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Actress-Entrepreneurs of the Harlem Renaissance / New Negro Era: Anita Bush, Abbie Mitchell, Rose McClendon, Mercedes Gilbert, Venzella Jones

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Abstract

This chapter explores the careers of five notable African American actress-entrepreneurs during the Harlem Renaissance / ‘New Negro’ era (Anita Bush, Abbie Mitchell, Rose McClendon, Mercedes Gilbert, Venzella Jones) with special attention to their impact as entrepreneurial visionaries who shared a commitment to create work for themselves and others that would not only provide economic and personal autonomy, but also a means by which they might challenge existing essentialist notions regarding racial and gendered identities. They sought control over their own careers and also held a vision of what a ‘Negro’ theatre should be, in keeping with a larger social vision of what life in America should be for all its citizens.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Theatre, Fine Arts University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA

    Cheryl Black

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  1. Cheryl Black
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK

    Jan Sewell

  2. University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK

    Clare Smout

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Black, C. (2019). Actress-Entrepreneurs of the Harlem Renaissance / New Negro Era: Anita Bush, Abbie Mitchell, Rose McClendon, Mercedes Gilbert, Venzella Jones. In: Sewell, J., Smout, C. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of the History of Women on Stage. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-23828-5_19

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