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{{Short description|American novelist, playwright, and actress (1916–1994)}}
{{for|the Ben Folds Five song|Alice Childress (song)}}
{{for|the Ben Folds Five song|Alice Childress (song)}}
{{Infobox person
{{Infobox person
| name = Alice Childress
| image = Alice Childress.jpg
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1916|10|12|mf=yes}}
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1916|10|12|mf=yes}}
| birth_name = Alice Herndon
| birth_name = Alice Herndon
| birth_place = [[Charleston, South Carolina]], U.S.
| birth_place = [[Charleston, South Carolina]], U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|1994|08|14|1916|10|12|mf=yes}}
| death_date = {{death date and age|1994|08|14|1916|10|12|mf=yes}}
| death_place = [[New York City]], U.S.
| death_place = [[New York City]], U.S.
| occupation = {{flatlist|
| occupation = {{flatlist|
* Playwright
* Playwright
* novelist
* novelist
* actress
* actress
}}
}}
| other_names = Louise Henderson
| other_names = Louise Henderson
| notable_works = ''[[Like One of the Family]]'' (1956); ''[[A Hero Ain't Nothin' but a Sandwich]]'' (1973)
| notable_works = ''[[Like One of the Family]]'' (1956); ''[[A Hero Ain't Nothin' but a Sandwich (novel)|A Hero Ain't Nothin' but a Sandwich]]'' (1973)
| spouse = {{plainlist|
* {{marriage|[[Alvin Childress]]|1934|1957|reason=divorced}}
* Nathan Woodard}}
}}
}}


'''Alice Childress''' (October 12, 1916<ref>[http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap8/childress.html PAL: Perspectives in American Literature-A Research and Reference Guide]</ref> – August 14, 1994) was an American novelist, [[playwright]], and [[actress]], acknowledged as "the only [[African-American]] woman to have written, produced, and published plays for four decades."<ref name=Washington>[[Mary Helen Washington]], [https://books.google.com/books?id=iljG60seehkC&pg=PA186&lpg=PA186&dq=%22alice+childress%22+tony+award&source=bl&ots=bcU880xtjt&sig=6w6uJR0kvQoWfL-50co9BhuFX6g&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjchZ_4saDLAhXDa3IKHZgVBZ4Q6AEIZzAQ#v=onepage&q=%22alice%20childress%22%20tony%20award&f=false "Alice Childress, Lorraine Hansberry, and Claudia Jones: Black Women Write the Popular Front"], in Bill Mullen and James Edward Smethurst (eds), ''Left of the Color Line: Race, Radicalism, and Twentieth-Century Literature of the United States'', Chapel Hill/London: University of North Carolina Press, 2003, p. 186.</ref> Childress described her work as trying to portray the have-nots in a have society,<ref name=BHN /> saying: "My writing attempts to interpret the 'ordinary' because they are not ordinary. Each human is uniquely different. Like snowflakes, the human pattern is never cast twice. We are uncommonly and marvellously intricate in thought and action, our problems are most complex and, too often, silently borne."<ref name=Busby /> Childress also became involved in social causes, and formed an [[off-Broadway]] union for actors.<ref>William L. Andrews, Frances Smith Foster, Trudier Harris, [https://books.google.com/books?id=-9XtCY7cijMC&pg=PA72&lpg=PA72&dq=alice+childress+union&source=bl&ots=3Dz6XMqDIw&sig=unEsF-s95P4wjSH8r3de1nbY5eo&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiFz_Dg0KDLAhWJCpoKHQbGANoQ6AEIRDAI#v=onepage&q=alice%20childress%20union&f=false "Childress, Alice"], ''The Concise Oxford Companion to African American Literature'', Oxford University Press, 2001, p. 72.</ref>
'''Alice Childress''' (October 12, 1916<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap8/childress.html |title=PAL: Perspectives in American Literature-A Research and Reference Guide |access-date=2006-02-25 |archive-date=2006-04-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060419195543/http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap8/childress.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> – August 14, 1994) was an American novelist, [[playwright]], and [[actress]], acknowledged as "the only [[African-American]] woman to have written, produced, and published plays for four decades."<ref name=Washington>[[Mary Helen Washington]], [https://books.google.com/books?id=iljG60seehkC&dq=%22alice+childress%22+tony+award&pg=PA186 "Alice Childress, Lorraine Hansberry, and Claudia Jones: Black Women Write the Popular Front"], in Bill Mullen and James Edward Smethurst (eds), ''Left of the Color Line: Race, Radicalism, and Twentieth-Century Literature of the United States'', Chapel Hill/London: University of North Carolina Press, 2003, p. 186.</ref> Childress described her work as trying to portray the have-nots in a have society,<ref name=BHN /> saying: "My writing attempts to interpret the 'ordinary' because they are not ordinary. Each human is uniquely different. Like snowflakes, the human pattern is never cast twice. We are uncommonly and marvellously intricate in thought and action, our problems are most complex and, too often, silently borne."<ref name=Busby /> Childress became involved in social causes, and formed an [[off-Broadway]] union for actors.<ref>William L. Andrews, Frances Smith Foster, Trudier Harris, [https://books.google.com/books?id=-9XtCY7cijMC&dq=alice+childress+union&pg=PA72 "Childress, Alice"], ''The Concise Oxford Companion to African American Literature'', Oxford University Press, 2001, p. 72.</ref>


Alice Childress's paper archive is held at the [[Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture]] in Harlem, New York.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://archives.nypl.org/scm/20917#overview|title=archives.nypl.org – Alice Childress papers|website=archives.nypl.org|access-date=2019-02-16}}</ref>
Alice Childress's paper archive is held at the [[Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture]] in Harlem, New York.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://archives.nypl.org/scm/20917#overview|title=archives.nypl.org – Alice Childress papers|website=archives.nypl.org|access-date=February 16, 2019}}</ref>


