Yale Bulletin and Calendar

October 27, 2000

Volume 29, Number 8

Books take look at African American stage performers

Two new books by Yale faculty members shine a spotlight on a neglected stage of African American theater history.

"Resistance, Parody, and Double Consciousness in African American Theatre, 1895-1910" by David Krasner explores the development of African-American performance and theater at the dawn of the last century. "The Royalty of Negro Vaudeville" by Nadine George-Graves celebrates the lives and careers of the Whitman Sisters, a pioneering performance group whose national popularity spanned the first 40 years of the 20th century.

Krasner holds joint appointments in theater studies, African-American history and English; George is assistant professor in African-American and theater studies.

"Resistance, Parody, and Double Consciousness in African American Theatre, 1895-1910" examines black theater at the turn of the century from a political and social perspective, giving consideration to historical context.

In analyzing uniquely African-American performance forms -- from minstrelsy to cakewalking -- Krasner takes into account the persistent and pervasive racism that engendered them.

"In focusing on theatre, I will argue that the aesthetics of black modernism arose from resistance to racism on the one hand, and a need for social integration and cooperation among African Americans on the other," Krasner writes in his introduction. He points to this constant tension between defiance and acceptance, affirmation of racial individuality and capitulation to a dominant culture, as the crucible of African- American creativity at the beginning of the 20th century. "[It] is an era generally slighted in comparison to the artistic junctures of the Harlem Renaissance, the 1960s Black Arts movement, or the current vitality of black arts in literature, drama and film," he observes.

George takes a different perspective in "The Royalty of Negro Vaudeville." Her biography of the Whitman Sisters examines early 20th-century African-American performance from the perspective of individuals who reflected and helped to shape it.

Using the Whitman troupe as a prototype, George traces the evolving standards of gender, race and class in the first half of the last century. The story George tells of the Whitmans' career within the "negro vaudeville" circuit also provides a glimpse of the emerging African-American entertainment industry during that period.

The daughters of an African Methodist Episcopal minister (and acclaimed poet of his day), Mabel, Alberta, Essie and Alice Whitman developed from jubilee singers in their father's church to a world touring performance company, some 40 members strong. The group was celebrated for its dance, song and unique brand of showmanship.

George's book shows how the Whitmans perfected a division of labor that exploited all their strengths, with Mabel handling the bookings, Alberta serving as financial secretary and composing much of the music, and Essie designing and making the costumes.

Some of their popularity was also due to their penchant for parody, says George. For example, Alberta often impersonated a man, and the light-complexioned sisters would "play up" their lightness by donning blonde wigs and performing as white women for the audience.

"[T]he sisters formulated several identities or personas for themselves in order to entertain," George notes. "In the process they shocked, confronted and challenged their audiences to recognize the tenuousness of rigid constructions of race and gender," she argues.

Both new books were published by Palgrave, the Scholarly and Reference Division of St. Martin's Press.

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