scapegoating in Alice Childress’s Wedding Band

Since its production William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet has been considered too modern for its time because of its portrayal of ill-fated characters whose tragedy is not triggered by any personal flaw of their own, but by family feuds and social scapegoating. In contemporary times, the playwrights still focus on similar stories of unattainable love and tragic romantic figures, who fall prey to the familial and social pressures. In her Wedding Band (1973), Alice Childress presents her black and white Romeo and Juliet who are modern victims of the omnipresent racism in their society. The play confirms that racism is not only practised by whites against blacks but also displayed by blacks against whites. In Wedding Band, Childress presents images of angry women united by their suffering and need of sisterly solidarity. Their anger is a positive rather than negative factor as it frees the heroine from the ties that make her an outcast in her own community. This paper discusses the destiny of two lovers who face refusal from their family and society and the subsequent anger of the female characters whether in favour or against this romantic relation.

Rosalind on the Black Star Line

This chapter focuses on Alice Childress to consider the legacy of Garveyism for the postwar Black Left. Despite historical animosity between Marcus Garvey and the Old Left, younger anticolonial radicals recognized Garvey as a political forefather. Childress's novel, A Short Walk (1979), contributed to and intervened in the renaissance of Garveyism among Black radicals and nationalists. Childress exposed Garveyism's rigid hierarchies of gender and sexuality through juxtaposing chronotopes of the ship and the traveling minstrel show. Through conventions of minstrelsy, Childress imagines an alternative space—the drag ball—that unmoors Black/American identities from heteropatriarchal roles. In exploring the radical potential of minstrel drag, Childress drew upon her experience as a Black Left actor and playwright.