1

This dissertation has b een

microfilmed exactly as received 6 9 - 1 7 ,6 5 8

BELCHER, J r ., Fannin S affore, 1908-1967.

THE PLACE OF THE NEGRO IN THE
EVOLUTION OF THE AMERICAN THEATRE,
1767 TO 1940.

Y ale U n iv ersity , P h .D ., 1945

Language and L itera tu re, m odern

University Microfilms, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan

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6)Copyright by
YALE UNIVERSITY
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1969
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 THE PLAGE OF THE NEGRO IN THE EVOLUTION OF THE
AMERICAN THEATRE, 1767 TO 1940

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?0•<-
,
FANNIN S. BELCHER, JR.
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A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE

GRADUATE SCHOOL OF YAIE UNIVERSITY IN CANDIDACY
FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY.

19-45

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 TWO CELEBRATED NEBRO ACTORS

Chtrltt Bilpin as the Eaperor Jones

(EMPEROR J0»ES)

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Richard B Harriaon as "Do Lavd*

(THE BREEN PASTURES)

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 PREFACE
Sometimes an "old" subject which has been inadequately
treated can offer as original an opportunity for independent
research as a new one. The significance of this statement to the
present discussion requires explanation. Since the publication of
James Weldon Johnson's scholarly Black Manhattan (1930), there have
appeared innumerable articles, essays, theses and dissertations on
the Negro in the drama or in the theatre. Much that these authors
have said, Mr. Johnson has better said and- most of their research

has been confined to turning the pages of his book. Whatever errors

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he has made, they have relentlessly perpetuated; whatever judgments
he has pronounced, they have accepted without any visible effort to
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authenticate the first or to question the second.
A few of these treatises— the two dissertations, in par­
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ticular— do make several ineffectual gestures toward independent
investigation. But one, lucidly written, is more interested in
the contemporary drama than in origins; and the other— the work of
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Dr. Frederick W. Bond— is the most carelessly written compilation

it has been my misfortune to examine. Factually unreliable, Dr.
Bond's The Negro and the Drama (published, 1940) brushes aside many
of the most controversial points in the history of the Negro on the
stage, contradicts its own conclusions, misquotes its secondary
sources, exhibits little sense of proportion— minstrelsy, for
example, is given three pages; "Dance and Jazz" an entire chapter—
and suffers, in general, from the author's belief that it is better
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 to have something about everything than everything about some one
thing* One suspects that even In his choice of material Dr* Bond
was influenced by Black Manhattan which 42 a record of the multi­
farious activities of the Harlem Negro*
Because, therefore, it has thus far received much surface
attention but little thorough investigation, I have undertaken
this study of the Negro In the American Theatre* By alms are
fours 1) To present an accurate and fairly exhaustive account of
the theatre1s attitude toward the Negro as stage character, as

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song and dance man, as dramatic theme, as playwright and as actor;
2) To re-examine the origins of those theatre forms which stem
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directly from the Negro; 3) To assemble, so far as existing re­
cords permit, all the "lost" items In the Negro's theatrical
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background; and U) To verify those myths, legends and assumptions
which constant repetition has transformed Into facts about the
Negro In the theatre* Instead of devoting a separate section to
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each of these alms, I have employed them as an approach to the

treatment of the material in each chapter*
It is not my intention to suggest that this study is the
final word on the subject* There is much room for further Investi­
gation* With this in mind, I am hoping that if the present treatment
does not fully satisfy all the conditions at which it is aimed, it,
at least, will suggest the direction future research should take*
It is a pleasure to acknowledge my Indebtedness to those
who have assisted me in this study* Without their many courtesies
ill

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 much that I have tried to do might never have been accomplished.
Especially do I wish to thanks the staff of the Tale University
Library and, in particular. Miss Anne Piatt and Mrs, Bsiiy T 1'
Schwaner of the Reference Division, Mr, Truelow, Curator of, the
American Literature Collection, Mrs, Crawford of the 'American
tv - . C l <3. j*

^Theatre Collection, Mrs, Mildred Cram, formerly of the Yale Drama

A.
School Library and her successors* Mrs, Walter P, Eaton and Mrs,
Alexander Deane; Dr. William Van Fennep, Curator of the Harvard
Theatre Collection; Dr, Frans Rapp of the Theatre Collection,
New York Public Library; Mrs, Charles Latimer of The Sohomburg

