I'm Black When I'm Singing, I'm Blue When I Ain't and Other Plays

by Sanchez, Sonia

• ISBN13: 9780822347781
• ISBN10: 0822347784
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-08-27
• Publisher: Duke Univ Pr

Summary

This collection brings together for the first time the plays of Sonia Sanchez, a prolific, award-winning poet and one of the most prominent writers in the Black Arts movement. In addition to Sanchezrs"s five previously published playsThe Bronx Is Next(1970),Dirty Hearts(1971),Sister Son/ji(1972),Malcolm/Man Donrs"t Live Here No Mo(1979)Uh, Uh; But How Do It Free Us?(1975), and , the collection also includes her two unpublished plays,Irs"m Black When Irs"m Singing, Irs"m Blue When I Ainrs"t(1982) and2 x 2(2009). It reveals the thematic and formal exchanges between Sanchezrs"s poetry and dramatic works over the course of four decades. Sanchez emerged as a black nationalist poet and playwright in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Like her poetry, her dramas reflect her critique of the racism and sexism that she encountered as a young female writer in the black militant community, her ongoing concern with the well-being of the black community, and her commitment to social justice.Irs"m Black When Irs"m Singing, Irs"m Blue When I Ainrs"tand Other Plays includes three essays in which Sanchez reflects on her art and activism, and an introduction by Jacqueline Wood situating Sanchezrs"s plays in relation to her poetry, activism, and the feminist dramatic voice in black revolutionary art.

Author Biography

Sonia Sanchez is a poet, playwright, and activist living in Philadelphia. Her many books of poetry include Shake Loose My Skin and Homegirls and Handgrenades. Jacqueline Wood is Associate Professor of African American Literature and Interim Director of the African American Studies Program at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. xi
Essays
Poetry Run Loose: Breaking the Rules (2004)	p. 3
Ruminations/Reflections (1984)	p. 15
Preface to Uh, Uh; But How Do It Free Us? (1974)	p. 19
Plays
The Bronx Is Next (1968)	p. 25
Sister Son/ji (1969)	p. 36
Dirty Hearts (1971)	p. 44
Malcolm/Man Don't Live Here No Mo (1972)	p. 53
Uh, Uh; But How Do It Free Us? (1974)	p. 59
I'm Black When I'm Singing, I'm Blue When I Ain't (1982)	p. 99
2 × 2 (2009)	p. 126
Selected Bibliography	p. 139
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