==Early years==
==Early years==
Childress (née Herndon) was born in [[Charleston, South Carolina]], but at the age of nine, after her parents separated, she moved to [[Harlem]], NY, where she lived with her grandmother, Eliza Campbell White, on 118th Street, between [[Lenox Avenue]] and [[Fifth Avenue]].<ref name="Biography Today, p. 18">{{cite book |title=Biography Today: Author Series |year=1996 |publisher=Omnigraphics, Inc. |location=Detroit |isbn=0-7808-0014-1 |page=[https://archive.org/details/biographytodayau0001unse/page/18 18] |url=https://archive.org/details/biographytodayau0001unse/page/18 }}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/alicechildress00jenn|title=Alice Childress|last=Delois.|first=Jennings, La Vinia|date=1995|publisher=Twayne Publishers|isbn=0805739637|location=New York|oclc=32050492}}</ref> Though her grandmother, the daughter of a slave,<ref name="slave">{{cite magazine |title=Alice Childress |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |magazine= Black History Now |date= June 19, 2014 |url= http://blackhistorynow.com/alice-childress/ |access-date=July 15, 2019}}</ref> had no formal education, she encouraged Alice to pursue her talents in reading and writing.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Jennings |first1=La Vinia Delois |title=Alice Childress (Twayne's United States Author Series) |date=1995 |publisher=Twayne Publisher |location=Woodbridge, CT |isbn=0805739637 |url=https://archive.org/details/alicechildress00jenn }}</ref> Alice attended public school in New York for her middle-school education and went on to [[Wadleigh High School for Girls|Wadleigh High School]], but had to drop out once her grandmother died.<ref name="Biography Today, p. 18" /> She became involved in theater immediately after her high school and she did not attend college.<ref name="Biography Today, p.19">''Biography Today'', p. 19.</ref>
Childress (née Herndon) was born in [[Charleston, South Carolina]], but at the age of nine, after her parents separated, she moved to [[Harlem]], New York City, where she lived with her grandmother, Eliza Campbell White, on 118th Street, between [[Lenox Avenue]] and [[Fifth Avenue]].<ref name="Biography Today, p. 18">{{cite book |title=Biography Today: Author Series |year=1996 |publisher=Omnigraphics, Inc. |location=Detroit |isbn=0-7808-0014-1 |page=[https://archive.org/details/biographytodayau0001unse/page/18 18] |url=https://archive.org/details/biographytodayau0001unse/page/18 }}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/alicechildress00jenn|title=Alice Childress|last=Delois.|first=Jennings, La Vinia|date=1995|publisher=Twayne Publishers|isbn=0805739637|location=New York|oclc=32050492}}</ref> Though her grandmother, the daughter of a slave,<ref name="slave">{{cite magazine |title=Alice Childress |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |magazine= Black History Now |date= June 19, 2014 |url= http://blackhistorynow.com/alice-childress/ |access-date=July 15, 2019}}</ref> had no formal education, she encouraged Alice to pursue her talents in reading and writing.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Jennings |first1=La Vinia Delois |title=Alice Childress (Twayne's United States Author Series) |date=1995 |publisher=Twayne Publisher |location=Woodbridge, CT |isbn=0805739637 |url=https://archive.org/details/alicechildress00jenn }}</ref> Alice attended public school in New York for her middle-school education and went on to [[Wadleigh High School for Girls|Wadleigh High School]], but had to drop out once her grandmother died.<ref name="Biography Today, p. 18" /> She became involved in theater immediately after her high school and she did not attend college.<ref name="Biography Today, p.19">''Biography Today'', p. 19.</ref>


==Career==
==Career==


===Acting===
===Acting===
She took odd jobs to pay for herself, including domestic worker, photo retoucher, assistant machinist, saleslady, and insurance agent. In 1939, she studied Drama in the [[American Negro Theatre]] (ANT), and performed there for 11 years. She acted in [[Abram Hill]] and John Silvera's ''On Strivers Row'' (1940), Theodore Brown's ''Natural Man'' (1941), and [[Philip Yordan]]'s ''[[Anna Lucasta (play)|Anna Lucasta]]'' (1944).<ref name="Biography Today, p.19"/> There she won acclaim as an actress in numerous other productions, and moved to [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] with the transfer of ANT's hit ''Anna Lucasta'', which became the longest-running all-black play in Broadway history<ref name=Guardian>Sue Woodman, "A testimonial to black America" (obituary of Alice Childress), ''[[The Guardian]]'', September 14, 1994.</ref> among a cast that also included [[Hilda Simms]], [[Canada Lee]], Georgia Burke, [[Earle Hyman]] and [[Frederick O'Neal]].<ref>[[Stephen Bourne (writer)|Stephen Bourne]], [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-alice-childress-1379512.html "Obituary: Alice Childress"], ''[[The Independent]]'', August 29, 1994.</ref> Though many biographies list her as having won a [[Tony award]] nomination for her starring performance,<ref name="Washington" /><ref name="Busby">[[Margaret Busby]], "Alice Childress", ''[[Daughters of Africa: An International Anthology of Words and Writings by Women of African Descent]]'', Vintage, 1993, p. 279.</ref> this does not turn out to be the case.
Childress took odd jobs to pay for herself, including domestic worker, photo retoucher, assistant machinist, saleslady, and insurance agent. In 1939, she studied Drama in the [[American Negro Theatre]] (ANT), and performed for the company for 11 years. She acted in [[Abram Hill]] and John Silvera's ''On Strivers Row'' (1940), Theodore Brown's ''Natural Man'' (1941), and [[Philip Yordan]]'s ''[[Anna Lucasta (play)|Anna Lucasta]]'' (1944).<ref name="Biography Today, p.19"/> There she won acclaim as an actress in numerous other productions, and moved to [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] with the transfer of ANT's hit ''Anna Lucasta'', which became the longest-running all-black play in Broadway history<ref name=Guardian>Woodman, Sue (September 14, 1994), "A testimonial to black America" (obituary of Alice Childress), ''[[The Guardian]]''.</ref> among a cast that also included [[Hilda Simms]], [[Canada Lee]], Georgia Burke, [[Earle Hyman]] and [[Frederick O'Neal]].<ref>[[Stephen Bourne (writer)|Stephen Bourne]], [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-alice-childress-1379512.html "Obituary: Alice Childress"], ''[[The Independent]]'', August 29, 1994.</ref> Though many biographies list her as having received a [[Tony award]] nomination for her starring performance, this information appears to be inaccurate as the Tony Awards did not begin until 1947, some years after the production.<ref name="Washington" /><ref name="Busby">[[Margaret Busby|Busby, Margaret]], "Alice Childress", ''[[Daughters of Africa: An International Anthology of Words and Writings by Women of African Descent]]'', Vintage, 1993, p. 279.</ref>