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Collection (Harlem branch of the New York Public Library); Miss
Alice McKee, Reference Librarian, The Ohio State University Library

mi;
Mr, Elliott Barnes, Reference Librarian, University of Pennsylvania
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Mis8 Frances Shaver, Librarian, Union College (Schenectady, New
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York); Mr. W. R. Cunningham, Librarian, The University, Glasgow,

Scotland; Mrs, Leaonead Drain and Mr, Miles Jefferson, Librarians,
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West Virginia State College, In addition I wish to thank Mrs,

Dorothy Barck of the New York Historical Society and Mr, Arthur
Mink of the Ohio Historical Society for securing several out-of-
print items,
I also take this opportunity to express my appreciation
to Miss T.4TM»w Guss who helped to arrange the bibliographies and
illustrations; to Miss Dorothea Slmkins who made possible several
excerpts from rare plays; and to Mrs. Dora Mickey whose secretarial
\

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 assistance extended far beyond the typing of the manuscript.

Immeasurable is bqt debt of gratitude to Professor Allardyce

Nicoll whose scholarly inspiration, judicious criticisms and stimu­
lating counsel guided me throughout this study; and to Professor
Walter Prichard Eaton whose enthusiastic interest In the subject
motivated my progress and whose rich personal memories of yesterday's
theatre were more valuable than books«

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 TABLE OF CONTESTS
Page
LIST OF CHABTS.................................... vii
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS............................... vili
ONE PAGE SUMMARY.................................. xl
FOREWORD................ .. ....... xii
Chapter
I. THE NEGRO AS DRAMATIC CHARACTER IN AMERICAN PLAYS
PRIOR TO 1909............................... 1

II.
The
The
The
The
Formative Period, 1800—1829
Sectional Period, 1830-1865
National Period, 1865 EW
Colonial and Revolutionary Period, 1767-1800

TEE NEGRO MINSTREL AND MUSICAL SHOWS, 1843-1940. .

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Brief Treatment of Their Origin
III. FULL LENGTH PLAYS OF NEGRO LIFE ON THE PROFESSION­
AL STAGE, 1852-1940. .. ..................... 165
IV. THE NEGRO THEATRES ITS ACTORS AND PLAYWRIGHTS,
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1821-1940 290
BIBLIOGRAPHY...................................... 433
GILPIN PLAYERS* MANUSCRIPT FLAYS...................... lxxiv

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 LIST of charts
Charts Opposite Page
1. A Brief Analysis of Negro Delineations in
Representative American Plays, 1809-1909 • • • • • 56
2. Chronological Chart of Plays of Negro Life
and Manners* • • • * . • • • « • • • • • • • * • * - 289
3« Tabulated List of Plays between 1893 and
1940 in which a Representative Group of
Negro Actors Have Appeared • • • • • • • • • « • • 432

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 LIST OP ILLUSTRATIONS __ ___ ________
Figure
1. Two Celebrated Negro Actors (Charles Gilpin as The
Emperor, The Emperor Jones, and Richard B. Harrison
as "De Land," The Green Pastures............... Frontispiece
Opposite Page
2. A Negro Dance as Entr* Act Entertainment,
London, 1789............................... 5
3. Playbill, Cabin and Parlor................... 10
A* Playbill, n»ir RMfami Shm-a Conrfn iti . 31
5* Playbill, iwi« t w « n*»Mn_................. 50

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6. Ira Aldridge as lltango, The Padlock .......... 62
7. Mrs. Gravpner Sings Negro Song, 1799 • • • • • • • 64
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So Andrew Alim1a Song of 1851.................. 71
9* Pre-Minstrel Negro Impersonations• ......... SO
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10. An Olio before Minstrelsy. • • . • • . • • • • • • S3

