Alice Childress papers, 1937-1997.

Links

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Creator

Childress, Alice.

Location

Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division

Extent

• 17.1 linear ft. (50 record cartons)

Scope/Contents Notes

The Alice Childress papers document Alice Childress's career as a writer and actress, and her activities in the theatre for five decades in New York City. The Personal Papers series includes correspondence, an oral history conducted by Ann Shockley, Childress's FBI file, diaries, calendars, interviews, educational materials, family letters, files for her two husbands, and biographical information about Childress. Significant correspondents include writers Kay Bourne, Harold (Hal) Courlander and Susan Koppleman.

The Professional Series consists of correspondence, programs, financial documents, flyers, newsletters, broadsides, contracts, and reviews representing Childress as an actress, writer and speaker. There is a file for theAmerican Negro Theatre's "Anna Lucasta," as well as files for other productions in which Childress acted including "The Cool World," "The Emperor's Clothes," "Natural Man," and "The World of Sholem Aleichem," among others. There are also files for associations and committees, including a file for the "National Ad Hoc Committee to End the Crimes Against Paul Robeson," as well as interviews, critical papers, a dissertation and sketches written aboutChildress, her writing and her influence on the work of contemporary writers. A significant amount of correspondence delineated into six subseries arranged chronologically: Publishers and Agents, Awards, Conferences, Speaking Engagements, Alphabetical, and General, includes invitations for speaking engagements, letters of appreciation, requests from playhouses and colleges to perform her plays and requests for biographical information.

The largest and most substantive series, Writings, contains the manuscripts for nearly every published book and play script written by Childress. The series is divided into six subseries (by genre) and begins with Childress's best-known works including "A Hero Ain't Nothin' But a Sandwich," "Wedding Band," "Trouble in Mind," and "Moms: A Praise Play for a Black Comedian." The subseries represented are:Children's Books; Novels; Play Scripts, Screenplays and Teleplays; Fiction and Non-Fiction; (Columns, Editorial work, Monologues, Non-fiction,Short Stories, and Speeches); Other Writings (Poetry, Songs, and Research Notes) and Other Authors. This series features an array of manuscript drafts, reviews, fan mail,teacher's critical guides, research notes, manuscript scores (for her musicals), galleys, publicity information,letters, contracts, outlines, programs, flyers, and clippings. Many of the manuscripts have been heavily edited by Childress.

Biographical/Historical Notes

Pioneering African-American writer, actress and director Alice Childress (1916-1994) was popularly known for her best-selling novel, "A Hero Ain't Nothin' but a Sandwich,"and her plays, most notably "Wedding Band: A Love Story inBlack and White." In the 1930s she met and married Alvin Childress, best known for his role as Amos in the television series, "Amos and Andy. "She was a founding member of the American Negro Theatre, and in 1944 she and her husband Alvin appeared in "Anna Lucasta," alongside lead actress Hilda Simms. When the play went to Broadway, and Childress received a TONY nomination for "Best Supporting Actress."

Although she continued to act, Childress began writing plays in the late 1940s. Her first play, "Florence," appeared in 1949, and a year later, she adapted Langston Hughes' novel, "Simple Speaks His Mind" into the play, "Just a Little Simple." Her plays include "Gold Through the Trees," the first play by a black woman produced in the United States, and "Trouble in Mind," in 1955, which received an OBIE for Best Off-Broadway Play; the first black woman to receive that honor. Childress's first book,"Like One of the Family: Conversations from a Domestic's Life," vignettes that were first published in a column "Conversation from Life," in Paul Robeson's "Freedom" newspaper, was published a year later. She subsequently republished the vignettes in the "Baltimore Afro-American." During this time she divorced Alvin Childress and married musician Nathan (Nat) Woodard in 1957.

Childress's play, "Wedding Band: A Love/Hate Story in Black and White," was produced in 1966 and in 1972, at theNew York Shakespeare Festival Theatre. Her other plays produced during the 1960s included "String," "Wine in the Wilderness," and "Young Martin Luther King." Her award-winning children's book, "A Hero Ain't Nothin' but a Sandwich," was published in 1973, and was made into a filmin 1975. Throughout the following decades, Childress's wrote a number of plays which were produced in various venues across the country, ("Gullah," "Let's Hear It for the Queen," "Mojo," "Moms: A Praise Play for a Black Comedienne," and "When the Rattlesnake Sounds"), publisheda novel, ("A Short Walk"), a collection of scenes, ("BlackScenes"), and two children's books, ("Rainbow Jordan" and "Those Other People").

