Conversations on Race - Groundbreaking 20th Century Theater

More Black Voices

Alice Childress and Lorraine Hansberry Groundbreaking Mid-20th Century Theater

January, February, and April 2022

Paul Robeson, flanked by Alice Childress on the left and Lorraine Hansberry on the right.

Writers be wary of those who tell you to leave the past alone and confine yourself to the present moment. Our story has not been told in any moment. Have you seen us in any portrayal of the Civil War? Gone With the Wind is not our story. And our history is not gone with the wind; it is still with us.

— Alice Childress, “The Negro Woman in American Literature”

The longer the concept of the half-idiot sub-human can be kept up, the easier to justify economic and every other kind of discrimination so rampant in this country.

— Lorraine Hansberry, “Negroes Cast in Same Old Roles in TV Show”

Introduction

As we begin the new year, we will discuss the influence systemic racism had on the roles and characters given to African Americans in live drama until the mid-20th century. In 1955, Alice Childress’s Trouble in Mind challenged these racist roles and stereotyped characters. Although a success off-Broadway, the play has only now, more than 65 years later, managed to secure a spot on the Great White Way (Roundabout Theater, October 29, 2021-January 9, 2022).

Four years after the initial performance of Childress’s play, Broadway producers took a chance on Lorraine Hansberry and A Raisin in the Sun, and it was named by the New York Drama Critics’ Circle the best play of 1959. While both plays addressed racial issues at the beginning of the civil rights era, one was almost forgotten and the other a cornerstone of American theater. Why?

For our January meeting the focus will be on Alice Childress and Trouble in Mind; February, on Lorraine Hansberry and A Raisin in the Sun. In April, we will compare these two playwrights and share our ideas about the different paths their groundbreaking works have taken.