Transforming Perspectives on Being African-American

The author essentially states, in the Essays in Section 1, her thematic intentions in writing her plays - in particular, her intention to awaken contemporary African Americans to a deeper, more respectful, and more aware relationship with their racial and cultural history. In particular, the essay entitled "An Equation for Black People Onstage" suggests clearly and strongly that, at least in the author's mind, African Americans need to see themselves in light of their own identities, as individuals and as a racial community, rather than solely in relationship to whites. They are not, as she suggests, merely non-white. They are themselves. With each of the plays in this collection, she dramatizes aspects of that struggle, either in terms of striving to free African Americans from that perception or to develop new perceptions. Neither aspect of the struggle is, of course, exclusive of the other. See...