for the Negro players “Granny Maumee'’ and
“The Rider of Dreams,” pieces singularly true to
Negro genius. The plays were given with unusual merit and gained the highest praise.
This movement, interrupted by the war, has been started again by the Ethiopian Players of Chicago and especially by the workers at Howard University where a Negro drama with Negro instructors, Negro themes and Negro players is being developed. One of the most interesting pageants given in America was written, staged and performed by Negroes in New York, Philadelphia and Washington.
Charles Gilpin had been trained with Williams and Walker and other colored companies. He got his first chance on the legitimate stage by playing the part of Curtis in Drinkwater’s “Abraham Lincoln.” Then he became the principal in O’Neill’s wonderful play and was nominated by the Drama League in 1921 as one of the ten persons who had contributed most to the American theatre during the year. Paul Robeson and Evelyn Preer are following Gilpin’s footsteps.
There is no doubt of the Negro’s dramatic genius. Stephen Graham writes:
“I visited one evening a Negro theatre where a musical comedy was going on—words and music both by Negroes. It opened with the usual
