Two researchers gave a fascinating talk at the Cadbury Research Library, University of Birmingham Friday 17 November 2023. In their talk Kate Dossett and Lorna French explored the troubled history of collecting and archiving the work of Black theatre makers working in Britain in the twentieth century.
They shared some of their findings from Archives of Surveillance and the Making of Black Cultural Histories, a research project based at the University of Leeds and in collaboration with the British Library. This project explored new ways of identifying work by Black theatre makers in the Lord Chamberlain’s Plays Collection at the British Library.
Their talk also considered the challenges and opportunities of engaging with archives documenting the work of Black theatre makers in performance and newspaper collections. A display of theatre material held at the Cadbury Research Library was available to view by the delegates following the talk. Items included:
- MS38/695 'Anna Lucasta' by Philip Yordan, Abram Hill, Harry Gribble and the American Negro Theatre
- MS38/713: ‘Appearances’, by Garland Anderson
- MS38/1480: ‘Blackbirds' by George W. Meyer
- MS42: Papers of Henry Valentina L. Swanzy
Kate Dossett is Professor of American History at the University of Leeds. Lorna French is an award-winning playwright and is currently finishing up her PhD at the University of Birmingham on Black British playwrights.
Find out more
Anna Lucasta is a play originally written for an all-white cast, but was a hit when the American Negro Theatre produced it in 1943, and according to the New York Times “for the first time, American playgoers saw an all-black cast acting in a drama that did not deal with racial issues.”
If you’d like to read contemporary reviews of the play, we have access to a variety of newspapers from the time via the Library catalogue such as:
There are also items about the actors personally such as: