African American Theater History: Slavery to Mid-1800s

5 units · Undergraduate upper division (100-199)

(Same as African American Studies M103A.) Lecture, three hours. Examination of early African American performance modes leading up to the advent of conventional theatrical practice as manifest by the African Grove Theatre of 1821. Examination of the sociohistorical context in which the works were created and critical essays that illustrate the development of African American performance modalities that predate the enslaved moment in various traditions. Examination of certain West African cultures as well as music, dance, and oral traditional practices that helped shape what has become African American theater. Examination also of how the construction of race shaped the development of America from a colony to an early international power. Letter grading.