===Playwriting===
===Playwriting===
In 1949 she began her writing career with the one-act play ''Florence'', which she directed and starred in, and which reflected many of the themes that are characteristic of her later writing, including the empowerment of black women, interracial politics, and working-class life.<ref name=BHN /><ref name=BlackPast /> In ''Florence'', a black, Southern, working-class woman, Mama Whitney, decides to travel by train from South Carolina to New York City to retrieve her daughter, Florence, who is a struggling actor. However, after a white woman waiting for the same train offers to help Florence by recommending her for a job as a maid, Mama Whitney decides to send her daughter money instead bringing her home.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/10/10/black-and-blue-hilton-als|title=Alice Childress, the Last Woman Standing|last=Als|first=Hilton|date=2011-10-03|access-date=2019-02-16|language=en|issn=0028-792X}}</ref> Childress' goal in writing ''Florence'' was to "settle an argument with fellow actors (Sidney Poitier among others) who said that in a play about Negroes and whites, only a 'life and death thing' like lynching is interesting on stage."<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/negroplaywrights00abra|title=Negro playwrights in the American theatre, 1925-1959|last=E.|first=Abramson, Doris|date=1969|publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn=023103248X|location=New York|oclc=6324}}</ref>
In 1949, she began her writing career with the one-act play ''Florence'', which she directed and starred in, and which reflected many of the themes that are characteristic of her later writing, including the empowerment of black women, interracial politics, and working-class life.<ref name=BHN /><ref name=BlackPast /> In ''Florence'', a black, Southern, working-class woman, Mama Whitney, decides to travel by train from South Carolina to New York City to retrieve her daughter, Florence, who is a struggling actor. However, after a white woman waiting for the same train offers to help Florence by recommending her for a job as a maid, Mama Whitney decides to send her daughter money instead bringing her home.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/10/10/black-and-blue-hilton-als|title=Alice Childress, the Last Woman Standing|last=Als|first=Hilton|magazine=[[The New Yorker]]|date=October 3, 2011|access-date=February 16, 2019|language=en|issn=0028-792X}}</ref> Childress' goal in writing ''Florence'' was to "settle an argument with fellow actors ([[Sidney Poitier]] among others) who said that in a play about Negroes and whites, only a 'life and death thing' like lynching is interesting on stage."<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/negroplaywrights00abra|title=Negro playwrights in the American theatre, 1925–1959|last=E.|first=Abramson, Doris|date=1969|publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn=023103248X|location=New York|oclc=6324}}</ref>


Her 1950 play, ''Just a Little Simple'', was adapted from the [[Langston Hughes]] novel ''Simple Speaks His Mind'' and was produced in Harlem at the Club Baron Theatre. Her next play, ''Gold Through the Trees'' (1952), gave her the distinction of being one of the first African-American women to have worked professionally produced on the New York stage.<ref>{{cite book|title=The New York Public Library Performing Arts Desk Reference|year=1994|publisher=Macmillan|location=New York|isbn=0-02-861447-X|page=[https://archive.org/details/newyorkpubliclib00newy_0/page/12 12]|url=https://archive.org/details/newyorkpubliclib00newy_0|url-access=registration}}</ref> The success of these plays enabled her to bring Harlem's first all-union off-Broadway contracts into practice.<ref name=Sussman />
Her 1950 play, ''Just a Little Simple'', was adapted from the [[Langston Hughes]] novel ''Simple Speaks His Mind'' and was produced in Harlem at the Club Baron Theatre. Her next play, ''Gold Through the Trees'' (1952), gave her the distinction of being one of the first African-American women to have worked professionally produced on the New York stage.<ref>{{cite book|title=The New York Public Library Performing Arts Desk Reference|year=1994|publisher=Macmillan|location=New York|isbn=0-02-861447-X|page=[https://archive.org/details/newyorkpubliclib00newy_0/page/12 12]|url=https://archive.org/details/newyorkpubliclib00newy_0|url-access=registration}}</ref> The success of these plays enabled her to bring Harlem's first all-union off-Broadway contracts into practice.<ref name=Sussman />


Childress's first full-length, dramatic play, ''Trouble in Mind'' was produced at [[Stella Holt|Stella Holt's]] Greenwich Mews Theatre in 1955 and ran for 91 performances.<ref name=":0" /> Again, reports of her awards have been exaggerated or mistaken: Biographies and even her 1994 obituary claimed that ''Trouble in Mind'' won an [[Obie award]] for the best off-Broadway play of the 1955–56 season,<ref name=Washington /> which would have made Childress the first African-American woman to be awarded the honor,<ref name=BlackPast /> but the Obie Awards have investigated the claim and found no record of any award going to Childress. ''Trouble in Mind'' is about racism in the theater world. In a play-within-a-play, Childress depicts the frustrations of black actors and actresses in mainstream white theater.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/20/nyregion/a-review-of-trouble-in-mind-at-two-river-theater-in-red-bank.html|title=A Play About a Play Reveals Racial Tensions|last=Sommers|first=Michael|date=2014-04-19|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-02-16|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> An acclaimed revival of ''Trouble in Mind'' was presented on Broadway in 2021-22.<ref>https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/18/theater/trouble-in-mind-review.html?fbclid=IwAR3WzJouhimNVZMAYecK0tija867K8tLHgedxKgpCxxJl2iuBBuEzyeyaMU</ref>
Childress's first full-length, dramatic play, [[Trouble in Mind (play)|''Trouble in Mind'']] was produced at [[Stella Holt|Stella Holt's]] Greenwich Mews Theatre in 1955 and ran for 91 performances.<ref name=":0" /> Biographies and her 1994 obituary claim that ''Trouble in Mind'' won an [[Obie award]] for the best off-Broadway play of the 1955–56 season,<ref name=Washington /> which would have made Childress the first African American woman to be awarded the honor.<ref name=BlackPast /> However, ''Trouble in Mind'' is not in the American Theatre Wing's records as having won an Obie for the 1955–56 season.<ref>{{cite web |title=56 – Obie Awards |url=https://www.obieawards.com/events/1950s/year-56/ |website=Obie Awards |access-date= December 24, 2021}}</ref> ''Trouble in Mind'' is about racism in the theater world. In a play-within-a-play, Childress depicts the frustrations of black actors and actresses in mainstream white theater.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/20/nyregion/a-review-of-trouble-in-mind-at-two-river-theater-in-red-bank.html|title=A Play About a Play Reveals Racial Tensions|last=Sommers|first=Michael|date=April 19, 2014|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=February 16, 2019}}</ref> The show's success led to plans for a Broadway transfer, but these plans were nixed when Childress refused to change the play's ending. Had it opened, it would have been the first play by an African American woman to open on Broadway (a title taken by ''[[A Raisin in the Sun]]'' four years later).<ref>{{cite web |last1=Lunden |first1=Jeff |title=A prescient play about race in America has its long-overdue Broadway premiere |url=https://www.npr.org/2021/12/06/1056888193/trouble-in-mind-alice-childress-broadway |website=NPR |date=December 6, 2021|access-date= December 24, 2021}}</ref> An acclaimed revival of ''Trouble in Mind'' was presented on Broadway from October 29, 2021, to January 9, 2022, at [[Roundabout Theatre Company]]'s [[American Airlines Theatre]]. It starred [[LaChanze]], [[Chuck Cooper (actor)|Chuck Cooper]], [[Michael Zegen]], [[Danielle Campbell]], [[Jessica Frances Dukes]], [[Brandon Micheal Hall]], [[Don Stephenson]], Alex Mickiewicz, and [[Simon Jones (actor)|Simon Jones]] and was directed by [[Charles Randolph-Wright]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/18/theater/trouble-in-mind-review.html|title=Review: 'Trouble in Mind,' 66 Years Late and Still On Time|last=Green|first=Jesse|date=November 18, 2021|work=The New York Times|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211202002326/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/18/theater/trouble-in-mind-review.html|archive-date=December 2, 2021|url-status=live}}</ref> The production was nominated for four [[Tony Awards]] including [[Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play|Best Revival of a Play]], [[Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play|Best Actress in a Play]] (LaChanze), [[Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play|Best Featured Actor in a Play]] (Chuck Cooper), and [[Tony Award for Best Costume Design in a Play|Best Costume Design in a Play]] ([[Emilio Sosa]]).<ref>{{Cite web |last=Culwell-Block |first=Logan |date=May 9, 2022 |title=2022 Tony Award Nominations: A Strange Loop, MJ, Paradise Square Lead the Pack |url=https://www.playbill.com/article/2022-tony-award-nominations-a-strange-loop-mj-paradise-square-lead-the-pack |access-date=May 9, 2022 |website=Playbill}}</ref>


