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A Beautiful Pageant: African American Theatre, Drama, and Performance in the Harlem Renaissance, 1910-1927 (review)

2003; Johns Hopkins University Press; Volume: 55; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1353/tj.2003.0188

1086-332X

Harvey Young,

Diversity and Impact of Dance

The second installment in his chronological study of African American theatre and performance history, David Krasner's A Beautiful Pageant explores ten significant and representative moments in the [End Page 735] African American theatre, dance, and performance culture between the years 1910 and 1927. These moments include the Jack Johnson-Jim Jeffries boxing match in 1910, the dance style of Aida Overton Walker and Ethel Waters, W.E.B. Dubois's short-lived production of The Star of Ethiopia, an analysis of Angelina Grimke's Rachel and Zora Neale Hurston's Color Struck, a discussion of the Washington D.C.-based society of Georgia Douglass Johnson and Willis Richardson, Marcus Garvey's street parades in Harlem, Charles Gilpin's performances of Brutus Jones in The Emperor Jones, the development of the Little Theatre Movement, and a revisionist reading of Eubie Blake's Shuffle Along. The author's decision to dwell on the specific allows him to create an in-depth investigation of select moments of African American performance culture that is rigorously researched, intelligently written, and highly insightful.