The History of African American Theatre

1
The History of African American Theatre

• Escape, or Leap for Freedom
• by
• William Wells Brown

2
The Pulpit as Performance Space
3
William Wells Brown (1814-1884)

• Landmarks in African American Literary History
• William Wells Brown was the first
  African-American to publish a novel, a play, a
  travel book, a military study of his people, and
  a study of black sociology. Throughout his life
  he was committed to the abolition of slavery. He
  made eloquent speeches putting forward ideas for
  reform. Later in life he took up the cause of the
  temperance movement.
• Primary Works
• Narrative of William W. Brown, A Fugitive Slave,
  Written by Himself, 1847Three Years in Europe or
  Places I Have Seen and People I Have Met, 1852
  Clotel or, The President's Daughter A Narrative
  of Slave Life in the United States, 1853 The
  Escape or, A Leap of Freedom. A Drama in Five
  Acts, 1858 Memoir of WWB, An American Bondman.
  Written by Himself, 1859 The Black Man. His
  Antecedents, His Genius, and His Achievements,
  1863 The Negro in the American Rebellion. His
  Heroism and His Fidelity, 1867 The Rising Son
  or, The Antecedents and Advancement of the
  Colored Race, 1873 and My Southern Home or, The
  South and Its People, 1880.
• Recent Scholarship
• Chaney, Michael A. Fugitive Vision Slave Image
  and Black Identity in Antebellum Narrative.
  Bloomington Indiana UP, 2007.
• Ernest, John. Liberation Historiography African
  American Writers and the Challenge of History,
  1794-1861. Chapel Hill U of North Carolina P,
  2004.
• - - -. The Escape Or, A Leap for Freedom A
  Drama in Five Acts. Knoxville U of Tennessee P,
  2001.
• James, Jennifer C. A Freedom Bought with Blood
  African American War Literature from the Civil
  War to World War II. Chapel Hill U of North
  Carolina P, 2007.
• Levine, Robert S. ed. Clotel, or the President's
  Daughter. Boston Bedford, 2000.
• Nelson, Emmanuel S. ed. African American
  Autobiographers A Sourcebook. Westport, CT
  Greenwood, 2002.
• - - -. African American Authors, 1745-1945 A
  Bio-Bibliographical Critical Sourcebook.
  Westport, CT Greenwood, 2000.
• Stadler, Gustavus. Troubling Minds The Cultural
  Politics of Genius in the United States,
  1840-1890. Minneapolis U of Minnesota P, 2006.

4
A Brief Biography of Brown

• William Wells Brown (1814-1884) A Brief
  Biography
• William Wells Brown was the first
  African-American to write a novel, a play, and a
  travel book. He was born in Lexington, Kentucky
  in 1815. His father was the white owner of the
  plantation on which Brown was born.
• Brown held many diverse jobs as a youth which
  provided him with firsthand knowledge of the
  slave era South which aided him in his writing.
  Brown escaped from slavery in January 1834.
  During his escape he received help from an Ohio
  Quaker named Wells Brown (whose name he adopted
  when he became a free man). After his refuge he
  taught himself how to read and write. Brown
  became an active abolitionist and activist in the
  anti-slavery movement while working for a
  journalist for the abolitionist cause.
• He was also important in THE UNDERGROUND
  RAILROAD, which helped slaves escape to freedom
  in Canada. It was during this time that Brown
  married Elizabeth Schooner, a free black woman.
  They had three children together. After moving to
  Buffalo, Brown continued to participate in the
  UNDERGROUND RAILROAD and also spoke publicly on
  abolition, women's rights, peace, and temperance.
  
