PAPERBACK ISBN: 0-88258-150-3      $32.95

304 pages; 5.5 x 8.5 inches

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The Negro Tragedian

by Herbert Marshall and Mildred Stock

In 1824, a seventeen-year-old Ira Aldridge left New York City for London. For eight years, he performed in the English provinces, where he developed an adoring following among the common folk. After celebrated English actor Edmund Kean collapsed on stage at Covent Garden while playing the role of Othello and died shortly thereafter, Aldridge replaced Kean in the role of Shakespeare’s ill-fated Moor. Thrust out after only two performances, he was catapulted, in a wonderfully ironic twist, onto a world stage that included all of Europe and Russia. He would eventually return to win London, decked with medals of distinction, and attain a revered place in theatrical history.

For decades after its publication, Ira Aldridge, The Negro Tragedian stood as the only English-language biography of the legendary African American Shakespearean actor. Biographers Herbert Marshall and Mildred Stock recreate within these pages a stirring life drama in which readers learn first-hand how Aldridge conquered the prejudices and stereotypical notions found in the European theatre of his day. The biography details Aldridge’s life and theatrical craft from his beginnings in the New York African Free School throughout his international career. A new introduction to this edition, provided by drama scholar Errol Hill, presents the work and its subject to contemporary audiences.

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