Energy, Race, and Narrative in African American Theater: A Digital Edition of Shirley Graham Du Bois' "Dust to Earth"

FAIN: FEL-283004-22

Walter Arthur Gordon
University of Alberta (Edmonton T6G 2H4 Canada)

Research, writing, and encoding leading to a digital edition of Shirley Graham Du Bois’s Dust to Earth (1941). 

This project reconceptualizes African American writer Shirley Graham Du Bois’ 1941 play "Dust to Earth" as an interactive digital edition. Taking place in and around a coal mine during World War II, the play depicts a series of deadly accidents which bring the racial dynamics of the workplace to the fore. This edition will enable users to interact with the text of the play—clicking links to read notes, or see images of important objects, sites, or scenes—while moving through a diagrammatic representation of a coal mine. Bringing together African American literary studies, the Energy Humanities, and the Digital Humanities, this project represents both the recovery of a frequently overlooked text and an experiment in re-presenting history for different publics. Scholars encountering my project will find a fresh model for literary recovery and criticism, while the accessibility and interactivity of the edition will attract an audience outside of the academy as well.