• In 1843 Brown was invited to lecture for the
  Anti-Slavery Society and gained renown as a
  public figure. The American Peace Society chose
  him as their representative to the Peace Congress
  in Europe in 1849.
• While Brown was in Europe he delivered over a
  thousand speeches and wrote some of his most
  important work, including the first African
  American novel Clotel or The President's
  Daughter A Narrative of Slave Life in the United
  States.
• He left Europe in 1854. In 1858 he published the
  first play by an African-American.
• While Brown was in Europe his wife died.
• In 1860 he married Annie Elizabeth Grey. Brown
  continued his political and literary activities.
  He was a major supporter of black recruitment
  efforts during the CIVIL WAR.
• He continued to write many literary and
  historical works including The Black Man His
  Antecedents, His Genius, and His Achievements,
  and The Negro In American Rebellion His Heroism
  and His Fidelity. His final book My Southern
  Home, or The South and Its People, appeared in
  1880.
• It is important to note that Brown's importance
  in African-American literacy is not only based on
  his interesting stylistic blends of melodrama,
  documentary, abolitionist tract, political
  critique but also in his willingness to address
  the issues of sexual exploitation of female
  slaves. Interestingly enough, the novel
  implicates Thomas Jefferson in this practice. The
  novel also challenges the inconsistencies that
  fail to protect the human rights of millions of
  African-Americans. Brown was able to address such
  issues in his literary works that reached a broad
  audience.
• In addition to writing his own works Brown was a
  contributor to Frederick Douglasss paper, the
  Liberator, and to the National Anti-Slavery
  Standard and the London Daily News. Brown died on
  Nov. 6, 1884 in his home in Chelsea,
  Massachusettes.

5
French Romanticism

• French romanticism is a highly eclectic
  phenomenon. It includes an interest in the
  historical novel, the romance, traditional myths
  (and nationalism) and the "roman noir" (or Gothic
  novel), lyricism, sentimentalism, descriptions of
  the natural world (such as elegies by lakes) and
  the common man, exoticism and orientalism, and
  the myth of the romantic hero. Foreign influences
  played a big part in this, especially those of
  Shakespeare, Sir Walter Scott, Byron, Goethe, and
  Friedrich Schiller. French Romanticism had ideals
  diametrically opposed to French classicism and
  the classical unities (see French literature of
  the 17th century), but it could also express a
  profound loss for aspects of the
  pre-revolutionary world in a society now
  dominated by money and fame, rather than honor.
• Key ideas from early French Romanticism
• "le vague des passions" (waves of sentiment and
  passion) - Chateaubriand maintained that while
  the imagination was rich, the world was cold and
  empty, and rationalism and civilization had only
  robbed men of their illusions nevertheless, a
  notion of sentiment and passion continued to
  haunt men.
• "le mal du siècle" (the pain of the century) -
  a sense of loss, disillusion, and aporia,
  typified by melancholy and lassitude.
• The major battle of romanticism in France was
  fought in the theater. The early years of the
  century were marked by a revival of classicism
  and classical-inspired tragedies, often with
  themes of national sacrifice or patriotic heroism
  in keeping with the spirit of the Revolution, but
  the production of Victor Hugo's Hernani in 1830
  marked the triumph of the romantic movement on
  the stage (a description of the turbulent opening
  night can be found in Théophile Gautier). The
  dramatic unities of time and place were
  abolished, tragic and comic elements appeared
  together and metrical freedom was won. Marked by
  the plays of Friedrich Schiller, the romantics
  often chose subjects from historic periods (the
  French Renaissance, the reign of Louis XIII of
  France) and doomed noble characters (rebel
  princes and outlaws) or misunderstood artists
  (Vigny's play based on the life of Thomas
  Chatterton).