She completed her next dramatic work, ''Wedding Band: A Love/Hate Story in Black and White'', in 1962. Its setting is [[South Carolina]] during [[World War I]] and deals with a forbidden interracial love affair. Due to the scandalous nature of the show and the stark realism it presented, it was impossible for Childress to get any theatre in New York to stage it. The show premiered in 1966 at the [[University of Michigan]] in [[Ann Arbor, Michigan|Ann Arbor]], and was also produced in [[Chicago]]. It was not until 1972 that it played in New York at the [[New York Shakespeare Festival]], starring [[Ruby Dee]].<ref name=Washington /> It was later filmed and shown on TV, but many stations refused to play it.<ref>''Biography Today'', pp. 19–20.</ref>
She completed her next dramatic work, ''Wedding Band: A Love/Hate Story in Black and White'', in 1962. Its setting is [[South Carolina]] during [[World War I]] and deals with a forbidden interracial love affair. Due to the scandalous nature of the show and the stark realism it presented, it was impossible for Childress to persuade any theatre in New York to stage it. The show premiered in 1966 at the [[University of Michigan]] in [[Ann Arbor, Michigan|Ann Arbor]], and was also produced in [[Chicago]]. It was not until 1972 that it played in New York at the [[New York Shakespeare Festival]], starring [[Ruby Dee]].<ref name=Washington /> It was later filmed and shown on TV, but many stations refused to screen it.<ref>''Biography Today'', pp. 19–20.</ref> A production was staged at [[Theatre for a New Audience]] from April 23 to May 15, 2022, directed by Awoye Timpo and featuring [[Thomas Sadoski]] and [[Veanne Cox]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Putnam |first=Leah |date=May 8, 2022 |title=Brittany Bradford, Rosalyn Coleman, and Veanne Cox-Led Wedding Band Opens Off-Broadway May 8 |url=https://www.playbill.com/article/starring-brittany-bradford-rosalyn-coleman-and-veanne-cox-wedding-band-opens-may-8 |access-date=May 8, 2022 |website=Playbill}}</ref> In the summer of 2023, it was produced at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival, starring Antonette Rudder and Cyrus Lane, directed by Sam White.<ref>{{cite web |title=2023: Wedding Band |url=https://cdscloud.stratfordfestival.ca/uploadedFiles/2023_HP-WEDDING-BAND.pdf |website=[[Stratford Festival]] |access-date=12 July 2023}}</ref>


In 1965, Childress was featured in the [[BBC]] presentation ''The Negro in the American Theatre''. From 1966 to 1968, she was a scholar-in-residence at the [[Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study]], [[Harvard University]].<ref>''Biography Today'', p. 20.</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=3jkDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA90&lpg=PA90&dq=alice+childress+scholar+in+residence+radcliffe+institute&source=bl&ots=Z2KPc5pNPD&sig=eNp1zvWUv2RLP2enUA4mA37m0sU&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjs8s35_KDLAhWGIpoKHU7VCsUQ6AEIJzAC#v=onepage&q=alice%20childress%20scholar%20in%20residence%20radcliffe%20institute&f=false "Notes Taken at Fisk Writers Conference"], ''[[Negro Digest]]'', June 1966, p. 90.</ref>
In 1965, Childress was featured in the [[BBC]] presentation ''The Negro in the American Theatre''. From 1966 to 1968, she was a scholar-in-residence at the [[Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study]], [[Harvard University]].<ref>''Biography Today'', p. 20.</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=3jkDAAAAMBAJ&dq=alice+childress+scholar+in+residence+radcliffe+institute&pg=PA90 "Notes Taken at Fisk Writers Conference"], ''[[Negro Digest]]'', June 1966, p. 90.</ref>


In conjunction with her composer husband, Nathan Woodard, she wrote a number of musical plays, including ''Young Martin Luther King'' (originally entitled ''The Freedom Drum'') in 1968 and ''Sea Island Song'' (1977).<ref name=BHN>[http://blackhistorynow.com/alice-childress/ "Alice Childress"], Black History Now.</ref>
In conjunction with her composer husband, Nathan Woodard, she wrote musical plays, including ''Young Martin Luther King'' (originally entitled ''The Freedom Drum'') in 1968 and ''Sea Island Song'' (1977).<ref name=BHN>[http://blackhistorynow.com/alice-childress/ "Alice Childress"], Black History Now.</ref>

===Newspaper columns===
Childress published more than thirty columns in the [[Paul Robeson]]-associated newspaper, ''[[Freedom (American newspaper)|Freedom]]''. The tabloid monthly ran from 1950 through 1955, and in 1956 she published a collection of them in her novel ''[[Like One of the Family]]''. The ones in the book are not always identical with the originals in the newspaper, as the latter often explored a theme discussed elsewhere in the issue.<ref>{{cite book | first=Mary Helen | last=Washington | author-link = Mary Helen Washington |title=The other blacklist : the African American literary and cultural left of the 1950s | pages=140–146 | url = https://archive.org/details/otherblacklistaf0000wash_c9y5/page/140/mode/1up | url-access=registration | publisher=Columbia University Press | publication-place=New York New York | year=2014 | isbn=978-0-231-15270-9 |access-date=17 June 2022 | oclc=875819059 }}</ref> As an example of Childress' approach here, when the unconsciously racist employer asks for a health card from the book's protagonist Mildred, a Black domestic worker, Mildred pretends to be relieved, saying she'd wondered how to ask for their own health cards from the family whose laundry she handles and whose beds she makes. The embarrassed employer backs off.<ref>{{citation |url=https://conference.asle.org/?page_id=567 |last1=Galentine |first1=Cassandra |title='There's nobody with common sense that can look down on the domestic worker': Dirt, Disease, and Hygiene in Alice Childress's Like one of the Family |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220618001427/https://conference.asle.org/?page_id=567 |archive-date=2022-06-18 |access-date=2022-11-25 }}</ref>

