Summary Of Two Afro-American Contributions To Dramatic Form

Eleanor W. Traylor essay, Two Afro-American Contributions to Dramatic Form, describe how in the black theatre was, explains the styles of what Afro-American is and the effects. She also explains her arguments; which are what are the minstrel shows and slave narrative. When reading this essay it explains how during this time period oral tradition of black slaves provided a substance of how American choose the dramatic form. This is when the beginning of professional stage an Afro-American theatre was born. What is minstrel shows? In terms it means variety shows but white performers dressed and painted as black people. This form was all over the United States and audiences loved it. As Traylor describes it she as " a racist minstrel character has undoubtedly obscured the value of the minstrel stage." She also goes on a wrote "an icon called Negro, assigned to the realm of the ridiculous, emerged in the minstrel performance" (Traylor, page 49). The theory of this was that white actors would dress up as black people and they would put on makeup to look like them a black person. Her other term she use was slave narrative, which is a powerful literary mode as an Afro-american model. This would give us the contrast of the language and the reality of the

The first part of the article talks about the tradition of Afro-American sources. She called this American theatre is Afroamerican. She then talks about the two-forms of that developed, the artistic process and how it was expressed to the present day. The second part of the article starts off by explaining how the iconic Negro was an icon for the audience and had an impact on the american theatre audience. What brought their attention was the character types, the inaugurated by the minstrel show and caricatures. She also describes the masking-miming rituals that she quotes it was "something entirely different and new" to the