Research Guides @ Fordham: Theatre: African American Theatre

Reference Sources -- Books

The Cambridge Companion to African American Theatre [electronic resource] by Harvey Young (Editor)
Cambridge University Press, 2013.
Historical Dictionary of African American Theater, 2nd Ed. by Anthony D. Hill
Rowman & Littlefield, 2018.
Call number [RH Reference Area] PN2270.A35 H53 2018
The Routledge Companion to African American Theatre and Performance [electronic resource] by Thomas DeFrantz; Renée Alexander Craft; Sandra L. Richards; Kathy A. Perkins
Routledge, 2019.
Encyclopedia of the Black Arts Movement by Verner D. Mitchell; Cynthia Davis (editors)
Rowman & Littlefield, 2019.
Call number [RH Reference Area] NX512.3.A35 E53 2019

Search the Library Catalog for additional options.

See the databases on the Start Here -- Reference Sources page to search for more reference content.

Selected Digital Resources

Black Work Broadway
An evolving and comprehensive record of all the plays, musicals, musical revues, and other performances presented in Broadway houses either written or created by Black artists.
African American Theater Guide from NYPL
Explains resources available through the Schomburg Center For Research in Black Culture at New York Public Library.
National Black Theatre (NBT)
Founded in 1968 by Dr. Barbara Ann Teer located in Harlem.

Research Tips

Background Research

Try the searching the Reference Sources listed on this page to find background information about plays and playwrights. These sources can provide you with details and keywords (production information, biographical information, dates, locations, terms describing performance, etc) that can be used to search for secondary and primary sources.

Finding Books

Use the video tutorials on the Finding Books page for help searching the catalog for books.
Try searching the author fields in the Library Catalog to learn how locate plays or other writings by a specific playwright.
For books about a playwright or actor, try searching that person's name in the subject field.

Finding Articles

Use the Finding Full Text Journals and Periodicals video to locate articles from a specific citation.
Use the Articles & Databases page to see the recommended Theatre databases to search for journals and/or find articles or reviews.

Finding Primary Sources

See the Finding Primary Sources page.

View of the Audience at the American Negro Theatre

Image credit: "View of the audience at the American Negro Theatre" circa 1940-1949 from the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, NYPL Digital Collections.

Selected Books

Search the Library Catalog for additional options.

In Search of Our Warrior Mothers : Women Dramatists of the Black Arts Movement by La Donna Forsgren
Northwestern University Press, 2018.
Call number [RH Stacks] PS153.N5 F677 2018
The American Negro Theatre and the Long Civil Rights Era by Jonathan Shandell
University of Iowa Press, 2018.
Call number [RH Stacks] PN2277.N52 A44 2018
Looking for Lorraine : The Radiant and Radical Life of Lorraine Hansberry by Imani Perry
Beacon Press, 2018.
Call number [RH Stacks & Quinn Stacks] PS3515.A515 Z84 2018
Aunt Ester's Children Redeemed [electronic resource] : Journeys to Freedom in August Wilson's Ten Plays of Twentieth-Century Black America by Riley K. Temple
Cascade Books, 2017.
The Adrienne Kennedy Reader by Adrienne Kennedy
University of Minnesota Press, 2001.
Call number [RH Stacks] PS3561.E557 A6 2001
Contemporary African American Theater : Afrocentricity in the Works of Larry Neal, Amiri Baraka, and Charles Fuller by Nilgun Anadolu-Okur
Garland, 1997.
Call number [RH Stacks] PS338.N4 A45 1997
Black Theatre USA : Plays by African Americans, 1847 to Today (Rev. & expanded ed.) by James V. Hatch; Ted Shine (editors)
Free Press, 1996.
Call number [RH Stacks & Quinn Stacks] PS628.N4 B56 1996