Dramatic Movement of African American Women : The Intersections of Race, Gender, and Class

The book demonstrates the experiences of Alice Childress, Lorraine Hansberry, and Suzan-Lori Parks in comparison with the dramas of each other and those of other African American women. These women playwrights created a militant theatre and a theatre of experience that applied to both the African American community in general and African and African American women in particular. They have been encompassed within African American woman’s aesthetics that shares the militancy and experiencecharacterized by a triple factor: race, gender, and class.

This book intends to explore the nature, scope, and features of African American women’s theatre and dramas. It exhibits African American women dramatists’ expertise, mechanics, methods, and artistic elements as well as the major themes projected in their dramas. The book is about a dramatic movement of African American women who write plays to protest against racism, sexism, and classism. It challenges the oppressive ideology of white patriarchy and African American male dominance. Therefore, the book enables the audience in understanding the dramas and theatre movements of all the oppressed sections of society from across the globe.