From past to present, this listing of plays, books, and articles provides a small sampling of literary works by and about Black artists. When possible, we have linked titles to Eso Won Books for purchase to give the opportunity to support a local Black-owned business.
Because this list is not exhaustive, it will be continually updated as our community contributes more information. If you’d like to add titles to this list, please email [email protected] with your suggestions.
PLAYS (1850-1949)
The Escape; or, A Leap for Freedom by William Wells Brown (1858)
Rachel by Angelina Weld Grimké (1916) 10F, 3M
The Chip Woman’s Fortune by Willis Richardson (1923) 3W, 2M
Mule Bone: A Comedy of Negro Life in Three Acts by Zora Neale Hurston & Langston Hughes (1930) 1F, 5M
PLAYS (1950-1979)
The Amen Corner by James Baldwin (1955) 9F, 5M
Trouble in Mind by Alice Childress (1955) 3F, 6M
A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry (1959) 3F, 5M
Dutchman by Amiri Baraka (then LeRoi Jones) (1964) 1F, 2M
Funnyhouse of A Negro by Adrienne Kennedy (1964) 5F, 3M
Day of Absence by Douglas Turner Ward (1965) 1F, 5M
Black Girl by J.E. Franklin (1969) 7F, 3M
Ceremonies in Dark Old Men by Lonne Elder III (1969) 2F, 5M
No Place to be Somebody by Charles Gordone (1969) 5F, 11M
The Sty of the Blind Pig by Phillip Hayes Dean (1971) 2F, 2M
The River Niger by Joseph A. Walker (1973) 4F, 9M
Wedding Band by Alice Childress (1973) 8F, 3M
The First Breeze of Summer by Leslie Lee (1975) 6F, 8M
The Taking of Miss Janie by Ed Bullins (1975) 4F, 5M
The Mighty Gents by Richard Wesley (1978) 1F, 6M
Home by Samm-Art Williams (1979) 2F, 1M
Spell #7 by Ntozake Shange (1979) 5F, 4M
Zooman and the Sign by Charles H. Fuller (1979) 3F, 6M
PLAYS (1980-2009)
The American Century Cycle (10 plays) by August Wilson
The Colored Museum by George C. Wolfe (1986) 4F, 2M
Long Time Since Yesterday by PJ Gibson (1986) 8F
Checkmates by Ron Milner (1987) 2F, 2M
I Am A Man by Oyamo (1992) 2F, 13M
East Texas Hot Links by Eugene Lee (1994) 1F, 7M
Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 by Anna Deavere Smith (1994) 1F
Blues for an Alabama Sky by Pearl Cleage (1995) 2F, 3M
Crumbs from the Table of Joy by Lynn Nottage (1995) 4F, 1M
Insurrection: Holding History by Robert O’Hara (1996) 4F, 5M
The Old Settler by John Henry Redwood (1998) 3F, 1M
Topdog/Underdog by Suzan-Lori Parks (2001) 2M
Nothing but the Truth by John Kani (2002) 2F, 1M
Yellowman by Dael Orlandersmith (2002) 1F, 1M
Pretty Fire by Charlayne Woodard (2003) 1F
Fabulation: The Re-Education of Undine by Lynn Nottage (2004) 4F, 4M
Bourbon at the Border by Pearl Cleage (2005) 2F, 2M
No Child by Nilaja Sun (2006) 1F or 1M
Stick Fly by Lydia R. Diamond (2008) 3F, 3M
PLAYS (2010-Present)
Eclipsed by Danai Gurira (2010) 5F
Choir Boy by Tarell Alvin McCraney (2012) 7M
Detroit ‘67 by Dominique Morisseau (2013) 3F, 2M
Good Grief by Ngozi Jane Anyanwu (2016) 3F, 4M
Hurt Village by Katori Hall (2013) 4F, 5M
The House That Will Not Stand by Marcus Gardley (2014) 7F
Buzzer by Tracey Scott Wilson (2016) 1F, 3M
DOT by Colman Domingo (2016) 3F, 4M
Pipeline by Dominique Morisseau (2017) 3F, 3M
Too Heavy For Your Pocket by Jireh Breon Holder (2017) 2F, 2M
What To Send Up When It Goes Down by Aleshea Harris (2017) 4F, 4M
Fairview by Jackie Sibblies Drury (2018) 5F, 3M
Nollywood Dreams by Jocelyn Bioh (2018) 4F, 2M
Sugar In Our Wounds by Donja R. Love (2019) 3F, 2M
Black Theatre Literature
Advice to a Young Black Actor Conversations with Douglas Turner Ward, Gus Edwardsk
African American Performance & Theater History, Harry J. Elam Jr.
African American Theatre: A Historical and Critical Analysis, Samuel A. Hay
The African American Theatrical Body, Soyica Diggs Colbert
Afrocentric Theatre, Barbara J. Molette and Carlton Molette
August Wilson and Black Aesthetics, Sandra Shannon and Dana Williams
Black Broadway: African Americans on the Great White Way, Stewart F. Lane
The Black Circuit: Race, Performance, and Spectatorship in Black PopularTheatre, Rashida Z. Shaw McMahon
Black Drama: The Story of the American Negro in the Theatre, Loften Mitchell
Black Lives, Black Words: 32 Short Plays, Selected and edited by Reginald Edmund
Black Movements, Soyica Diggs Colbert
Black Theater is Black Life, Harvey Young and Queen Meccasia Zabriskie
Black Theatre: Premise and Presentation, Barbara J. Molette and Carlton Molette
Black Theatre Present Condition, Woodie King Jr.
Black Theatre: Ritual Performance in the African Diaspora, Paul Carter Harrison, Victor Leo Walker, Gus Edwards
The Cambridge Guide to African and Caribbean Theatre, Errol Hill, Martin Banham, George William Woodyard
Embodying Black Experience, Harvey Young
A History of African American Theatre, Errol G. Hill and James V. Hatch
“I Ain’t Sorry For Nothin’ i Done” August Wilson’s Process of Playwriting, Joan Herrington
In the Shadow of the Great White Way, Paul Carter Harrison & Bert Andrews
The Impact of Race: Theatre and Culture, Woodie King Jr.
Ira Aldridge: The Negro Tragedian, Herbert Marshall and Mildred Stock
It’s Always Loud in the Balcony, Richard Wesley
The Past as Present in the Drama of August Wilson, Harry J. Elam Jr.
The Theatre of Black Americans, Errol Hill
Theatre & Race, Harvey Young
Theorizing Black Theatre, Henry D. Miller
Articles
40 Black Playwrights on the Theater Industry’s Insidious Racism
Blackness In Nonprofit Theatre
Criteria For Negro Art by W.E.B. DuBois
Don’t Call African American Theatre Black Theatre
The Ground on Which I Stand by August Wilson – Full Text
Krigwa Players- “For Us, By Us…” by W.E.B. DuBois
Larry Neal on the Black Arts Movement
Reading List from Ibram X. Kendi
Towards a New Generation of African American Leaders By Marqueece Harris-Dawson
Special Thanks to Bernard Addison, DeJuan Christopher, and Charles Reese.