Prepare for a visit to AAMLO with these special topic resource guides.
This resource guide is intended to help users locate holdings at AAMLO related to African American theater.
It highlights holdings in the following areas:
● Selected Library Material at AAMLO
● Selected Archival Collections at AAMLO
Other collections may contain relevant materials. Please contact AAMLO (aamlo@oaklandlibrary.org) with any questions or to schedule an appointment to view materials in person.
Selected Library Materials
Early Black American Playwrights and Dramatic Writers [Biographical Directory]
The Roots of African American Drama : An Anthology of Early Plays, 1858-1938
Voices for Freedom : the Hyers Sisters' Legacy [DVD]
Lost Plays of the Harlem Renaissance, 1920-1940 edited by James V. Hatch and Leo Hamalian
Wines in the Wilderness : Plays by African American Women From the Harlem Renaissance to the Present
Radical Black Theatre in the New Deal by Kate Dossett
Black Drama of the Federal Theatre Era : Beyond the Formal Horizons by E. Quita Craig
The Theatre of Black Americans : a Collection of Critical Essays
Home: Social Essays by Amiri Baraka
Ntozake Shange : a Critical Study of the Plays by Neal A. Lester
Saga of the Black Man by Sarah Webster Fabio
Retrospective With J. California Cooper [Video]
Selected Archival Collections
African American Museum & Library at Oakland Vertical File Collection. Includes play scripts, theatrical programs and flyers, press releases, reviews, and newspaper clippings pertaining to African American theater productions in the Bay Area circa 1930s-present. Selected items document
- WPA Federal Theatre Projects
- Lorraine Hansberry Theatre
- (Ed) Bullins Memorial Theater
- Berkeley Black Repertory Group
- Alice Arts Center
- Black Arts Community Theatres United
- South Berkeley Playhouse
- Oakland Ensemble Theatre
- Merritt College
- and others
Ruth Acty Papers. Educator, author, and actor Ruth Acty (1913-1998) earned a M.A. in Theater at Northwester University in 1941. In addition to her teaching career, Acty was also active in theater, acting in the WPA Federal Theater Project’s performance of Run, Little Chillun as Sister Stella at the Alcatraz Theater in San Francisco and the WPA theater production of The Swing Mikado in 1939. The Acty papers include her notes as a student at Northwestern University, as well as her collection of theater programs (1939-1991) and WPA Federal Theatre Project identification card. The papers also include Acty’s teaching notes and curriculum while she worked as drama teacher with the Berkeley Unified School District.
Justitia Davis Papers. Following high school, Justitia Davis Scott (1918-1976) was active in Elmer Keeton’s Bay Area Negro Chorus before landing the lead role of Sulamai in the 1938 Federal Theatre Project’s San Francisco production of Hall Johnson’s Run, Little Chillun. Run, Little Chillun’s critical and box office success spurred an adaptation of Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Swing Mikado the following year, featuring Davis in the role of Yum-Yum opposite Jester Hairston. The Swing Mikado production included performances at San Francisco’s Geary Theatre and at the Golden Gate International Exposition at Treasure Island in June, 1934. In the 1960s, she also acted in the role of Mama Younger in a 1961 production of Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun at the University of California Berkeley, and she replaced Gertrude Jeanette in an off-Broadway production of To Be Young, Gifted, and Black.
Annette Starr Bruce Hudson Papers. Printed material in the Hudson papers include an assortment of WPA and Golden Gate Exposition musical and theater programs from the 1940s, and a scrapbook containing handbills and business cards of African American vaudeville performers.
Ruth Beckford Papers. After retiring from dance, Ruth Beckford (1925-2019) shifted her creative energies to writing and acting. In 1974, she signed with Grimme talent agency and performed in theater productions at the Oakland Ensemble Theater and in parts in various television and movie roles. In 1984 Beckford authored a three part play, ‘Tis The Morning of My Life, co-authored with Ron Stacker Thompson. The play was a comedy-drama about a relationship between a younger man and older woman. Beckford produced and starred in the first production of Part I of the play at the Live Oak Theatre in Berkeley, California in 1984. Productions of Part II-Part III of ‘Tis the Morning of My Life were performed at Mills College in 1986 and 1987 and a production of Part I ran at the New Federal Theatre in New York in 1989 with the original cast. The Ruth Beckford Papers include draft scripts and production material documenting Beckford's play, 'Tis the Morning of My Life, and theater flyers of the Oakland Ensemble Theater.
Rhonda White-Warner Papers. In 1988, publisher and media consultant Rhonda White-Warner (1951-2014) launched Rhonda White-Warner’s Tidbits, a magazine dedicated to promoting African American arts and culture in the San Francisco Bay Area. The magazine featured articles, interviews, and an events calendar focused on African American dance, theater, and visual arts. In addition to her work as a publisher and consultant, she was also active in a number of cultural and political organizations in Oakland. She was a founding member of the Oakland Ensemble Theatre, where she started the theater’s newsletter and established its first youth drama workshop. The Rhonda White-Warner papers consist of consulting project files, subject files, photographs, back issues and administrative files of Tidbits magazine, administrative files and theatrical programs of the Oakland Ensemble Theatre. Included also are photographs of various theatrical productions by the the Oakland Ensemble Theatre, American Conservatory Theater, Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, Black Repertory Group, and others.
African American Museum & Library at Oakland Photograph Collection. Includes photographs depicting various African American actors, playwrights, and theater productions circa 1930s to present. Selected items include photographs of the 1938 Federal Theatre Project’s San Francisco production of Hall Johnson’s Run, Little Chillun, and portraits of stage performers such as Paul Robeson.
Oakland Post Photograph Collection. Photographs appearing in the Oakland Post newspaper document African American theater artists and movements between 1963-2005. In addition to Black theater company productions, photographs depict various community theater and children's theater groups including the Oakland Junior Theatre and the Oakland Recreation Department Youth Theatre.
W. Hazaiah Williams Papers. Includes play scripts of
- El Hajj Malik: a play about Malcolm X, by N.R. Davidson, Jr., produced by the Black Theatre Workshop, University of California Berkeley, 1990
- The Incident, a drama by the Youth Community Workers Drama Group, directed by Mrs. Nora Vaughn and staged at the Mobilized Women Community Center, Berkeley, California, 1967
Additional Information
Search the library using the catalog.
Consult AAMLO's finding aids in the Online Archive of California.
We are working to create new resource guides. Have an idea for a new guide? Contact us at aamlo@oaklandlibrary.org.