6
Minstrelsy and Tricksters (American
Genius?)Cato and
7
The History of African American Theatre

• William Wells Browns
• The Escape, or, Leap for Freedom

8
William Wells Brown (1814-1884)

• Landmarks in African American Literary History
• William Wells Brown was the first
  African-American to publish a novel, a play, a
  travel book, a military study of his people, and
  a study of black sociology. Throughout his life
  he was committed to the abolition of slavery. He
  made eloquent speeches putting forward ideas for
  reform. Later in life he took up the cause of the
  temperance movement.
• Primary Works
• Narrative of William W. Brown, A Fugitive Slave,
  Written by Himself, 1847Three Years in Europe or
  Places I Have Seen and People I Have Met, 1852
  Clotel or, The President's Daughter A Narrative
  of Slave Life in the United States, 1853 The
  Escape or, A Leap of Freedom. A Drama in Five
  Acts, 1858 Memoir of WWB, An American Bondman.
  Written by Himself, 1859 The Black Man. His
  Antecedents, His Genius, and His Achievements,
  1863 The Negro in the American Rebellion. His
  Heroism and His Fidelity, 1867 The Rising Son
  or, The Antecedents and Advancement of the
  Colored Race, 1873 and My Southern Home or, The
  South and Its People, 1880.
• Recent Sholarship
• Chaney, Michael A. Fugitive Vision Slave Image
  and Black Identity in Antebellum Narrative.
  Bloomington Indiana UP, 2007.
• Ernest, John. Liberation Historiography African
  American Writers and the Challenge of History,
  1794-1861. Chapel Hill U of North Carolina P,
  2004.
• - - -. The Escape Or, A Leap for Freedom A
  Drama in Five Acts. Knoxville U of Tennessee P,
  2001.
• James, Jennifer C. A Freedom Bought with Blood
  African American War Literature from the Civil
  War to World War II. Chapel Hill U of North
  Carolina P, 2007.
• Levine, Robert S. ed. Clotel, or the President's
  Daughter. Boston Bedford, 2000.
• Nelson, Emmanuel S. ed. African American
  Autobiographers A Sourcebook. Westport, CT
  Greenwood, 2002.
• - - -. African American Authors, 1745-1945 A
  Bio-Bibliographical Critical Sourcebook.
  Westport, CT Greenwood, 2000.
• Stadler, Gustavus. Troubling Minds The Cultural
  Politics of Genius in the United States,
  1840-1890. Minneapolis U of Minnesota P, 2006.

9
A Brief Biography of Brown

• William Wells Brown (1814-1884) A Brief
  Biography
• William Wells Brown was the first
  African-American to write a novel, a play, and a
  travel book. He was born in Lexington, Kentucky
  in 1815. His father was the white owner of the
  plantation on which Brown was born.
• Brown held many diverse jobs as a youth which
  provided him with firsthand knowledge of the
  slave era South which aided him in his writing.
  Brown escaped from slavery in January 1834.
  During his escape he received help from an Ohio
  Quaker named Wells Brown (whose name he adopted
  when he became a free man). After his refuge he
  taught himself how to read and write. Brown
  became an active abolitionist and activist in the
  anti-slavery movement while working for a
  journalist for the abolitionist cause.
• He was also important in THE UNDERGROUND
  RAILROAD, which helped slaves escape to freedom
  in Canada. It was during this time that Brown
  married Elizabeth Schooner, a free black woman.
  They had three children together. After moving to
  Buffalo, Brown continued to participate in the
  UNDERGROUND RAILROAD and also spoke publicly on
  abolition, women's rights, peace, and temperance.
  
• In 1843 Brown was invited to lecture for the
  Anti-Slavery Society and gained renown as a
  public figure. The American Peace Society chose
  him as their representative to the Peace Congress
  in Europe in 1849.
• While Brown was in Europe he delivered over a
  thousand speeches and wrote some of his most
  important work, including the first African
  American novel Clotel or The President's
  Daughter A Narrative of Slave Life in the United
  States.
• He left Europe in 1854. In 1858 he published the
  first play by an African-American.
• While Brown was in Europe his wife died.
• In 1860 he married Annie Elizabeth Grey. Brown
  continued his political and literary activities.
  He was a major supporter of black recruitment
  efforts during the CIVIL WAR.
• He continued to write many literary and
  historical works including The Black Man His
  Antecedents, His Genius, and His Achievements,
  and The Negro In American Rebellion His Heroism
  and His Fidelity. His final book My Southern
  Home, or The South and Its People, appeared in
  1880.
• It is important to note that Brown's importance
  in African-American literacy is not only based on
  his interesting stylistic blends of melodrama,
  documentary, abolitionist tract, political
  critique but also in his willingness to address
  the issues of sexual exploitation of female
  slaves. Interestingly enough, the novel
  implicates Thomas Jefferson in this practice. The
  novel also challenges the inconsistencies that
  fail to protect the human rights of millions of
  African-Americans. Brown was able to address such
  issues in his literary works that reached a broad
  audience.
• In addition to writing his own works Brown was a
  contributor to Frederick Douglasss paper, the
  Liberator, and to the National Anti-Slavery
  Standard and the London Daily News. Brown died on
  Nov. 6, 1884 in his home in Chelsea,
  Massachusetts.

