Theatre History
A course exploring Western theatre and drama in a variety of periods. Theatre performances and plays will be analyzed as functions of different fields of influence (economic realities of production and attendance; politics and power relations within and outside the theatre; social norms regarding gender, race, ethnicity, religion, family, etc; aesthetic values of the time). In addition, the course is meant to introduce students to methods of critical research and issues of historiography.
1934 New York City Riots Narrative
Before the riots began on July 7th, there were many race issues sprouting in the city of New York. According to July 7th’s edition of the Commercial Advertiser there was a march by “colored brethren” after having a mixed worship with whites on the 4th. In the Chatham Street Chapel, whites and blacks sat in alternate rows but no whites joined them on their march. The blacks were also selling spirits in plain sight of the public in the vicinity of a church on Laight-street. These events raised race conflicts in the city, helping lead to the riots that followed several days later.
At the former theatre turned church, Chatham-Street Chapel, the Sacred Music Society met on their usual Thursday but were unaware that the chapel had been leased to a black congregation which the society became upset about. The members of the black congregation refused to leave which resulted in a fight between the two groups. The Commercial Advertiser reported that “chairs and benches were broken into clubs” and also admits that blacks “are far less guilty than the reckless fanatics who urge them on. The Evening Post of that same day writes that the morning papers used “very inflammatory language” when “there was fault on both side, and more especially on that of the whites.” The paper reports that the blacks reserved the chapel and the people to first arrive for the Sacred Music Society agreed to let them have the space, but as more arrived they reversed their decision and “took forcible possession of the pulpit” It was then that a battle took place between the two groups.
The July 9th edition of the Commercial Advertiser stated that the report from the day prior was not entirely correct because the space was reserved through the secretary of the Sacred Music Society and not the president, Justice Lowndes. This edition of the paper also writes of a riot at Clinton Hall. White men met to discuss “moral and political subjects,” the question posed for this meeting was “whether immediate abolition of slavery was expedient or feasible.” The blacks heard of the meeting and thought it was an abolitionist meeting and took possession of the meeting. A fight broke out between the two groups similar to what happened at the Chatham-Street Chapel.
The July 10th Commercial Advertiser reports three more riots that occurred the night before. One occurred at the Chatham-Street Chapel during an abolitionist meeting, one ot the Bowery Theatre, and the third at the house of Lewis Tappan. At the chapel was an abolitionist meeting which resulted in an uprising, the paper also claims that the abolitionists are the worst enemy of the blacks in the city because they give them the belief that they are equal to whites. At the Bowery theatre, the English stage manager used “language disrespectful to the Americans” by talking out against slavery. The riots demanded that they stop the production of Metamora which they were able to achieve with the authorities arriving and clearing the building. After the events at the theatre, the crowd moved on to the house of Lewis Tappan where they “broke open the door, smashed the windows, and threw furniture into the street.” They then lit the bedsheets on fire and order was not restored until two in the morning.