Biography
- 1881 Mary P. Burrill was born in Washington, D.C.
- 1901 Mary graduated from M Street High School (later Dunbar High School)
- 1904 Mary received her diploma from Emerson College of Oratory (later Emerson College)
- After graduating from college Mary taught English, speech and drama at Dunbar High School
- Two of Mary’s students from Dunbar High School:
- Willis Richardson: became the first African American dramatist to have a play produced on Broadway, and
- May Miller: published her first play, Pandora's Box, while still a student at Dunbar High School
- 1944 Mary retired from teaching
- 1946 Mary died on March 13th in New York City
Biography information obtained from: Wikipedia contributors. "Mary P. Burrill." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 18 Nov. 2010. Web. 29 Nov. 2010.
List of Mary’s Work:
1919 They That Sit in Darkness
(a play that focused on the effects of a young mother having multiple children) was published in Margaret Sanger’s Birth Control Review, a monthly publication that advocated reproductive rights for women.
1919 Aftermath
(a play set in rural South Carolina, tells the story of a young soldier returning home from overseas to find that his father has been lynched) was published in Liberator and edited by socialist Max Eastman.
Production History:
1928 Aftermath Produced by Krigwa Players (NYC) at the Little Negro Theatre (NYC)
Additional Information:
Information about the Birth Control Review (Including Archives)
http://www.lifedynamics.com/library/
African American History Timeline:
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/aaworld/timeline.html
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/reconstruction/index.html
http://www.naacphistory.org/#/home
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cakewalk
Critical Articles:
“Krigwa, a Theatre by, for, and about Black People”
Ethel Pitts Walker
Theatre Journal
Vol. 40, No. 3, Perspectives in Theatre History (Oct., 1988), pp. 347-356
(Article consists of 10 pages)
Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press
http://www.jstor.org/stable/3208324
Monroe, J. G. (1983), “The Harlem Little Theatre Movement,” 1920–1929. Journal of American Culture, 6: 63–70. doi: 10.1111/j.1542-734X.1983.0604_63.x
Author Information: Assistant Professor of Theater and Afro-American Studies a t Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut.
Publication History: Issue published online: 7 JUN 2004
Article first published online: 7 JUN 2004
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1542-734X.1983.0604_63.x/abstract
Title: “Review: [untitled]”
Author(s): June Schlueter
Source: Theatre Journal, Vol. 43, No. 1 (Mar., 1991), pp. 128-129
Publisher(s): The Johns Hopkins University Press
http://www.jstor.org/stable/3207962
Title: “Early Black Women Playwrights and the Dual Liberation Motif”
Author(s): Will Harris
Source: African American Review, Vol. 28, No. 2, Black Women's Culture Issue (Summer, 1994), pp. 205-221
Publisher(s): Indiana State University
http://www.jstor.org/stable/3041994
Title: “Anti-Lynch Plays by African American Women: Race, Gender, and Social Protest in American Drama”
Author(s): Judith L. Stephens
Source: African American Review, Vol. 26, No. 2, Poetry and Theatre Issue (Summer, 1992), pp. 329-339
Publisher(s): Indiana State University
http://www.jstor.org/stable/3041860
Title: “Racial Violence and Representation: Performance Strategies in Lynching Dramas of the 1920s”
Author(s): Judith L. Stephens
Source: African American Review, Vol. 33, No. 4 (Winter, 1999), pp. 655-671
Publisher(s): Indiana State University