Ho Playbill, Joe Murphy the Great . ........... 87
12* Playbill, Haverly*s Original European Mastodon
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Minstrels. ........ 89
13. Billy Kersands............................. 98
14* Three Unexcelled Aflinstrels ........ 101
15. The Great Callender Minstrel Festival. . • • • • • 103
16. Robert (Bob) Cole. • • • • • • . • • • • • • « • • HO
17. Bert Williams and George Walker. 113
IS. Scene, Act II, In Dahomey......... 117
19. Principals, In Dahomey ............. 117
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 Opposite Page
20. Williams and Walker, la Dahomey.......... 117
21. In Dahomey Introduces the Cake Walk to England. . 319
22. A Quintet of Early Musical Comedy Stars • • • . . 121
23. Bert Williams and Three Poses frost His Earned
Poker Came Pantomime. ........... 125
24. Bert Williams Sings Bandana Land*a "Late Hours" • 127
25. George Walker Dances the Cake Walk. • • • • • • • 127
26. Scene, The Red Moon .••••••• 127
27. Playbill, Shuffle. Along............... 131

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28. Playbill, Tnjy................. 131
29. Playbill,' Kilpatrick's Old-Time Minstrels • • • • 138
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30. Playbill.Uncle Tom's Cabin. ............... 167
31. Playbill,Unde Tom's Cabin................. 169
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32. Playbill. Uncle Tom's Cabin «. . ............... . 170

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33. Playbill, The Octoroon. ........... 176
34. Playbill, The Octoroon. ............... 179
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35. Scenes, The Emperor Jones • • • • • • • • • • • • 196

36. Racial Problems as Dramatic Theme ........ 209
37. Negro Characters as Dramatic Theme. • • • • • • • 219
38. Folk Lifeas Dramatic Theme ............... 228
39. Two Scenes, The Green Pastures. . . . . . . . . . 241
40. Playbill, Negro Theatre, 1821 294
41. Hewlett, Negro Actor, as Richard HI. ....... 294
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 Opposite Page
42. Playbill, Theatre, Mercer Street. . . . . . . . . 297
43. Mr.Ira Aldridge as Aaron• • . . . « • » • • • • 313
44 . Mr.Ira Aldridge as Othello 316
45* Mr.Ira Aldridge as Zanga • 317
46. San Lucas 329
47. Playbill, Anita Bush Stock Company • • • • • . . 346
43. Marie Jackson-St^art as Granny Manmse . . . . . . 355

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49* Blanche Deas as Sapphie, &r«rmy Maumee. • • • • • 355
50. Opal Cooper as Madison Sparrow, The Rider of
Dreams. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • . • • • 355
51. Playbill, In Abraham*s Bosom. • « • • • • • • • • 377
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52. Playbill,Ethiopian Art Theatre • • • • • • • • • 388
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53* Playbill,Porgy • • • • • • • • . • • • • • • • • 416

54* Playbill, The Green Pastures. . . . • • • • • • • 417
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 THE PLACE OF THE NEGRO IN THE EVOLUTION OF
THE AMERICAN THEATRE

A Summary

In the evolution of the American Theatre, the Negro, over

a period of one hundred and seventy three years, has earned, di­
rectly or indirectly, a permanent place. The history of his growth
from a stage type to an individual began with Thomas Forrest's The
Disappointment (1767) and ended with Eugene Valter's The Easiest
ffav (1906). Within these years— as a substitute for the comic
English rustic, as a primitive and potentially savage Hfetcher and
carrier,” and as a loyal guardian of the Southern manse— he gave
the American playwright one of his first opportunities to write his
own Declaration of Independence and he brought to the playhouse its
first bit of realistic coloring.

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To the efforts of the white actor in blackface to make this
coloring authentic and to the Itinerant Negro street singers as well
as to the plantation hands, minstrelsy— America's first and only
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native form of entertainment— owes its birth. The antics of the
burnt-cork, comic troupers fill the years between 1832—-when "Daddy"
Rice jumped "Jim Crow"— and 1890— when the Civil War plays and the
musical extravaganzas competed for public favor. The Negro did not
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originate minstrelsy but he inspired it, served as its model, and,
under its burnt-cork mask, acquired status as a perforator with his
eccentric dancing, syncopated tunes and ragtime melodies which later
set two continents to swaying.
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Out of the comicalities of the minstrels, the sentiment of

the humanitarians, the accusations of racial propagandists and the
sensationalism of novelty seekers emerged the Negro of Rldgely
Torrence, of Eugene O'Neill, of Paul Green, of Marc Connelly and
of the Heywards. To give eloquence to their creations the play­
wrights called for the step-child of the theatres the Negro actor
who, through the years, had kept his ideals if not his health. And
when he appeared, self-conscious and Inexperienced, America, finally,
had the beginnings of its yet to be realized folk theatre wherein the
playwright— white or black— unfettered by commercial exploitation of
the bizarre, could strive to make articulate the rich poetic imagi­
nation of those who live close to the American soil.

