Black Patience: Performance, Civil Rights, and the Unfinished Project of Emancipation

"Black Patience" is a 2023 book that rethinks the Civil Rights Movement through the lens of Black theater. It argues that Black artists and activists used theater to challenge the persistent command that Black people wait for their liberation and to expose, critique, and repurpose structures of white supremacy. The book features interviews with James Baldwin, Lorraine Hansberry, Alice Childress, Douglas Turner Ward, Duke Ellington, and Oscar Brown Jr.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 320 pages
Publication date: 07 March 2022
Publisher: New York University Press

A groundbreaking exploration of the Civil Rights Movement through the lens of Black theater, "Freedom, Now!" emerged as the most powerful and enduring slogan of the movement, boldly challenging the persistent demand that Black people endure prolonged suffering—on slave ships, in auction markets, at segregated bus stops, and in schoolyards—in their quest for liberation. In his thought-provoking book, "Black Patience," Julius B. Fleming Jr. makes a compelling case that during the Civil Rights Movement, Black artists and activists harnessed the power of theater to ignite a radical rejection of the notion of waiting. Engaging in a vibrant culture of embodied political performance that encompassed a wide range of activities, from marches and sit-ins to jail-ins and speeches, these artists turned to theater as a means to disrupt and dismantle the oppressive racial project that Fleming refers to as "Black patience." By bringing forth the voices of renowned figures such as James Baldwin, Lorraine Hansberry, Alice Childress, Douglas Turner Ward, Duke Ellington, and Oscar Brown Jr., "Black Patience" sheds light on the profound ways in which Black artists and activists of the Civil Rights era employed theater as a tool for exposing, critiquing, and reimagining the foundations of white supremacy. Through this innovative reinterpretation of the Civil Rights Movement, Fleming argues that Black theatrical performance played a vital role in the struggle for civil rights, serving as a crucial platform for Black artistic and cultural expression.

Dimension: 9 x 6 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781479806843