10
French Romanticism and Melodrama

• French Melodramas Basics

• Browns Text

• The basic characteristics of French melodrama can
  be summarized briefly a virtuous hero or heroine
  is relentlessly hounded by a villain and is
  rescued from seemingly insurmountable
  difficulties only to undergo a series of threats
  to life, reputation, or happiness an episodic
  story unfolds after a short expository scene
  each act ends with a strong climax all important
  events occur on stage and often involve elaborate
  spectacle (such as battles, floods, or
  earthquakes) and local color (such as festivals,
  dances, or picturesque working conditions) the
  typical plot involves disguise, abduction,
  concealed identity, and fortunate coincidence
  strict poetic justice is meted out, for, although
  they may succeed until the final scene, the
  villains are always defeated comic relief is
  provided by a servant or companion to one of the
  principal characters song, dance, and music
  provide additional entertainment or underscore
  the emotional value of scenes.

• Brown takes advantage of all the conventions
  afforded by French Melodrama (spectacle,
  disguise, abduction, concealed identity, etc.) to
  set forth his abolitionist agenda, positioning
  Melinda and Glen as the hero and heroine Mr. and
  Mrs. Gaines as the villains the brutalities of
  slavery and slave-catchers as seemingly
  insurmountable difficulties and American
  plantation life for local color (allowing for,
  in Browns case, an African-American ritual to be
  incorporated into the play). Cato provides most
  f the comic relief and also leads the CHORUS in
  song.

11
Performance History

• The Escape was never meant for performance on a
  proscenium stage. Since neither slavery nor
  freedom welcomed blacks to the stage, The Escape
  was performed from the pulpit and other
  alternative arenas that allowed Browns voice to
  be heard. He transformed spaces with the power
  of his words, enacting over twenty character
  parts to audiences dedicated to the abolitionist
  movement. At a time when Christians abhorred the
  theater as an arena of ungodliness, Brown was a
  major catalyst in overturning this taboo for the
  abolitionist cause.

12
Cato the Trickster
CATO  Yes, massa I'll tend to 'em. (exit Dr.
GAINES, left) I allers knowed I was a doctor, an'
now de ole boss has put me at it, I muss change
my coat. Ef any niggers comes in, I want to look
suspectable . Dis jacket don't suit a doctor
I'll change it . (exit CATO -- immediately
returning in a long coat) Ah! now I looks like a
doctor. Now I can bleed, pull teef, or cut off a
leg. Oh! well, well, ef I aint put de pill stuff
an' de intment stuff togedder. By golly, dat ole
cuss will be mad when he finds it out, won't he?
Nebber mind, I'll make it up in pills, and when
de flour is on dem, he won't know what's in 'em
an' I'll make  some new intment. Ah! yonder comes
Mr. Campbell's Pete an' Ned dems de ones massa
sed was comin'. I'll see ef I looks right. (goes
to the looking-glass and views himself) I em some
punkins, ain't I? (knock at the door) Come in.
(Enter PETE and NED, right) PETE  Whar is de
doctor? CATO  Here I is don't you see me?  
13
Speeches of Justification
14
Close ReadingsAct 3 Scene 2