Also in association with ''Freedom'', in 1952 Childress collaborated with [[Lorraine Hansberry]], who had recently relocated to New York City and begun working at the paper. They co-wrote a pageant for ''Freedom'''s Negro History Festival, with [[Harry Belafonte]], [[Sidney Poitier]], [[Douglas Turner Ward]] and [[John O. Killens]] providing narration. Childress, sixteen years older than Hansberry, introduced the latter to the Black theatrical community of New York.<ref>{{cite book | last = Perry | first = Imani | title = Looking for Lorraine : the radiant and radical life of Lorraine Hansberry | publisher = Beacon Press | location = Boston, Massachusetts | year = 2018 | isbn = 978-0807039830|oclc=1080274303 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QtdGDwAAQBAJ&dq=%22Negro%20History%20Festival%22%201952%20belafonte%20poitier&pg=PT81 |access-date=17 November 2020}}</ref> This was Hansberry's earliest surviving theatrical work.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Anderson |first1=Michael |title=Lorraine Hansberry's Freedom Family |journal=[[American Communist History]] |date=2008 |volume=7 |issue=2 |page=265 |doi=10.1080/14743890802580131 |s2cid=159832248 |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/14743890802580131 |access-date=17 June 2022|url-access=subscription}}</ref>


===Young adult books===
===Young adult books===
Alice Childress is also known for her young adult novels, among which are ''Those Other People'' (1989) and ''[[A Hero Ain't Nothin' but a Sandwich]]'' (1973). She adapted the latter as a screenplay for the 1978 feature film also entitled ''[[A Hero Ain't Nothin' but a Sandwich (film)|A Hero Ain't Nothin' but a Sandwich]]'', starring [[Cicely Tyson]] and [[Paul Winfield]]. Her 1979 novel ''A Short Walk'' was nominated for a [[Pulitzer Prize]].<ref name=Guardian />
Alice Childress is also known for her young adult novels, among which are ''Those Other People'' (1989) and ''[[A Hero Ain't Nothin' but a Sandwich (novel)|A Hero Ain't Nothin' but a Sandwich]]'' (1973). She adapted the latter as a screenplay for the 1977 feature film also entitled ''[[A Hero Ain't Nothin' but a Sandwich (film)|A Hero Ain't Nothin' but a Sandwich]]'', starring [[Cicely Tyson]] and [[Paul Winfield]].<ref name=Guardian />


==Personal life==
==Personal life==
She had used the names Louise Henderson and Alice Herndon<ref name=Bio>[http://www.biography.com/people/alice-childress-38219 "Alice Childress Biography"], Bio.</ref> before her marriage in 1934 to actor [[Alvin Childress]]. The couple had a daughter together, Jean R. Childress, and divorced in 1957,<ref name=TACT>[http://tactnyc.org/trouble-in-mind-notes/ "''Trouble in Mind'' Notes"], The Actors Company Theatre.</ref> when musician Nathan Woodard became her second husband.<ref name=BHN /><ref name=BlackPast>Michelle Granshaw, [http://www.blackpast.org/aah/childress-alice-1916-1994 "Childress, Alice (1916-1994)"], [[BlackPast.org]].</ref>
She had used the names Louise Henderson and Alice Herndon<ref name=Bio>[http://www.biography.com/people/alice-childress-38219 "Alice Childress Biography"], Bio.</ref> before her marriage in 1934 to actor [[Alvin Childress]]. The couple had a daughter together, Jean R. Childress, and divorced in 1957,<ref name=TACT>[http://tactnyc.org/trouble-in-mind-notes/ "''Trouble in Mind'' Notes"], The Actors Company Theatre.</ref> when musician Nathan Woodard became her second husband.<ref name=BHN /><ref name=BlackPast>Michelle Granshaw, [http://www.blackpast.org/aah/childress-alice-1916-1994 "Childress, Alice (1916–1994)"], [[BlackPast.org]].</ref>


She died of [[cancer]], aged 77, at Astoria General Hospital in [[Queens, New York]].<ref name=Sussman>Alice Sussman, [http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Alice_Childress.aspx "Alice Childress 1920–1994"], Contemporary Black Biography, 1997, Encyclopedia.com.</ref><ref name=Bio /> At the time of her death she was working on a story about her African great-grandmother, Ani-Campbell, who had been a slave,<ref>Jen N. Fluke, [https://conservancy.umn.edu/bitstream/handle/11299/166119/Childress,%20Alice.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y Alice Childress Biography], Voices from the Gaps, University of Minnesota, February 28, 2003.</ref><ref name=":0" /> and her [[Scots-Irish Americans|Scots-Irish]] great-grandmother.<ref>Sheila Rule, [https://www.nytimes.com/1994/08/19/obituaries/alice-childress-77-a-novelist-drew-themes-from-black-life.html "Alice Childress, 77, a Novelist; Drew Themes From Black Life"], ''The New York Times'', August 19, 1994.</ref>
She died of [[cancer]], aged 77, at Astoria General Hospital in [[Queens, New York]].<ref name=Sussman>Alice Sussman, [http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Alice_Childress.aspx "Alice Childress 1920–1994"], Contemporary Black Biography, 1997, Encyclopedia.com.</ref><ref name=Bio /> At the time of her death she was working on a story about her African great-grandmother, Ani-Campbell, who had been a slave,<ref>Fluke, Jen N. (February 28, 2003), [https://conservancy.umn.edu/bitstream/handle/11299/166119/Childress,%20Alice.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y Alice Childress Biography], Voices from the Gaps, University of Minnesota.</ref><ref name=":0" /> and her [[Scots-Irish Americans|Scots-Irish]] great-grandmother.<ref>Rule, Sheila (August 19, 1994), [https://www.nytimes.com/1994/08/19/obituaries/alice-childress-77-a-novelist-drew-themes-from-black-life.html "Alice Childress, 77, a Novelist; Drew Themes From Black Life"], ''The New York Times''.</ref>


==Awards==
==Awards==
*Off-Broadway Magazine (''Trouble In Mind''), 1956
*Off-Broadway Magazine (''Trouble in Mind''), 1956
*[[American Library Association|ALA]] Best Young Adult Book of 1975 (for ''A Hero Ain't Nothin' but a Sandwich'')
*[[American Library Association|ALA]] Best Young Adult Book of 1975 (for ''A Hero Ain't Nothin' but a Sandwich'')
*[[Lewis Carroll Shelf Award]] (for ''A Hero Ain't Nothin' but a Sandwich'')
*[[Lewis Carroll Shelf Award]] (for ''A Hero Ain't Nothin' but a Sandwich'')
Line 57: Line 66:
*Honorable Mention, [[Coretta Scott King Award]], 1982
*Honorable Mention, [[Coretta Scott King Award]], 1982
*What a Girl, 1985
*What a Girl, 1985
*[[Drama Desk Award]] – Harold S. Prince Lifetime Achievement Award, 2022 (posthumous)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Nominees |url=https://www.dramadeskawards.com/nominees/ |access-date=2022-05-22 |website=Drama Desk Awards |language=en-US}}</ref>
<!--*Best Young Adult Author, 198 -->
<!--*Best Young Adult Author, 198 -->


