Intercessor: The voice of Alice Childress Speaks in Florence, Trouble in Mind, and Like One of the Family
Author:
Elizabeth Ann Orr
Degree Date:
May, 2015
Committee Chairperson:
Riche D. Richardson
Call Number:
Thesis DT 3.5 2015 O77
Description:
vi, 96 leaves ; 29 cm.
Abstract:
Alice Childress's work presents a counter narrative to the prevailing racist dialogues of the twentieth century. Yet, only a small amount of scholarship currently surrounds Childress. This work interrogates the formation of the Black female identity in Alice Childress's Florence, Trouble in Mind, and Like One of the Family by exploring the establishment of her worldview—divergent from the prevailing white-centric narrative of the nineteen-fifties. While not politically overt in her work, her characterizations of Black women present a radical interpretation of Black womanhood for her time period. The thesis both investigates the relationship between the author and her work and explores the structure employed by Childress in the interrogation of racist dialogues. Exploring the basis of identity establishment both for Childress and for the characters in her plays, this study determines Childress's innovative approach to progressive dialogue through highly personal means.