"Willis-Richardson"(November 5,1889-November 7,1977)

He and his parents, Willis Wilder & Agnes Ann Harper Richardson.Moved to Washington,D.C. shortly after the Wilmington Riots of 1898.The riots resulted in the death of 16 African-Americans and effected Willis as a child.His daddy read to him as a child and encouraged his interest in books and writing.


Neighbors often criticiced Willis for reading to much.In his own words he said,"I would forget the rest of the world and become a part of the adventures of Frank & Dick Merriwell,the Liberty Boys of Seventy-Six,the James Boys,and other too numerous to mention."


Willis attended M Street School later named Dunbar High School,where his experiences and studies had positive impact on his life.Mary Burrill,his English teacher who was also a playwright,encouraged him and was influential in having Willis first play read and evaluated by Alain Locke.Angelia Grimke,also an English teacher at the school,reviewed some of his poems and gave him the impetus to seek a career as a dramatist.


Willis a pioneer in the black theatre movement,emerged as a playwright at the dawn of the New Negro Renaissance.Over the past decades,his works have been largely forgotten.Few people are aware of his true contributions to the development of African American theatre.At the request of Carter Godwin Woodson,founder of the Association for the Study of Negro Life & History.Willis compiled his first anthology in 1930.The plays,in this anthology,"Plays and Pageants from the Life of  the "Negro," were written by African American authors were not in dialect,and had subject matter suitable for school-age children.James Lesesne Wells illustrated the anthology.


In 1935,Willis co-edited with Mary Miller a second anthology,"Negro History in Thirteen Plays." Willis was a regular between 1926 & 1936 with other writers at the "Saturday Nighters" at Georgia Douglass Johnson's home.Posthumously,he was awarded the AUDELCO,prize,which is a testament to his excellence in African American theatre.