Controlled Access Terms

• Childress, Alice.
• Caldwell, Ben.
• Childress, Alvin, d. 1986.
• Davis, Ossie.
• Dee, Ruby.
• DuBois, Rachel Davis.
• Du Bois, W. E. B. (William Edward Burghardt), 1868-1963.
• Evans, Don, 1938-
• Hansberry, Lorraine, 1930-1965.
• Haynes, Hilda, 1912-1986.
• Hovey, Serge.
• Hughes, Langston, 1902-1967.
• Jessye, Eva, 1895-
• Murphy, Carl, 1889-1967.
• Robeson, Paul, 1898-1976.
• Shearer, Jacqueline.
• Shine, Ted.
• Taylor, Clarice, 1927-2011.
• Wallace, Emmett Babe, 1909-
• Ward, Theodore, 1902-1983.
• Walcott, Derek.
• Woodard, Nathan.
• Ad Hoc Committee to End the Crimes Against Paul Robeson.
• National Rainbow Coalition (U.S.)
• Rainbow Coaltion. Roosevelt Island Chapter (New York, N.Y.)
• African Americans in the performing arts.
• African American actresses.
• African American theater.
• African American authors.
• African American dramatists.
• Dramatists, American -- 20th century.
• American drama -- 20th century.
• Women in the theater -- United States.
• American drama -- African American authors.
• Harlem (New York, N.Y.)
• Soviet Union -- Description and travel.
• Diaries.
• Galley proofs.
• Love letters.
• Play scripts.
• Motion picture plays.
• Short stories.
• Television scripts.
• Black author.

Additional Creator Names

• Childress, Alice. African garden.
• Childress, Alice. Gold through the trees.
• Childress, Alice. Hero ain't nothin but a sandwich.
• Childress, Alice. Let's hear it for the queen.
• Childress, Alice. Like one of the family.
• Childress, Alice. Mojo, a black love story.
• Childress, Alice. Mojo, a praise play for a comedienne.
• Childress, Alice. Rainbow Jordan.
• Childress, Alice. Sea island song.
• Childress, Alice. Short walk.
• Childress, Alice. String.
• Childress, Alice. Those other people.
• Childress, Alice. Trouble in mind.
• Childress, Alice. Wedding band, a love/hate story in black and white.
• Childress, Alice. When the rattlesnake sounds.
• Childress, Alice. Wine in the wilderness.
• Childress, Alice. Young Martin Luther King, or, King remembered.
• Childress, Alice. Pico vs. the board of education.
• Childress, Alice. Gullah!
• Childress, Alice. Just a little simple.
• Hay, Samuel A. Crack, cream, and brown sugar.
• Shearer, Jacqueline. Addie and the pink carnations, or, Didn't take low.
• Robeson, Eslanda Goode, 1896-1965.
• Hughes, Langston, 1902-1967. Emperor of Haiti.
• Taylor, Clarice, 1927-2011. Evening with moms.
• Taylor, Clarice, 1927-2011. Evening of comedy with Jackie "Moms" Mabley.
• Taylor, Clarice, 1927-2011. Moms, the first lady of comedy.
• Walcott, Derek. Malcochon, or, The six in the rain.
• Bullins, Ed. Son, come home.
• Bullins, Ed. Ten one-act plays.
• Allen, Debbie.
• Barbour, Floyd B.
• Borne, Kay.
• Brown, Janet, 1952-
• Bullins, Ed.
• Clarke, John Henrik, 1915-1998.
• Courlander, Harold, 1908-1996.
• Davis, Ossie.
• Dee, Ruby.
• Dodson, Owen, 1914-
• DuBois, Rachel Davis.
• Duberman, Martin B.
• Evans, Don, 1938-
• Franklin, Alyce.
• Fuller, Hoyt, 1923-1981.
• Harris, Trudier.
• Haynes, Hilda, 1912-1986.
• Hovey, Serge.
• Jessye, Eva, 1895-
• Killens, John O., 1916-
• Koppleman, Susan.
• Lattery, Kristen Hunter, 1931-
• Martin, Helen, 1909-2000.
• Mayfield, Julian, 1928-
• Murphy, Carl, 1889-1967.
• Olson, Tillie, 1912-2007.
• Patterson, Louise Thompson, 1901-1999.
• Roberts, Flora.
• Scott, Hazel.
• Shearer, Jacqueline.
• Shine, Ted.
• Shockely, Ann Allen, 1927-
• Snyder, Anne.
• Wallace, Emmett Babe, 1909-
• Ward, Theodore, 1902-1983.
• Washington, Mary Helen.
• Wideman, John Edgar.
• Woodard, Nathan.
• Afro-American (Baltimore, Md. : National ed.)
• Freedom (New York, N.Y.)