Alice Childress Summary

In the following interview, which took place in 1993, Childress discusses her attraction to and experience in the theater, as well as the feminist and racial issues explored in her work. [Maguire:] Th... Read more

In the following essay, Schroeder surveys the reasons for the critical neglect of Childress's work—especially on the part of feminist critics—and urges a reassessment of her oeuvr... Read more

In the following essay, Turner compares the history and nature of Langston Hughes's Simply Heavenly and Childress's Just a Little Simple in order to gain insight into the “complex... Read more

Critical Essay by Ed Bullins There are too few books that convince us that reading is one of the supreme gifts of being human. Alice Childress, in her short, brilliant study of a 13-year-old black her... Read more

Critical Essay by James V. Hatch Bill Jameson [in Wine in the Wilderness] is the product of the old black bourgeois values. Sonny-Man and Cynthia are also victims of this old social order. They are ed... Read more

Critical Essay by Zena Sutherland There is little movement in this one-act drama [When the Rattlesnake Sounds], but a wealth of poignant dialogue…. The title refers to [Harriet Tubman's]... Read more

Critical Essay by John T. Gillespie Alice Childress' experience as playwright and actress is revealed in the brilliant characterization and dialogue in Hero, essentially the story of a 13-year-... Read more

Critical Essay by Sally R. Sommer Trouble in Mind is a play about black actors rehearsing a pretentious, liberal, anti-lynching play written by whites, produced by whites, and directed by whitesȁ... Read more

Critical Essay by Clive Barnes [Childress's one-act play "String"] was suggested by the Guy de Maupassant story of the Norman peasant Hauchecorne, called "The Piece of Stri... Read more

Critical Essay by Donald T. Evans Black people have recognized the need for their own theater. To give voice to our esthetic meant that we had to be free of the white man's evaluation, his stan... Read more

Critical Essay by Edith Oliver ["Wedding Band" is a play about] a pair of lovers no longer young. She is black, he is white; she is a seamstress, he is a baker named Herman. The time is ... Read more

Critical Essay by Harold Clurman [Wedding Band] has an authenticity which, whatever its faults, makes it compelling…. The play's basic theme emerges from the portrayal not only of the bi... Read more

Critical Essay by Alice Walker The history covered fictionally in A Short Walk is impressive and important: minstrel-show performers in the twenties are shown to have authentic lives behind the masks;... Read more

In the following review, Wilson praises Childress's rich characterization and dialogue in A Short Walk. Alice Childress has written a remarkable book [A Short Walk] that takes its title from th... Read more

In the following essay, Hill compares the strengths and weaknesses of Childress's book A Hero Ain't Nothin' but a Sandwich with those of the film version of the novel. The importa... Read more

In the following excerpt from an interview conducted May 1, 1987, Childress discusses her background and motivation as an author. Alice Childress, born in 1920 in Charleston, South Carolina, and reare... Read more

In the following review, Govan explores the role of the Black Aesthetic in Childress's novel Rainbow Jordan. In 1988, twenty years beyond the period and in an age enamored of political voyeuris... Read more

[In the following excerpt, Childress discusses her works and writing process.] [Childress]: I wrote my play Wedding Band as a remembrance of the intellectual poor. The poor, genteel and sensitive peop... Read more

[In the following excerpt, Miller discusses Childress's depiction of black women in her best-known plays.] In 1933, in an essay entitled "Negro Character as Seen by White Authors,"... Read more

[An American educator and playwright, Brown-Guillory is the author of several works on contemporary drama. In the following excerpt, she offers an overview of Childress's principal plays, ackno... Read more