African American Theater: A Cultural Companion

Picture Credits vi

Acknowledgements vii

About this Book viii

Timeline of Significant Events x

Abbreviations xiv

Introduction: A Journey with the People who Forgot how to Fly 1

1. The People who Could Fly: Slavery, Stereotypes, Minstrelsy, and Myth 6

2. A Leap for Freedom: The Anti-Slavery Movement 29

3. We are Climbing Jacob’s Ladder: Progressing and Migrating 57

4. The Harlem Renaissance: A Sunburst Something like Spiritual Emancipation 80

5. War Stories: Buffalo Soldiers, Black Bird Men, and the Bloods 96

6. Sitting Down, Sitting In, and Standing Up: The Black Freedom Movement 113

7. Black is Beautiful: Protest and Performance 137

8. Conversations: A Second Generation Takes Center Stage 153

9. A Presence of Ancestry: I Believe I Can Fly 174

References 193

Index 202