Title

American Negro Theatre Alumni collection.

Author

American Negro Theatre. Alumni Committee.

Publication

1987.

Supplementary Content

Finding aid

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

0.67 linear feet (2 boxes)

Subjects

• African American actors
• African Americans in the performing arts
• African American theater
• Trotman, Olive Tucker
• Leyba, Claire
• Résumés (personnel records)
• Thomas, Franklin (Actor)
• Greaves, William
• Wilbur, James (Actor)
• African American actors > New York (State) > New York
• Dee, Ruby
• American Negro Theatre History
• O'Neal, Frederick, 1905-1992
• Henderson, Vickie
• Wallace, Emmett Babe, 1909-2006
• Childress, Alice
• Programs (documents)
• African Americans in the performing arts > New York (State) > New York
• Jeannette, Gertrude, 1914-2018
• Haynes, Hilda, 1912-1986
• Glanville, Maxwell, 1918-1992
• Carter, Dorothy (Dorothy A.)
• Richardson, Virgil, 1916-2004
• New York Public Library > 135th Street Branch
• Trotman, James
• Evans, Chickie
• Clippings (information artifacts)
• Briggs-Hall, Austin
• African American theater > New York (State) > New York
• Harlem (New York, N.Y.) > Intellectual life
• Photographs
• Truesdale, Ted
• Acting > Study and teaching > New York (State) > New York
• American Negro Theatre
• Burrows, Vinie
• Pichard, Juanita B
• Rowan, Pearl

Genre/Form

• Clippings (information artifacts)
• Photographs.
• Programs (documents)
• Résumés (personnel records)

Location of Other Archival Materials (note)

• American Negro Theatre records, Sc MG 70, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture American Negro Theatre scrapbook, Sc MG 363, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture

Biography (note)

• This collection was created by the American Negro Theatre Alumni Committee as part of the 1986 fundraising campaign for the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. The campaign led to the opening of the expanded Schomburg Center complex that houses the renovated basement theater (the former 135th Street Branch Library, now known as the Landmark Building), which housed the ANT for several years.
• The American Negro Theatre (ANT) co-founded by Frederick O'Neal and Abram Hill, was established to provide Black actors, playwrights, directors, and other theater-related professionals with opportunities to work in productions that illustrated the diversity of Black life. ANT's program was essentially divided into three categories: stage productions, a training program, and radio programs.
• From 1940-1949, nineteen plays, twelve of them original, were produced by ANT. On Striver's Row, Walk Hard--Talk Loud, (both written by Hill), and Rain were well-received plays. However, commercial success struck with Philip Yordan's Anna Lucasta. ANT also exhibited the talents of several now well-known actors and actresses, some for the first time, including Ruby Dee, Sidney Poitier, Harry Belafonte, Alvin and Alice Childress, Hilda Simms, Earl Hyman, Isabel Sanford, Vinie Burroughs, Helen Martin, Roger Furman, Maxwell Glanville, Clarice Taylor, Gordon Heath, and Hilda Hayes.
• For the first five years (1940-1945), ANT was housed in the basement of the 135th Street Branch Library of the New York Public Library, known as the "Harlem Library Little Theatre". In 1945, ANT moved to the Elks Lodge at 15 West 126th Street, which was renamed the American Negro Theatre Playhouse. In 1950, ANT made its final move to a loft on West 125th Street, and according to O'Neal, officially went out of business a year later.

Processing Action (note)

• Processing Information: Accessioned by Diana Lachatanere in 1993-1994.

Call Number

Sc MG 515

Author

American Negro Theatre. Alumni Committee.

Title

American Negro Theatre Alumni collection.

Production

1987.

Type of Content

text

still image

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

sheet

Summary

This collection includes material gathered for an exhibition that would tell the story of the ANT and the achievements of its various performers. This material, sent by various alumni, includes such as updated resumes, programs, photographs, and press clippings.

Biography

This collection was created by the American Negro Theatre Alumni Committee as part of the 1986 fundraising campaign for the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. The campaign led to the opening of the expanded Schomburg Center complex that houses the renovated basement theater (the former 135th Street Branch Library, now known as the Landmark Building), which housed the ANT for several years.

Location of Other Archival Materials

American Negro Theatre records, Sc MG 70, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture American Negro Theatre scrapbook, Sc MG 363, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture

Biography

The American Negro Theatre (ANT) co-founded by Frederick O'Neal and Abram Hill, was established to provide Black actors, playwrights, directors, and other theater-related professionals with opportunities to work in productions that illustrated the diversity of Black life. ANT's program was essentially divided into three categories: stage productions, a training program, and radio programs.

From 1940-1949, nineteen plays, twelve of them original, were produced by ANT. On Striver's Row, Walk Hard--Talk Loud, (both written by Hill), and Rain were well-received plays. However, commercial success struck with Philip Yordan's Anna Lucasta. ANT also exhibited the talents of several now well-known actors and actresses, some for the first time, including Ruby Dee, Sidney Poitier, Harry Belafonte, Alvin and Alice Childress, Hilda Simms, Earl Hyman, Isabel Sanford, Vinie Burroughs, Helen Martin, Roger Furman, Maxwell Glanville, Clarice Taylor, Gordon Heath, and Hilda Hayes.

For the first five years (1940-1945), ANT was housed in the basement of the 135th Street Branch Library of the New York Public Library, known as the "Harlem Library Little Theatre". In 1945, ANT moved to the Elks Lodge at 15 West 126th Street, which was renamed the American Negro Theatre Playhouse. In 1950, ANT made its final move to a loft on West 125th Street, and according to O'Neal, officially went out of business a year later.

Processing Action

Processing Information: Accessioned by Diana Lachatanere in 1993-1994.

Connect to:

Finding aid

Research Call Number

Sc MG 515