Black Drama and the Harlem Renaissance

Abstract

When the literary and artistic aspects of the 1920s Harlem Renaissance are examined in retrospect, the dramas of this seminal period are usually conspicuous in their absence. The major Black dramatists of that time, such as Willis Richardson, Eulalie Spence, and Randolph Edmonds are little remembered save for interested historians, or are remembered for other contributions. Their dramas are nearly never revived. The same appears true for the white playwrights who wrote dramas around Black characters, as Paul Green did. Perhaps the plays of this era are thought to be hopelessly dated, though Eugene O'Neill's The Emperor Jones is staged fairly often, and his still highly controversial All Gods Chillun Got Wings has been revived within recent memory. Occasionally a period Black musical is dusted off and taken from the shelf. Because of George Gershwin's music, the operatic treatment of DuBose Heyward's play, Porgy, has played nearly continuously somewhere in the world since its recreation as Porgy and Bess.