Line 65: Line 75:
*''Just a Little Simple'' (1950)
*''Just a Little Simple'' (1950)
*''Gold Through the Trees'' (1952)
*''Gold Through the Trees'' (1952)
*''Trouble in Mind'' (1955)
*''[[Trouble in Mind (play)|Trouble in Mind]]'' (1955)
*''Wedding Band: A Love/Hate Story in Black and White'' (1966)
*''Wedding Band: A Love/Hate Story in Black and White'' (1966)
*''The Freedom Dream'', later retitled ''Young Martin Luther King, Jr.'' (1968)
*''The Freedom Dream'', later retitled ''Young Martin Luther King, Jr.'' (1968)
Line 78: Line 88:
===Novels===
===Novels===
*''[[Like One of the Family]]'' (1956)
*''[[Like One of the Family]]'' (1956)
*''[[A Hero Ain't Nothin' but a Sandwich]]'' (1973), which became a [[A Hero Ain't Nothin' but a Sandwich (film)|film of the same title]] in 1978.
*''[[A Hero Ain't Nothin' but a Sandwich (novel)|A Hero Ain't Nothin' but a Sandwich]]'' (1973), which became a [[A Hero Ain't Nothin' but a Sandwich (film)|film of the same title]] in 1977.
*''A Short Walk'' (1979)
*''A Short Walk'' (1979)
*''Rainbow Jordan'' (1981)
*''Rainbow Jordan'' (1981)
Line 86: Line 96:
The song "[[Alice Childress (song)|Alice Childress]]" by the [[Ben Folds Five]] is not related to her. It is a coincidence that there was a woman with the same name that poured water on [[Ben Folds]]' wife at the time, [[Anna Harris Goodman|Anna Goodman]].<ref>iTunes Originals interview with Ben Folds.</ref>
The song "[[Alice Childress (song)|Alice Childress]]" by the [[Ben Folds Five]] is not related to her. It is a coincidence that there was a woman with the same name that poured water on [[Ben Folds]]' wife at the time, [[Anna Harris Goodman|Anna Goodman]].<ref>iTunes Originals interview with Ben Folds.</ref>


Childress was a member of [[Sigma Gamma Rho]] sorority.<ref>Lakeisha Harding, [http://www.blackpast.org/aah/sigma-gamma-rho-sorority-inc "Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. (1922- )"], BlackPast.org.</ref>
Childress was a member of [[Sigma Gamma Rho]] sorority.<ref>Lakeisha Harding, [http://www.blackpast.org/aah/sigma-gamma-rho-sorority-inc "Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. (1922– )"], BlackPast.org.</ref>


==References==
==References==
{{reflist|30em}}
{{Reflist|30em}}


==External links==
==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060210232809/http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/~cybers/childress2.html Rutgers University biography]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060210232809/http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/~cybers/childress2.html Rutgers University biography]
*[http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=859 Literary Encyclopedia's Biography]
*[http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=859 Literary Encyclopedia's Biography]
*[http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap8/childress.html A Biography by Paul A. Reuben]
*[http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap8/childress.html A Biography by Paul A. Reuben] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060419195543/http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap8/childress.html |date=2006-04-19 }}
*[http://voices.cla.umn.edu/artistpages/childressAlice.php Alice Childress, Artist Biography]
*[http://voices.cla.umn.edu/artistpages/childressAlice.php Alice Childress, Artist Biography]
*[https://archive.org/details/AliceChildressFBIFile Alice Childress's FBI file] on the [[Internet Archive]]
*[https://archive.org/details/AliceChildressFBIFile Alice Childress's FBI file] on the [[Internet Archive]]
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[[Category:20th-century American novelists]]
[[Category:20th-century American novelists]]
[[Category:African-American dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:African-American dramatists and playwrights]]
⚫
[[Category:African-American women writers]]
[[Category:American women dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:American women dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:American women novelists]]
[[Category:American women novelists]]
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[[Category:Obie Award recipients]]
[[Category:Obie Award recipients]]
[[Category:Deaths from cancer in New York (state)]]
[[Category:Deaths from cancer in New York (state)]]
[[Category:African-American actresses]]
[[Category:20th-century African-American actresses]]
[[Category:American actresses]]
[[Category:20th-century American actresses]]
[[Category:African-American screenwriters]]
[[Category:African-American screenwriters]]
[[Category:Screenwriters from South Carolina]]
[[Category:Screenwriters from South Carolina]]
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[[Category:20th-century American screenwriters]]
[[Category:20th-century American screenwriters]]
[[Category:African-American novelists]]
[[Category:African-American novelists]]
[[Category:20th-century African-American women]]
[[Category:20th-century African-American women writers]]
⚫
[[Category:20th-century African-American writers]]

Latest revision as of 23:32, 17 July 2024

For the Ben Folds Five song, see Alice Childress (song).
Alice Childress
Born
Alice Herndon

(1916-10-12)October 12, 1916
Charleston, South Carolina, U.S.
DiedAugust 14, 1994(1994-08-14) (aged 77)
New York City, U.S.
Other namesLouise Henderson
Occupations
  • Playwright
  • novelist
  • actress
Notable workLike One of the Family (1956); A Hero Ain't Nothin' but a Sandwich (1973)
Spouses
​
​
(m. 1934; div. 1957)​
  • Nathan Woodard

Alice Childress (October 12, 1916[1] – August 14, 1994) was an American novelist, playwright, and actress, acknowledged as "the only African-American woman to have written, produced, and published plays for four decades."[2] Childress described her work as trying to portray the have-nots in a have society,[3] saying: "My writing attempts to interpret the 'ordinary' because they are not ordinary. Each human is uniquely different. Like snowflakes, the human pattern is never cast twice. We are uncommonly and marvellously intricate in thought and action, our problems are most complex and, too often, silently borne."[4] Childress became involved in social causes, and formed an off-Broadway union for actors.[5]

Alice Childress's paper archive is held at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem, New York.[6]

Early years

[edit]

