A Real Negro Girl: Fredi Washington and the Politics of Performance during the New Negro Renaissance.

FAIN: HB-263199-19

Laurie Avant Woodard
CUNY Research Foundation, City College (New York, NY 10031-9101)

Research and writing a biography of Fredi Washington (1903-1994), a civil rights activist and a performing artist active in the Harlem Renaissance.

Focusing upon the life and career of performing artist and civil rights activist Fredi Washington, this project places an African American female performing artist at the center of the narrative of the New Negro Renaissance; illuminates the vital influence of performing artists on the movement; and demonstrates the ways in which Washington and the New Negro Renaissance are central components of the long civil rights narrative and our understanding of the African American quest for civil and human rights. The manuscript will consist of six chapters and a prologue and epilogue.

Associated Products

“A Free America for All Peoples . . .”: Fredi Washington, the Negro Actors Guild, and the Voice of the People (Article)
Title: “A Free America for All Peoples . . .”: Fredi Washington, the Negro Actors Guild, and the Voice of the People
Author: Laurie A Woodard
Abstract: “‘A Free America for All Peoples…’: Fredi Washington, the Negro Actors Guild, and the Voice of the People” explores the work of New Negro performing artist and civil rights activist Fredi Washington during the 1930s. I delve into her tenure as a founding member and Executive Director of the Negro Actors Guild, Inc. and as a columnist for Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.’s progressive newspaper “The Peoples Voice” and argue that Washington’s experience both on and off the stage and screen transforms our understanding of the New Negro Renaissance. Because of her unique vantage point as a black, female, performing artist, a writer, and an activist, Washington was both a central actor in and a reflection of the New Negro Renaissance, which was integral to the long civil rights movement, the Black Freedom Movement, and the social transformation of 20th-century America.
Year: 2020
Primary URL: https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10.1086/709201
Access Model: subscription only
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: Journal of African American History
Publisher: Uniniversity of Chicago Press

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