Willis Richardson
Willis Richardson was an influential African American playwright born on November 5, 1889, in Wilmington, North Carolina. His early life was marked by racial tensions that led to his family's relocation to Washington, D.C., which deeply impacted his perception of society. Encouraged by his father and motivated by teachers at M Street School, Richardson developed a passion for writing, eventually leading him to pursue dramatic writing techniques after being inspired by the works of contemporary playwrights. Although he worked at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing after declining a university scholarship, Richardson continued to write and became a pivotal figure in the Harlem Renaissance.
His notable works include "The Chip Woman's Fortune," which was the first serious drama by an African American to appear on Broadway, and "Mortgaged," staged at Howard University. Richardson's plays garnered critical acclaim and were published in prestigious periodicals, earning him several awards during his career. He also contributed to the field through anthologies, including one on children's plays at the request of historian Carter G. Woodson. Recognized for his significant contributions to black theater, Richardson passed away on November 8, 1977, leaving a legacy as one of the first critically significant black dramatists in American theater.
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Subject Terms
Willis Richardson
- Born: November 5, 1889
- Birthplace: Wilmington, North Carolina
- Died: November 8, 1977
- Place of death: Washington, D.C.
Biography
Playwright Willis Richardson was born on November 5, 1889, in Wilmington, North Carolina, to Willis Richardson and Agnes Harper Richardson. In 1898, racial tensions in North Carolina sparked riots that killed or injured many blacks in Wilmington and ran many others out of town. Richardson’s family relocated to Washington, D.C. Still a youth, Richardson was greatly affected by the racial tension and the subsequent move from his hometown; to help him cope, his father encouraged his interest in reading and writing. Richardson read the adventures of popular literary characters which spurred his interest in writing.
Teachers at the M Street School he attended also motivated him. Two of the teachers, writers Mary Burrill and Angelina Grimke, critiqued his writing and encouraged him to pursue a career as a dramatist. After he saw a production of Grimke’s play Rachel, he took a correspondence course in dramatic writing techniques. Another M Street School teacher, Edward C. Williams, school principal and Richardson’s Latin teacher, showed his plays to Alain Locke, the first black Rhodes scholar and an educator who taught at Washington’s Howard University.
When Richardson graduated from the M Street School, he turned down a Howard University scholarship and went to work at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in 1911. His family could not afford to send him to college. He remained at that job, where in 1912 he met Mary Ellen Jones, whom he married in 1914. He retired in 1954 but continued to write and work with black theater groups.
Richardson’s plays, described as “the hope and promise of black drama,” received favorable attention during the height of the Harlem Renaissance. They were published in Crisis and other periodicals and in Locke’s anthology The New Negro. Their production was met with critical acclaim. The Chip Woman’s Fortune, initially produced in Chicago in 1923, was the first serious drama by an African American to appear on Broadway. The Howard University Players performed Mortgaged in 1924, the first play by a black playwright staged at the university. His plays were in great demand by little theater groups and drama clubs. In 1935, he and May Miller edited an anthology, Negro History in Thirteen Plays; the collection included several of Richardson’s one-act dramas. More than twenty years later, at the request of Carter G. Woodson, the founder of the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, Richardson compiled an anthology of his inspirational children’s plays.
His plays won several prizes, including first prize in the Crisis 1925 Drama Awards competition for The Broken Banjo and an honorable mention for “The Fall of the Conjurer” in the 1925 Opportunity contest. In 1926, he won another Crisis play category first prize for “The Bootblack Lover,” and in 1928 he won the Edith Schwab Cup at Yale University for The Broken Banjo. He also was awarded the Audelco Prize posthumously for his contributions to black theater.
Richardson died on November 8, 1977. A pioneer in the black theater movement during the Harlem Renaissance, Richardson had considerable influence during his lifetime. Though overlooked in recent decades, he is considered by some to be the first critically significant and productive black dramatist.