"James Theodore Ward" (September 15,1902-May 8,1983)

Was a lefisit political playwright and theatre educator during the first half of the 20

century and one other contributors to the African American Chicago

Renaissance.Often referred to as the "dean of black dramatissts,James was well known for tacking controversial topics related to African American urban life during the Great Depression his staged work were lauded for their innovative depiction of the African American experience,most notably for doing away with the spiritual ballads and `feverish dancing that dominated "Negro Theatricals" of his time in a favor of a more nuanced,naturalistic approach to plot and character.A prolific writer,
James composed over thirty plays and co-founded the Negro Playsrights Company
with Langston Hughes,Paul Robeson,and Richard Wright.His best known works are the drama Big White Fog(1938), produced by the Negro Unit of the
Federal Theatre Project in Chicago as well the musical Our Lan' (1947) which preiered
on Broadway at New York's Royale Theatre.
He was born in Thibodeaux,Louisiana,the sixth of eleven children to Everett & his wife Mary Louise (nee Pierre).His daddy had been born in slavery,upon being granted freedom,became a school teacher and part-time salesman to support his his growing
family.As a result of his daddy's occupation,James was well-educated as a young boy and became interested in writing plays at a very early age.James devout daddy
staunchly disapproved of these artistic ambitions,he ounced burned one of James
early manuscripts calling it," the work of the devil.
When James was twelve,his mama died unexpectedly during childbirth and,in the ensuing chaos,the young man left home to travel around the United States by freight train.He headed north,supporting himself with occasional work as a boot-black,hotel bellboy,and barber-shop porter,eventually ended up in jail for bootlegging in Salt Lake City Utah.He discovered his love for writing,and eventually amassed an impressive corpus of poetry,short stories,and essays that helped him to gain entry into an extension program at the University of Utah in 1930.While there,his professor,Louis Zucker,encouraged James to apply for the prestigious Zona Gale Fellowship in creative writing at the University of Wisconsin.His essay won the prize,
and he departed for the one-year program in Madison,where he studied literature and dramatic arts in addition to working as a script writer and voice actor for WBA Radio
Madison.Zona Gale personally extended his fellowship and arranged for him to and enter a degree program despite his lack of a high school education,James declined,citing unendurable isolation suffered by an African American man in an all white school.
Following his departure from the University of Wisconsin in 1933,he relocated again,this time to Chicago's South Side,where he used his connections in the Works Progress Administration (WPA) to become the recreation director for the Abraham Lincoln Centre.
Though his first position involved teaching speech and dramatic writing to area youth,James eventually gained position with the Negro Unit of Chicago's branch of the Federal Theatre Project (FTP).A New Deal program to fund theatre and other live artistic performances in the United States during the Great Depression,the FTP was one of five Federal One projects sponsored by the WPA that shared a primary goal of creating new jobs for out-of-work artists,writers,directors;however,these government subsidized programs also served several secondary aims,namely entertaining poor families and creating socially relevant artworks for a changing America.
James participated first as an actor with the FTP,but eventually began working on a short theatre piece that he had been inspired to write
in 1934 after attending a lecture on the suppression of African American voting rights in the south at the John Reed Club, a semi national,Marxist,gathering for writers,artists,& intellectuals,named the American journalists John Reed.After major revisions,second prize,coming in close behind Pullitzer Prize-winner Paul Green's work's,Hymn to the Rising Sun (1936).
The short play impressed James fellow writer and John Reed member Richard Wright,who insisted that James keep composing for the
theatre,even introducing him to the South Side Writers Club and artistic cooperative of aspiring African American writers that included Richard,Arna Bontemps,Frank Marshall Davis,Owen Dodson,George Norford,& Margaret Walker.With their influence and encouragement,James completed his first full-length,Big White Fog,which was produced in 1938 by the Negro Unit of the FTP to much local fanfare.