June 5 - BlackFacts.com Black History Minute

BlackFacts.com: Learn/Teach/Create Black History

BlackFacts.com presents the black fact of the day for June 5.

American Negro Theater was formed.

It was an African American theatre company that was active in the Harlem district of New York City from 1940 to 1951.

It provided professional training and critical exposure to African American actors, actresses, and playwrights by creating and producing plays concerning diverse aspects of African American life.

It was established by two African Americans, the playwright Abram Hill and the actor Frederick O’Neal.

In the beginning, Hill spent his time mailing out postcards to invite as many people as he could to meetings and within just a few weeks, the group grew to thirty people.

Initially, the ANT held its performances in the basements of the Abyssinian Baptist Church and the 135th Street library.

Soon after its founding, the ANT won attention and praise for its first major production, a staging of Hill’s On Striver’s Row.

Between 1940 and 1949 the ANT produced a total of 19 plays, 12 of which were based on original scripts.

Well-known actors and actresses who worked with the ANT, in some cases starting their theatrical careers there, included Ruby Dee, Sidney Poitier, Harry Belafonte, and Clarice Taylor amongst others.

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