Teacher Resources
Alexander, Catherine M.S. and Stanley Wells, editors. Shakespeare and Race. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000. This collection of scholarly essays covers the issue by specific play (Othello, the Tempest, King Lear) and by historical aspects.
Anderson, Jervis. A. Philip Randolph. Berkley: University of California, 1986. Anderson provides the labor leader's portrait from early childhood through his crusading years.
Angelou, Maya. I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings. New York: Bantam Books, 1969. The first of Angelou's memoirs includes a poignant graduation scene where young Shakespeare scholars find their accomplishments are neither appreciated nor rewarded.
Bean, Annemarie. A Sourcebook of African-American Performance: Plays, People, Movements. London: Routledge, 1999.
Becker, George J. Shakespeare's Histories. New York: Ungar, 1977. Here are succinct summaries with pertinent background information.
Bloom, Harold. Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human. New York: Riverhead, 1998. Thought-provoking, elegant essays providing a fresh slant on Shakespeare's gifts.
____________, ed. William Shakespeare's Othello: Modern Critical Interpretations. New York: Chelsea, l987. Arranged in chronological order, Bloom's colleagues in Bardolatry include Susan Snyder and Stephen Greenblatt.
Bradley, A.C. Shakespearean Tragedy. Greenwich: Fawcett, 1955. A work that is considered the finest in Shakespeare criticism.
Brantley, Ben. "Looks It Not Like the King? Well, More Like Burton." , 11/01/2007, E1,12. This article reports on an attempt to present live action and filmed drama simultaneously.
Bryson, Bill. Shakespeare: The World As Stage. New York: Atlas, 2007. Breezy account that confirms our suspicion that Shakespeare wrote his own plays.
Fauset, Jessie Redmon. Plum Bun: A Novel Without a Moral. Boston: Beacon, 1990. This reprinted work portrays a talented writer/scholar's struggle against racism during and prior to the Harlem Renaissance.
Garber, Marjorie. Shakespeare and Modern Culture. New York: Pantheon, 2008. Fascinating and little-known facts most do not know about American's varying responses to The Bard.
Gill, Glenda W. No Surrender! No Retreat! African American Pioneer Performers of Twentieth-Century American Theater. New York: St. Martin, 2000. Through biographical chapters, Gill reveals the travails and triumphs of performers including Rose McClendon, Paul Robeson, James Earl Jones and others.
______________. White Grease Paint on Black Performers: A Study of the Federal Theatre, 1935-1939. New York: Peter Lang: 1988. Might this account of federal dollars spent to revive an economy and foster the arts be a blueprint for us today? Note Canada Lee and the Orson Welles-directed Macbeth.
Greenblatt, Stephen. Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare. New York: Norton, 2004. Vivid accounts of significant details in the life of Shakespeare, notably the sectarian violence that made his world so dangerous.
Greenleaf, Barbara Kaye. Charles Waterhouse, Illustrator. Forward March to Freedom: A Biography of A. Philip Randolph. New York: Gosset, 1971. Though having the appearance of a children's book, the information provided is detailed and well told.
Harrison, Paul Carter and Bert Andrews. In The Shadow of The Great White Way: Images from the Black Theatre. Photographs by Bert Andrews. New York: Thunder's Mouth, 1989. Painstakingly gathered replacements for images of theater productions (1957-1984) lost in the photographer's house fire, including black and white images of black actors in non-Othello Shakespeare roles.
Hawkes, Terence, ed. Coleridge's Writings on Shakespeare. New York: Putnam, 1959. Here is an insightful, opinionated sounding board for future critics.
Hedrick, Donald and Bryan Reynolds. Shakespeare Without Class: Misappropriations of Cultural Capital. New York: Palgrave, 2000. In Chapter Three, this volume provides a detailed account of the African Theater in New York City, 1820 - 1823.