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 FOREWORD
When the Negro appeared as a character In American drama,
he had already completed one hundred and fifty seven years of
service as slave in American life. Puritan New England, Huguenot
New York, Quaker Pennsylvania and the Cavalier South knew
wells he was chattel to he exploited and an outcast to he dreaded;
he was a controversial subject in legislative assemblies, an elo­
quent theme for the orators and a primitive object lessen in the
sermons of the Divines* Not yet did they know him as a patriot—

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Crispus Attucks fell at Boston in 1770— or as poet—-Phyllis
Wheatley's slender volume of poems was published in 1773— or as
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a chronicler— Gustavus Vassa's record of his life was not read
until 1789— or as a student— Benjamin Bannecker's almanack was
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issued in 1792.....
When the Negro (by proxy) appeared as an actor on the
American stage, he had already filled the ink wells for the signers
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of the Declaration of Independence, had guarded the horses for Paul

Revere, had been on Boston Commons when the first shots were fired
/ *
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and had dusted the chairs far the framers of the constitution. Not
yet did they know him as a churchman-Richard Allen was not conse­
crated until 1816— or as an orator— Frederick Douglass was bom in
1817— or as an editor— the Freedman's Journal was not printed until
1827...
When the Negro appeared as theme in TTncle Tom's Cabin, he
had become a freedman in the North and had sunk lower iu the scale
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 of human values in the Cavalier South. Not yet did they know him
as a citizen— the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments were not
drawn from the fiery crucible of civil strife until 1865. Memories
of those decades still linger in the Southland but mellowed by the
wine of the passing years and by, let us believe, the Negro*s pro­
gress, it, too, finally paid a cavalier* s tribute for services
once rendered.

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 CHAPTER I
THE NEGRO AS DRAMATIC CHARACTER IN AMERICAN PLATS. PRIOR TO 1909

For his proposed monument to the Old South, a former Gove-

nor of Tennessee suggested, "a trinity of figures to he carved from
a single block of Southern marble, consisting of the courtly old
planter, high-bred and gentle in face and manner; the plantation
•uncle,1 the counterpart in ebony of the master so loyally served
and imitated, and the broad-bosomed black mamay, with vari-colored
turban, spotless apron, and beaming face, the friend of every living

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thing in cabin or mansion.N As inperishable as the marble of this
proposed monument are the concepts drama has fashioned of these three
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symbols of the Southland. Sentimental is the portrait of the courtly
planter from whom only a war could take his frock coat, ruffled shirt
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and hat of "gently curving lines" or his stately white-pillared man­

sion shaded by giant oaks and fragrant with magnolia blooms; and of
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whom only yellowing abolitionist tracts could make less than a bene­
volent master, a liberal host, an Impregnable fortress of Southern
honor, a gallant confederate officer and a grand old gentleman who,
in the twilight of his impoverished years, kept vivid the days of
gracious living and Southern glory. In the drama he is the hero or
the villain, the character man or the walking gentleman but seldom,
if ever, the lew comedy figure.
Less fortunate have been the "plantation uncle" and the
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 ’’"broad-bosomed black mamay.n As low comedy characters, in second­
hand broad—cloth and home-made gingham, they are, mmmti Ty anr?
realistically, kindly tyrants of kitchen and garden; hard-working
field hands, good-natured and quaintly humorous; obsequious house-
servants, affectionate and faithful, whose "wool" has grown white
in their master* s service and who, in their declining years, half
blind and hard of hearing, croon lullabies to "Missy” or weave
wondrous tales for "Blaster John” of "de days befoh de wah." These
are the "antebellum" servants, the old family retainers, who appear,

