This is the story of African-American performance and theatre from slavery to the present. Its breadth and vitality - from the individual performance to large-scale company productions, from political nationalism to integration - is conveyed in this volume. There is detailed coverage of plays, musicals, actors, directors, designers, producers, and theatres. List of illustrations ix Foreword xii Lloyd G. Richards Preface xiv Acknowledgments xviii List of abbreviations xxii Introduction 1(10) Slavery and conquest: background to black theatre 11(13) The African theatre to Uncle Tom's Cabin 24(37) The Civil War to The Creole Show 61(32) American minstrelsy in black and white 93(42) New vistas: plays, spectacles, musicals, and opera 135(51) The struggle continues 186(28) The Harlem Renaissance 214(41) Educational theatre 255(18) The Caribbean connection 273(34) The Great Depression and federal theatre 307(28) Creeping toward integration 335(40) From Hansberry to Shange 375(55) The millennium 430(52) Appendix: theatre scholarship 2002 482(6) Notes 488(59) Bibliography 547(18) Index 565