Hill, Errol. Shakespeare in Sable. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1984. (Book and accompanying DVD). Exhaustively researched and elegant telling of the lives of a pantheon of black actors who honored Shakespeare, themselves and their community.
__________ and James V. Hatch. A History of African American Theater. Cambridge UK: Cambridge, 2003. This book features an introduction by director Lloyd Richards and covers a rich heritage of theater from slavery times through the Millenium.
Isherwood, Charles. "From Shakespeare, Love Curdled Through a Malevolent Scheme." The New York Times: 02/24/2009, C1. With a color photograph suitable for classroom bulletin board, we see a New York Times critic's rapturous assessment of a recent production of Othello.
Lamb, Charles and Mary. Tales From Shakespeare. New York: Grosset & Dunlap. From long ago, a retelling of the play plots. Adjectives for Shylock are pejorative to say the least.
Lower, Charles. "An Alliance Othello." Shakespeare Quarterly, Sep 1980, Vol. 31, No. 2, 218-220. The reviewer avers that this Georgia summer production surpassed both New York and Stratford, Connecticut, with Richard Dreyfuss as Iago and Paul Winfield as Othello.
Orr, David. "The Great(ness) Game" On Poetry. The New York Times Book Review: 02/22/2009, 14-15. Orr notes that if Shakespeare lived in today's critical world, he might be intimidated, then provides possible criteria for the designation.
Partridge, Eric. Shakespeare's Bawdy. New York: Dutton, 1960. Teachers may consult this volume for elucidation yet hesitate to share all the information with students.
Potter, Lois. Shakespeare in Performance: Othello. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2002. A comprehensive survey of performances from Shakespeare's company to film and television productions in 1995. Two main parts: Before Robeson; Robeson and after.
Rowse, A.L. William Shakespeare. New York: Harper, 1963. Rowse is a strict Stratfordian and blends historical fact with literary appreciation.
Shapiro, James. Shakespeare and the Jews. New York: Columbia University Press, 1996. Both scholarly and historical background that aids in understanding Shakespeare's portrayals.
Solomon, Alisa. "What She Learned From Her Alma Mater." The New York Times: 11/04/2007. A contemporary African American Shakespeare student and actress places the Bard in context.
Sotiropoulos, Karen. Staging Race: Black Performers in Turn of the Century America. Cambridge MA: Harvard, 2006. Black artists negotiate their performing lives in a race-conscious society.
Teague, Frances. Shakespeare and the American Popular Stage. Cambridge: Cambridge, 2006. Broadway incorporated Will in song and dance as well as declamation.
Tillyard, E.M.W. The Elizabethan World Picture. This background helps explain Shakespeare's own world view and thus that of his characters as well.
Traversi, D.A. An Approach to Shakespeare. New York: Doubleday, 1956. Classical in outlook, Traversi focuses on Shakespeare's language and versification as he corrects the critics who came before him.
Weis, Rene. Shakespeare Unbound: Decoding a Hidden Life. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2007. Weis provides detailed links between the poet's life and works with revelations unknown and unacknowledged in many a high school classroom.
West, Rebecca. The Court and the Castle: Some treatments of a recurrent theme. Binghamton: Yale University Press, 1957. Dame West offers strong opinions on Hamlet's ethics and Shakespeare's unique genius.
Willingham, Daniel T. "Ask the Cognitive Scientist: What Will Improve a Student's Memory?" in American Educator, Winter 2008-2009, Vol. 32, No. 4, 17-25. Both teachers and students can benefit from accurate information on memorization.
Woll, Allen. Dictionary of the Black Theatre: Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Selected Harlem Theatre. Westport CT: Greenwood, 1983. Here is comprehensive information organized by personality, organization, chronology and discography. Add song and play indices.
Woodward, C. Vann. The Strange Career of Jim Crow. A Commemorative Edition. Oxford: Oxford, 2002. Woodward provides the historical background that constrained and motivated black dramatic artists.
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