My Schomburg Experience (Redefined)
Steven G. Fullwood, archivist, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, shares another one of his favorite items from the Schomburg collection:
Alice Childress oral history with Ann Allen Shockley at Fisk State University, 1973 (Alice Childress Papers).
“Alice Childress (1912-1994), best known for her groundbreaking children’s book, A Hero Ain’t Nothin’ But a Sandwich, was also a playwright and one-time actress with the American Negro Theater, an early black theater group that met in the original 135th Street Branch Library. In an interview with Ann Allen Shockley, a librarian, oral historian and writer, Childress said she became a playwright because she was tired of casting directors telling her that she was too light to play a black woman. ‘I can express myself on a piece of paper,’ Childress remarked. It was good to know how she became a playwright and that she was as clear-headed and sassy as the numerous women populating her plays, novels and short stories.”
Join Steven on a guided tour of the Romare Bearden exhibition at the Schomburg on October 5, 2011. For more information, please click here.
Photo Credit: Cover of Childress’s book, A Hero Ain’t Nothin’ But A Sandwich.