Childress (née Herndon) was born in Charleston, South Carolina, but at the age of nine, after her parents separated, she moved to Harlem, New York City, where she lived with her grandmother, Eliza Campbell White, on 118th Street, between Lenox Avenue and Fifth Avenue.[7][8] Though her grandmother, the daughter of a slave,[9] had no formal education, she encouraged Alice to pursue her talents in reading and writing.[10] Alice attended public school in New York for her middle-school education and went on to Wadleigh High School, but had to drop out once her grandmother died.[7] She became involved in theater immediately after her high school and she did not attend college.[11]

Career

[edit]

Acting

[edit]

Childress took odd jobs to pay for herself, including domestic worker, photo retoucher, assistant machinist, saleslady, and insurance agent. In 1939, she studied Drama in the American Negro Theatre (ANT), and performed for the company for 11 years. She acted in Abram Hill and John Silvera's On Strivers Row (1940), Theodore Brown's Natural Man (1941), and Philip Yordan's Anna Lucasta (1944).[11] There she won acclaim as an actress in numerous other productions, and moved to Broadway with the transfer of ANT's hit Anna Lucasta, which became the longest-running all-black play in Broadway history[12] among a cast that also included Hilda Simms, Canada Lee, Georgia Burke, Earle Hyman and Frederick O'Neal.[13] Though many biographies list her as having received a Tony award nomination for her starring performance, this information appears to be inaccurate as the Tony Awards did not begin until 1947, some years after the production.[2][4]

Playwriting

[edit]

In 1949, she began her writing career with the one-act play Florence, which she directed and starred in, and which reflected many of the themes that are characteristic of her later writing, including the empowerment of black women, interracial politics, and working-class life.[3][14] In Florence, a black, Southern, working-class woman, Mama Whitney, decides to travel by train from South Carolina to New York City to retrieve her daughter, Florence, who is a struggling actor. However, after a white woman waiting for the same train offers to help Florence by recommending her for a job as a maid, Mama Whitney decides to send her daughter money instead bringing her home.[8][15] Childress' goal in writing Florence was to "settle an argument with fellow actors (Sidney Poitier among others) who said that in a play about Negroes and whites, only a 'life and death thing' like lynching is interesting on stage."[16]

Her 1950 play, Just a Little Simple, was adapted from the Langston Hughes novel Simple Speaks His Mind and was produced in Harlem at the Club Baron Theatre. Her next play, Gold Through the Trees (1952), gave her the distinction of being one of the first African-American women to have worked professionally produced on the New York stage.[17] The success of these plays enabled her to bring Harlem's first all-union off-Broadway contracts into practice.[18]

Childress's first full-length, dramatic play, Trouble in Mind was produced at Stella Holt's Greenwich Mews Theatre in 1955 and ran for 91 performances.[8] Biographies and her 1994 obituary claim that Trouble in Mind won an Obie award for the best off-Broadway play of the 1955–56 season,[2] which would have made Childress the first African American woman to be awarded the honor.[14] However, Trouble in Mind is not in the American Theatre Wing's records as having won an Obie for the 1955–56 season.[19] Trouble in Mind is about racism in the theater world. In a play-within-a-play, Childress depicts the frustrations of black actors and actresses in mainstream white theater.[8][20] The show's success led to plans for a Broadway transfer, but these plans were nixed when Childress refused to change the play's ending. Had it opened, it would have been the first play by an African American woman to open on Broadway (a title taken by A Raisin in the Sun four years later).[21] An acclaimed revival of Trouble in Mind was presented on Broadway from October 29, 2021, to January 9, 2022, at Roundabout Theatre Company's American Airlines Theatre. It starred LaChanze, Chuck Cooper, Michael Zegen, Danielle Campbell, Jessica Frances Dukes, Brandon Micheal Hall, Don Stephenson, Alex Mickiewicz, and Simon Jones and was directed by Charles Randolph-Wright.[22] The production was nominated for four Tony Awards including Best Revival of a Play, Best Actress in a Play (LaChanze), Best Featured Actor in a Play (Chuck Cooper), and Best Costume Design in a Play (Emilio Sosa).[23]

She completed her next dramatic work, Wedding Band: A Love/Hate Story in Black and White, in 1962. Its setting is South Carolina during World War I and deals with a forbidden interracial love affair. Due to the scandalous nature of the show and the stark realism it presented, it was impossible for Childress to persuade any theatre in New York to stage it. The show premiered in 1966 at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and was also produced in Chicago. It was not until 1972 that it played in New York at the New York Shakespeare Festival, starring Ruby Dee.[2] It was later filmed and shown on TV, but many stations refused to screen it.[24] A production was staged at Theatre for a New Audience from April 23 to May 15, 2022, directed by Awoye Timpo and featuring Thomas Sadoski and Veanne Cox.[25] In the summer of 2023, it was produced at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival, starring Antonette Rudder and Cyrus Lane, directed by Sam White.[26]

In 1965, Childress was featured in the BBC presentation The Negro in the American Theatre. From 1966 to 1968, she was a scholar-in-residence at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University.[27][28]

In conjunction with her composer husband, Nathan Woodard, she wrote musical plays, including Young Martin Luther King (originally entitled The Freedom Drum) in 1968 and Sea Island Song (1977).[3]

Newspaper columns

[edit]

Childress published more than thirty columns in the Paul Robeson-associated newspaper, Freedom. The tabloid monthly ran from 1950 through 1955, and in 1956 she published a collection of them in her novel Like One of the Family. The ones in the book are not always identical with the originals in the newspaper, as the latter often explored a theme discussed elsewhere in the issue.[29] As an example of Childress' approach here, when the unconsciously racist employer asks for a health card from the book's protagonist Mildred, a Black domestic worker, Mildred pretends to be relieved, saying she'd wondered how to ask for their own health cards from the family whose laundry she handles and whose beds she makes. The embarrassed employer backs off.[30]

Also in association with Freedom, in 1952 Childress collaborated with Lorraine Hansberry, who had recently relocated to New York City and begun working at the paper. They co-wrote a pageant for Freedom's Negro History Festival, with Harry Belafonte, Sidney Poitier, Douglas Turner Ward and John O. Killens providing narration. Childress, sixteen years older than Hansberry, introduced the latter to the Black theatrical community of New York.[31] This was Hansberry's earliest surviving theatrical work.[32]

Young adult books

[edit]

Alice Childress is also known for her young adult novels, among which are Those Other People (1989) and A Hero Ain't Nothin' but a Sandwich (1973). She adapted the latter as a screenplay for the 1977 feature film also entitled A Hero Ain't Nothin' but a Sandwich, starring Cicely Tyson and Paul Winfield.[12]

Personal life

[edit]

She had used the names Louise Henderson and Alice Herndon[33] before her marriage in 1934 to actor Alvin Childress. The couple had a daughter together, Jean R. Childress, and divorced in 1957,[34] when musician Nathan Woodard became her second husband.[3][14]