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with monotonous regularity, in the dramas of the latter decades of
the nineteenth century. A few had appeared earlier— in dramatizations
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of Southern novels— but, for Northern playwrights and Northern audiences,
the "real nigger," the "true plantation" offspring, is the nimble-
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footed, extravagantly clad, able-bodied "black" who can "vait on de

table, tend de door, clean de boots, run de errands, drive de carriage,
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rub de horses, take care of de flowers, carry de water, help cook de

dinner, wash de dishes"^- and still find time to sing a song and dance

a jig.
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He is the "comic" Negro but not yet of the minstrel breed.
Watermelon and fried chicken, razors and crap-shooting and all the
accoutrements of burnt cork and bones are not thrust upon him until

^Zeke*s speech in Mrs. Mowatt*s Fashion.

^Negro minstrelsy is fully discussed in Chapter II.

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 after 184-0* More closely akin to those of Jim CtchP' of 1832 than
those of Sassafras Livingstone2 of 1903, his antics, Interspersed
with aimless word play, topical allusions, sententious utterances
and slapstick patter, are more dominant than wit but still not the
main reason for his existence. The songs he sings, the practical
jokes he plays, and the dances he performs are diversionary devices,
mere comic by-play, inserted to evoke immediate laughter or to fill
the passage of time required by the main action or to save theplay­
wright the labor of creating dialogue or stage business.No subtle­

3
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ties of characterization are his— only a name, a costumeand aTnon-^oi
occupation* no individualizing traits distinguish him— -only the
variety of his dialects, each purporting to be genuine.
Between the venerable retainer and the comic figure -are a
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number of other stereotypes who reflect the devotion of the first or

the comicalities of the second or are tragic counterparts of the
master* s legitimate sons and daughters. In the latter class are the
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Thomas D. Rice. See Chapter II.

^egro character in The Gmintv Chp-t-rman.
3
The newspaper advertisements for runaway slaves created
better character traitss "Ran away from the subscriber. •. a Negroe
Fellow, about 5 feet 6 inches high, is Virginia-born, speaks slow
and is very crafty." (1751) "Run away... a Molattoe man, nam*d Will,
about 28 years of age, of a Negroe father, and an Indian, born in
the country.•• his speech soft and mild, but a sensible, cunning,
ingenious fellow." (1748-4-9) "Run away from the subscriber... a-
young, lusty, Negroe man slave, named Ben... he has a smooth tongue,
and a very good knack at telling a story." (Allen W. Read, "Speech
Defects and Mannerisms Among Slaves and Servants in Colonial America,"
Quarterly Journal of Speech. October, 1938, pp. 397-401.)

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 mulattoes, the octoroons and the quadroons whose blood, In more or
less degree, relates them to the Negro but whose fair complexion
sets them apart from the slaves and secures for them a favored place
in the plantation household* As educated, cultured and sensitive
personalities, they are resentfully served by the "blacks,n success­
fully wooed by the planter’s son, ridiculed by the darker half-
breeds and persecuted by bestial overseers whose mistresses they
o _ 3 /
sometimes refuse to be. Through Camille, George and Eliza, Zoe
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and Daphne, anti-slavery sentiment was artfully motivated. Lacking

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the dramatic appeal inherent in the mixed bloods, the other more
Negroid types are whatever the playwright desires them to be at the
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moment, depending upon the period, the locale and the exigencies of
the plot. Under various disguises but always "to serving" bred, they
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are noble savages, nameless mutes, confidants, obstreperous servants,

drinking companions, body-guards, caricatures of Englishmen, masters
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and mistresses, rebels and patriots or a combination of all. That

they never rose higher in social rank, as did the Yankee and Irish,
once their companions, was probably due 1) to the impossibility of
ever confining them to a definite characterization and 2) to the

-%er first appearance on the stage was in S. E. Glover’s

dramatization of James Fenimore Cooper’s The last of the McMnane
(1831), twenty five years before Mayne Reid published The Quadroon
(1856), the source of Dion Boucicault’s The Octoroon.
^Neighbor Jackwood (1857), See Chapter III, p. 174, note 1,
^Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852), Ibid, p. 165.
^The Octoroon (1859), Ibid, 174,
-*The White Slave (1882), p. 41.