• Act 3, Scene 2
• (The kitchen -- slaves at work. Enter HANNAH,
  right)
• HANNAH  Oh, Cato, do go and tell missis dat you
  don't want to jump de broomstick  wid me, --
  dat's a good man! Do, Cato kase I nebber can
  love you. It was only las week dat massa sold my
  Sammy, and I don't want any udder man. Do go tell
  missis dat you don't want me.
• CATO  No, Hannah, I ain't a gwine to tell missis
  no such think, kase I dose want you, and I ain't
  a-gwine to tell a lie for you ner nobody else.
  Dar, now you's got it! I don't see why you  need
  to make so much fuss. I is better lookin' den
  Sam an' I is a house servant, an' Sam was only a
  fiel hand so you ought to feel  proud of a
  change. So go and do as missis tells you.
• (exit HANNAH, left) Hannah needn't try to get me
  to tell a lie I ain't a-gwine to do it, kase I
  dose want her, an' I is bin wantin' her dis long
  time, an' soon as massa sold Sam, I knowed I
  would get her. By golly, I is gwine to be a
  married man. Won't I be happy! Now, ef I could
  only jess run away from ole massa, an' get to
  Canada wid Hannah, den I'd show 'em who I was.
  Ah! dat reminds me of my song 'bout ole massa and
  Canada, an' I'll sing it fer yer. Dis is my
  moriginal hyme. It comed into my head one night
  when I was fass asleep under an apple tree,
  looking up at de moon. Now for my song  --
• AIR -- "Dandy Jim" Come all ye bondmen far and
  near, Let's put a song in massa's ear, It is a
  song for our poor race, Who're whipped and
  trampled with disgrace.
• CHORUS My old massa  tells me, Oh, This is a
  land of freedom, Oh Let's look about and see if
  it's so, Just as massa tells me, Oh. He tells us
  of that glorious one, I think his name was
  Washington, How he did fight for liberty, To save
  a threepence tax on tea.
• (Chorus) But now we look about and see That we
  poor blacks are not so free We're whipped and
  thrashed about like fools, And have no chance at
  common schools.
• (Chorus) They take our wives, insult and mock,
  And sell our children on the block, They choke us
  if we say a word, And say that "niggers" shan't
  be heard.
• (Chorus) Our preachers, too, with whip and cord,
  Command obedience in the Lord They say they
  learn it from the big book, But for ourselves, we
  dare not look.
• (Chorus) There is a country far away, I think
  they call it Canada, And if we reach Victoria's
  shore, They say that we are slaves no more. Now
  haste, all bondmen, let  us go, And leave this
  Christian country, Oh Haste to the land of the
  British Queen, Where whips for negroes are not
  seen. Now, if we go, we must take the night, And
  never let them come in sight The bloodhounds
  will be on our track, And wo to us if they fetch
  us back. Now haste all bondmen, let us go, And
  leave this Christian country, Oh God help us to
  Victoria's shore, Where we are free and slaves no
  more!
• (Enter Mrs. GAINES, left )

15
Jumping the Broom

• Is a ceremony dating back to the 1600s and
  derived from Africa. Dating back to slave days,
  jumping the broom together has been part of
  weddings for couples who want to honor that
  tradition. It also has roots in the Celtic
  culture and including but not limited to Welsh,
  Celtics, Druids, and Gypsies and some aboriginal
  or shamanistic cultures.
• Some couples choose to incorporate it into
  traditional and non-traditional ceremonies. Broom
  jumping is a brief ceremony usually within the
  wedding ceremony toward the end. The jumping of
  the broom is symbolic of binding a couple in
  marriage and also can be used to symbolize
  fertility and prosperity of the couple.
• The "Jumping the Broom" is a ceremony in which
  the bride and groom, either at the ceremony or at
  the reception, signify their entrance into a new
  life and their creation of a new family by
  symbolically "sweeping away" their former single
  lives, former problems and concerns, and jumping
  over the broom to enter upon a new adventure as
  wife and husband.
• Jumping the broom or in some cases jumping over
  an imaginary line is an African ritual, or
  tradition still being practiced in some parts of
  West Africa. Jumping the broom is not associated
  with slavery. Enslaved Africans, as an
  affirmation of their cultural heritage practiced
  it during slavery in North America.
• This "leap" into a new life (marriage as wife and
  husband is performed in the presence of families
  and friends. You can be as creative as you want
  when planning for this special ceremony.
• The broom has both symbolic and spiritual
  importance in the African culture. The ritual
  itself was created by our ancestors during
  slavery. Because slaves could not legally marry,
  they created their own rituals to honor their
  unions. Some say broom jumping comes from an
  African tribal marriage ritual of placing sticks
  on the ground representing the couple's new home.
  
