A Beautiful Pageant: African American Theatre, Drama and Performance in the Harlem Renaissance

Introduction: African American Performance in the Harlem Renaissance PART ONE: 1910-1918 Men in Black and White: Race and Masculinity in the 1910 Heavyweight Championship Fight Exoticism, Dance, and Racial Myths: The Choreography of Aida Walker and Ethel Waters The Pageant is theThing: Black Nationalism and The Star of Ethiopia PART TWO: DRAMA Walter Benjamin and the Lynching Play: Allegory and Mourning in Angelina Weld Grimke's Rachel Migration, Fragmentation, and Identity: Zora Neale Hurston's Color Struck and the Geography of the Harlem Renaissance The Wages of Culture: Alain Locke and the Folk Dramas of Georgia Douglas Johnson and Willis Richardson PART THREE: 1918-1927 The Banner of Freedom: Marcus Garvey and the Performance of Black Nationalism Whose Role Is It, Anyway?: Charles Gilpin and the Harlem Renaissance 'What Constitutes a Race Drama and How May We Know It When We Find It?': The Little Theatre Movement and the Black Public Sphere 'Shuffle Along' and the Quest for Nostalgia: Black Musicals of the 1920s Conclusion: The End of 'Butter Side Up'

DAVID KRASNER is Director of Undergraduate Theater Studies at Yale University. His previous book Resistance, Parody, and Double Consciousness in African American Theater, 1895-1910 (SMP 1997) received the 1998 Errol Hill Award from the American Society for Theater Research.

'A densely detailed, consistently readable account of the Harlem Renaissance...Krasner's aim is far broader than a period of history in theatre, he deftly concentrates on 'specific events in order to sketch a larger picture' and alters people's way of thinking about the Harlem Renaissance.' - Publishers Weekley

'Krasner's arguments are persuasive and engaging.' - D.B. Wilmeth, Choice

'Densely detailed, consistently readable ... succinct and neatly incorporated background sketches along with intelligible and accessible references to theorists enrich the finer details.' - Publishers Weekly

'A timely, lively, essential book that advances African American performance studies while specifically bringing theatre, performance and drama into focus in the glory years of the Harlem Renaissance.' - Robert B Stepto, Yale University

'Breezy, witty,and intelligent look at a decade that brought us such memorable and groundbreaking shows.' - Library Journal