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 5
fact that the Negro himself, except in rare Instances, -was never
given an opportunity to portray the Negro roles which, Inevitably,
were assigned to the low comedian of the white companye Would the
Yankee character have been as theatrically effective had he been
portrayed by a Negro in clown white?
It has been the unfortunate role of the stage Negro to have
everyone conscientiously believe that he know$ him better than he
knows himself. This attitude is mar'’
' in evidence among the white
actors who portray the Negro characters than among the playwrights

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who create them. Edgar Allan Poe*** suggested this when, in his 1845
review of Mrs. Mowatt’s Fashion, he tersely remarked: "Zeke was
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caricatured." Miss Ethel Barrymore proved it,nore recently (1930),
when she and her company, in blackface, ineffectively produced Scarlet
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Sister Marv.2 And for forty of the eighty five years separating
Fashion and the Barrymore performance, Negro actors have been on the
American stage!
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While the white actor may have let his duties as low and ec­
centric comedian color his portrayal of the Negro, far more influential
in their effect upon the playwright's original concept were those
English plays, comic opera3 and thrillers in which Negro characters

~*The Broadway Journal (March 29, 1845). (Reprint in Montrose

J. Moses and John Mason Brown's The American Theatre. 1752-1934, New
York, 1934, pp. 59-63.) Poe had two Negro creations to his credit:
Toby in Thn Journal of Rodman (1840) and Jupiter in The _Gold
Bug (18435* i
2See Chapter III*

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 A NEGRO DANCE AS ENTR* ACT ENTERTAINMENT, LONDON, 1789

T h e a t r e R o y a x ^ C o v e n t G a r d e n ,
This prcfeftt M O N D A Y, June i, 178^,
be p erfo rn cd , for the 26th I iotc,
A N ew G rand Serious Pantomime, m T h ree Parts, called,
T H E D E A T H OF
C A P T A I N COOK.(As ro w rcprcfenring in Paris w ih uncom m on Applaufc.)
V ith the O igirjal Trench M ulie, new IJreiles, Scenery. M achinery, an J Decorations,
A fter which will be performed th e Comic Opc a of

INKLE AND YARI CO.

Inkle by M r. J O H N S T O N E ,
Sir Chriftopher Curry toy Mr. U 1 C K,

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5 Camplcy by Mr. D A V I E S ,
M edium, M r. W E W IT Z E R , M ate, Mr. D A R L E V ,
A nd T rudge by M r. E D W I N ,
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W ow lki by Mrs. M A R T Y R ,
Karciffa, M rs. M O U N T IA N , Patty, Mrs. ROCK,
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And Yarieo (with Additional Songs)

B y M rs. B I L L I N G T O N .
iEnd .of A£I 13. .a N ew N E G R O D A N C E .
To which will be added (for the Second Time) the Tragic Comic, Pantoattmical Eatertaiamerit o f
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D O N J V A N:
O r ,T h e L IB E R T IN E D E ST R O Y E D .
iDon Juan, M r C R A N E I E L D , D o n Predro ’Commandant, M r ® O Y C £
.Spanifh Grandees .by MeiTrs. Xhompfon, Lee, and Farley,
A n d Scaramouch by M r X> E L P I N I,
Donna Anna by Mifs F R A N C I S .
T h e D A N C liS by M r. Eyrnc, M r. Jackfon, M rs. Ratchford, and M rs. Goodwin.
The "Vocal Characters by M r JDELP.INI, Mr D A R L E Y ,
Mrs M O XJ N T A I N, and I » M A R T Y R .
The M USIC eompofw*d by Signor G LU C K , the Airs and Duett by Mr. R E E V E ,
W ith new Drctli s and Decoration-,
lo -m o rro w , the Com ic O pera o f RO BIN HOOC); ■
\\ i t h (N ever P erform ed) a New C om ic O pera called PKRSEVER. ANCF.,
F o r th« Bmclic o f M rs. M O L? N T A I N .