• The straws of the broom represent family the
  handle represents the Almighty the ribbon
  represents the tie that binds the couple
  together.

16
MelodramaSwept off Her Feet

• MRS. GAINES  Yes, Melinda, I will see that
  you are taken away, but it shall be after a
  fashion that you won't like. I know that your
  master loves you, and I intend to put a stop to
  it. Here, drink the contents of this vial, --
  drink it!
• MELINDA  Oh, you will not take my life, -- you
  will not!
• MRS. GAINES  Drink the poison this moment !
• MELINDA  I cannot drink it.
• MRS. GAINES  I tell you to drink  this poison at
  once. Drink it, or I will thrust this knife to
  your heart! The poison or the dagger, this
  instant!
• (she draws a dagger MELINDA retreats to
  the back of the room, and seizes a broom .)
• MELINDA  I will not drink the poison!
• (they fight MELINDA sweeps off Mrs.
  GAINES, -- cap, combs and curls. Curtain falls)

17
Close ReadingAct 3 Scene 3

• MAJ. MOORE  Yes, madam, I am. I rather
  like the Colonel's situation here.
• MRS. GAINES  It is thought to be a fine
  location.
• (enter SAMPEY, right) Hand me my fan, will you,
  Sampey?
• (SAMPEY gets the fan and passes near the MAJOR,
  who mistakes the boy for the Colonel's son. He
  reaches out his hand)
• MAJ. MOORE  How do you do, Bob? Madam I should
  have known that this was the Colonel's  son, if I
  had met him in California for he looks so much
  like his papa.
• MRS. GAINES 
• (to the boy) Get out of here this minute. Go to
  the kitchen.
• (exit SAMPEY, right) That is one of the niggers,
  sir.
• MAJ. MOORE  I beg your pardon, madam I beg your
  pardon.
• MRS. GAINES  No offence, sir mistakes  will be
  made. Ah! here comes the Colonel.
• (Enter Dr. GAINES, center)
• DR. GAINES  Bless my soul, how are you, Major?
  I'm exceedingly pleased to see you. Be seated, be
  seated, Major.
• MRS. GAINES  Please excuse me, gentlemen I must
  go and look after dinner, for I've no doubt that
  the Major will have an appetite for dinner, by
  the time it is ready.
• (exit Mrs. GAINES, right)
•  

18

• (Interior of a dungeon -- GLEN in chains)
• GLEN  When I think of my unmerited sufferings,
  it almost drives me mad. I struck the doctor, and
  for that, I must remain here loaded with chains.
  But why did he strike me? He takes my wife from
  me, sends her off, and then comes and beats me
  over the head with his cane. I did right to
  strike him back again. I would I had killed him.
  Oh! there is a volcano pent up in the hearts of
  the slaves of these Southern States that will
  burst forth ere long. When that day comes, wo to
  those whom its unpitying fury may devour! I would
  be willing to die, if I could smite down with
  these chains every man who attempts to enslave
  his fellow-man.
• (Enter SAMPEY, right)
• SAMPEY  Glen, I jess bin hear massa call de
  oberseer , and I spec somebody is gwine to be
  whipped. Anudder ting I know whar massa took
  Linda to. He took her to de poplar farm, an' he
  went away las' night, an' missis she follow after
  massa, an' she ain't come back yet. I tell you,
  Glen, de debil will be to pay on dis place, but
  don't you tell anybody dat I  tole you.
• (exit SAMPEY, right)
•