White People Do Not Know How to Behave at Entertainments Designed for Ladies and Gentlemen of Colour: William Brown's African and American Theater

by Marvin McAllister

Book Overview

In August 1821, William Brown, a free man of color and a retired ship's steward, opened a pleasure garden on Manhattan's West Side. It catered to black New Yorkers, who were barred admittance to whites-only venues offering drama, music, and refreshment. Over the following two years, Brown expanded his enterprises, founding a series of theaters that featured African Americans playing a range of roles unprecedented on the American stage and that drew...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0807854506
• ISBN13: 9780807854501
• Release Date: May 2003
• Publisher: University of North Carolina Press
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.84 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.4" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Our story told well....these are our people, and this knowledge shapes our future and how we wish to

This work is an absolutely fascinating treatment of an obscure period of American history, interweaving dimensions of the American story that deserve a stronger voice. It is all here: entrepreneurship, law, emerging national identity, culture, economics, politics, and of course, the tensions of race relations. This book deserves a wider audience, for far too much of our understanding of race relations in the United States is shaped by the Civil Rights Era, and the intervention of the Federal Government in states rights. Marvin McAllister's "White People Do Not Know How to Behave at Entertainments Designed for Ladies and Gentlemen of Colour: William Brown's African and American Theater" tells our story from an entirely different perspective that is forgotten and overshadowed. In the 1820s The United States was still emerging as a nation (1776 was less than 50 years earlier) and entrepreneurs of any color had opportunities unprecedented in history. William Brown was a man of vision who rose to success with enterprise, financial acumen, determination, and savvy marketing skills. He saw an opportunity and delivered a service that had great demand. McAllister does not flinch from the ultimate decline of Brown's business, sadly driven by attracting attention because of its success, and brutally unfair treatment motivated by abhorrent base racism. The tone of the book is neither an apologist for the times, Brown, his patrons and associates, or his detractors. Rather, it tells the story straightforwardly. Of course, the result is sad, but this is our history, and we must face it honestly. A wonderful book that tells American history in the way it should be taught, as the events of individuals and their efforts rather than a survey of zeitgeist. Highly recommended.

Did you actually read the book, Seth?

(...). If you actually read the book then you would realize that the title was actually on a sign at William Brown's theater, a theater created for blacks in a time when we were not allowed admittance to musical or dramatic performances. It also allowed black performers to develop their art and show that we were not just silly "minstrels" or clowns. I am very proud to have the William Brown Theater as a part of my African American heritage!