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 6
are delineated* Because they are West Indians rather than native
American Negroes is no reason for ignoring them as some historians
do, particularly when it is recalled that these plays appeared with
consistent regularity in the repertories of the American acting
companies* Consequently, they must have offered many of the actors
their first experience in blackface"*" and probably suggested to the
playwrights the possibilities in their own native slaves* Although
similarities between the two are not conspicuous, there are re­
semblances which are more than accidental*

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The earliest and the most popular of these plays was Isaac
Bickerstaff1s comic opera, The Padlock, produced at the John Street
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2 *2
Theatre in 1769* In it appeared Mungo,-7 the West Indian Negro slave,
who, as Odell has remarked, "stands at the head of every chapter on
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the subject of Negro minstrelsy41 and whose

"And I*m sure, Mas3a, you can11 deny
but I worky worky. I dress a victuals,
and run a errands, and wash a house,
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and make a beds, and scrub a shoes,

and wait a table-
has been repeated hundreds of times in as many curiousNegro dialects*
Inpudent and profane, Mungo loves to loaf, to sing and dance, dislikes

^For entr*act Negro impersonations, see Chapter II*

% a y 29.
^The role was played by Lewis Hal lam, Jr*, manager and leading
man of the conpany*
4-The Padlock (London Stage edition), I, 3, p* 3*

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 7
being whipped, steals his master's wine and aids the padlocked
Leonora, engaged to the old Don Diego, to meet her young lover,
Leander. Instrumental in the plot, Mungo,3- intoxicated, joins the
celebration at its climax though he is promised only "bastinadoes1*
for his “infidelity" and "drunkeness." In The Romo, also by
Bickerstaff and performed at the John Street Theatre on January 28,
1793* the Negro girl, Quasheba, is as uncommunicative as Mungo is
talkative. Two speeches of four and two words are hep only contri­
butions to the dialogue. But the Negro girl had appeared on the

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stage and the black servant had proved that dialogue was not neces-
3
sary for a "fetcher and carrier." If Mungo heads the minstrel
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chapter, then Oroonoko, the black hero of Thomas Southern* s tragedy
of the same title stands as one of the rare portraits of a noble
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Negro slave. Speaking classic blank verse in Impeccable English,

Oroonoko scorns the whites who have enslaved him, leads unsuccessfully
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^See Chapter H,
o
An indication of what she might have said is found in Cubba,
Negro girl servant in William McCready*s The Irishman in London: or.
The. Kanmv African. "Bochro," she says, "read great big book, tell
M m how he can be good— for all dat, some do very bad— poor black no
understand read— how they know good from bad, when them Massa no show
them good sample?" (p. 13)
% e soon had a mild rival in Juba, the comic Negro servant,
of Prince Hoare's The Prize: or. 2. 5. 3. 8. produced August 25, 1795.
He is grateful to Heartwell for his freedom. "You good to me, Masa..."
^Founded on the novel by Mrs. Aphra Behn, it was first pro­
duced in 1696. American production was given by members of the British
army, October 18, 1783.

Ite..
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 and unwillingly the slave insurrection, accepts full responsibility
for the deed and finally stabs himself, as did his wife and friend
before him, rather than suffer the anguish of separation and the
indignities of abuse* For John Fawcett*s thriller, Obi; orT *yv»*^e—
Fingered Jacl$. performed May 27, 1S01, the scene designer was
apparently more taxed than either playwrights or actors* In the
manner which Darkest America will adopt for the Southern Negro
later in the century, this spectacle presented among other splendors*
"A view of the extensive plantation, cane-patch, sugar mills and a

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representation of a slave*s hut in Jamaica* Its cast contained the
largest number of Negroes prior to Paul and Virginia. As slaves,
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robbers and worshippers of witchcraft they add to the exeSc. neat- and
increase the variety of Negro roles but axe shadowy sketches in them­
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selves. In ^t>d v-irginim. (1802),2 a musical entertainment in two

acts by James Cobb, Dominique and Alambra are prosaic and more
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realistic copies of Oroonoko and Aboan* Dominique is a mulatto, edu­

cated, honest, outspoken, courteous and the loyal protector of his
orphaned mistress*

3$ee Chapter II*

%fay 7 at the Park Theatre*
^Dominique was played by Joseph Jefferson, the grandfather
of Joseph Jefferson of The Contrast and the comedian of Hallam* s com­
pany, of idiom J. H. Ireland (Records of _the New York Stage. I, 449)
writes "in low or eccentric comedy, he has been rarely equaled*
Alambra was played by Mr* Wilson (real name Bland) who “gave satis­
faction in several humorous parts."

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