She died of cancer, aged 77, at Astoria General Hospital in Queens, New York.[18][33] At the time of her death she was working on a story about her African great-grandmother, Ani-Campbell, who had been a slave,[35][8] and her Scots-Irish great-grandmother.[36]

Awards

[edit]

Major works

[edit]

Plays

[edit]
  • Florence (1949)
  • Just a Little Simple (1950)
  • Gold Through the Trees (1952)
  • Trouble in Mind (1955)
  • Wedding Band: A Love/Hate Story in Black and White (1966)
  • The Freedom Dream, later retitled Young Martin Luther King, Jr. (1968)
  • String (1969)
  • Wine in the Wilderness (1969)
  • Mojo: A Black Love Story (1970)
  • When the Rattlesnake Sounds (1975)
  • Let's Hear It for the Queen (1976)
  • Sea Island Song, later retitled Gullah (1977)
  • Moms: A Praise Play for a Black Comedienne (1987)

Novels

[edit]

Trivia

[edit]

The song "Alice Childress" by the Ben Folds Five is not related to her. It is a coincidence that there was a woman with the same name that poured water on Ben Folds' wife at the time, Anna Goodman.[38]

Childress was a member of Sigma Gamma Rho sorority.[39]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "PAL: Perspectives in American Literature-A Research and Reference Guide". Archived from the original on 2006-04-19. Retrieved 2006-02-25.
  2. ^ a b c d Mary Helen Washington, "Alice Childress, Lorraine Hansberry, and Claudia Jones: Black Women Write the Popular Front", in Bill Mullen and James Edward Smethurst (eds), Left of the Color Line: Race, Radicalism, and Twentieth-Century Literature of the United States, Chapel Hill/London: University of North Carolina Press, 2003, p. 186.
  3. ^ a b c d "Alice Childress", Black History Now.
  4. ^ a b Busby, Margaret, "Alice Childress", Daughters of Africa: An International Anthology of Words and Writings by Women of African Descent, Vintage, 1993, p. 279.
  5. ^ William L. Andrews, Frances Smith Foster, Trudier Harris, "Childress, Alice", The Concise Oxford Companion to African American Literature, Oxford University Press, 2001, p. 72.
  6. ^ "archives.nypl.org – Alice Childress papers". archives.nypl.org. Retrieved February 16, 2019.
  7. ^ a b Biography Today: Author Series. Detroit: Omnigraphics, Inc. 1996. p. 18. ISBN 0-7808-0014-1.
  8. ^ a b c d e Delois., Jennings, La Vinia (1995). Alice Childress. New York: Twayne Publishers. ISBN 0805739637. OCLC 32050492.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  9. ^ "Alice Childress". Black History Now. June 19, 2014. Retrieved July 15, 2019.
  10. ^ Jennings, La Vinia Delois (1995). Alice Childress (Twayne's United States Author Series). Woodbridge, CT: Twayne Publisher. ISBN 0805739637.
  11. ^ a b Biography Today, p. 19.
  12. ^ a b Woodman, Sue (September 14, 1994), "A testimonial to black America" (obituary of Alice Childress), The Guardian.
  13. ^ Stephen Bourne, "Obituary: Alice Childress", The Independent, August 29, 1994.
  14. ^ a b c Michelle Granshaw, "Childress, Alice (1916–1994)", BlackPast.org.
  15. ^ Als, Hilton (October 3, 2011). "Alice Childress, the Last Woman Standing". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved February 16, 2019.
  16. ^ E., Abramson, Doris (1969). Negro playwrights in the American theatre, 1925–1959. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 023103248X. OCLC 6324.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  17. ^ The New York Public Library Performing Arts Desk Reference. New York: Macmillan. 1994. p. 12. ISBN 0-02-861447-X.
  18. ^ a b Alice Sussman, "Alice Childress 1920–1994", Contemporary Black Biography, 1997, Encyclopedia.com.
  19. ^ "56 – Obie Awards". Obie Awards. Retrieved December 24, 2021.
  20. ^ Sommers, Michael (April 19, 2014). "A Play About a Play Reveals Racial Tensions". The New York Times. Retrieved February 16, 2019.
  21. ^ Lunden, Jeff (December 6, 2021). "A prescient play about race in America has its long-overdue Broadway premiere". NPR. Retrieved December 24, 2021.
  22. ^ Green, Jesse (November 18, 2021). "Review: 'Trouble in Mind,' 66 Years Late and Still On Time". The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 2, 2021.
  23. ^ Culwell-Block, Logan (May 9, 2022). "2022 Tony Award Nominations: A Strange Loop, MJ, Paradise Square Lead the Pack". Playbill. Retrieved May 9, 2022.
  24. ^ Biography Today, pp. 19–20.
  25. ^ Putnam, Leah (May 8, 2022). "Brittany Bradford, Rosalyn Coleman, and Veanne Cox-Led Wedding Band Opens Off-Broadway May 8". Playbill. Retrieved May 8, 2022.
  26. ^ "2023: Wedding Band" (PDF). Stratford Festival. Retrieved 12 July 2023.
  27. ^ Biography Today, p. 20.
  28. ^ "Notes Taken at Fisk Writers Conference", Negro Digest, June 1966, p. 90.
  29. ^ Washington, Mary Helen (2014). The other blacklist : the African American literary and cultural left of the 1950s. New York New York: Columbia University Press. pp. 140–146. ISBN 978-0-231-15270-9. OCLC 875819059. Retrieved 17 June 2022.
  30. ^ Galentine, Cassandra, 'There's nobody with common sense that can look down on the domestic worker': Dirt, Disease, and Hygiene in Alice Childress's Like one of the Family, archived from the original on 2022-06-18, retrieved 2022-11-25
  31. ^ Perry, Imani (2018). Looking for Lorraine : the radiant and radical life of Lorraine Hansberry. Boston, Massachusetts: Beacon Press. ISBN 978-0807039830. OCLC 1080274303. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
  32. ^ Anderson, Michael (2008). "Lorraine Hansberry's Freedom Family". American Communist History. 7 (2): 265. doi:10.1080/14743890802580131. S2CID 159832248. Retrieved 17 June 2022.
  33. ^ a b "Alice Childress Biography", Bio.
  34. ^ "Trouble in Mind Notes", The Actors Company Theatre.
  35. ^ Fluke, Jen N. (February 28, 2003), Alice Childress Biography, Voices from the Gaps, University of Minnesota.
  36. ^ Rule, Sheila (August 19, 1994), "Alice Childress, 77, a Novelist; Drew Themes From Black Life", The New York Times.
  37. ^ "Nominees". Drama Desk Awards. Retrieved 2022-05-22.
  38. ^ iTunes Originals interview with Ben Folds.
  39. ^ Lakeisha Harding, "Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. (1922– )", BlackPast.org.
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