Alice Childress

Alice Childress (born October 12, 1916, Charleston, South Carolina, U.S.—died August 14, 1994, New York, New York) was an American playwright, novelist, and actress known for realistic stories that posited the enduring optimism of Black Americans.

Childress grew up in Harlem, New York City, where she acted with the American Negro Theatre in the 1940s. There she wrote, directed, and starred in her first play, Florence (produced 1949), about a Black woman who, after meeting an insensitive white actress in a railway station, comes to respect her daughter’s attempts to pursue an acting career. Trouble in Mind (produced 1955; revised and published 1971), Wedding Band (produced 1966), String (produced 1969), and Wine in the Wilderness (produced 1969) all examine racial and social issues.

A number of Childress’s plays feature music, including Just a Little Simple (produced 1950; based on Langston Hughes’s Simple Speaks His Mind), Gold Through the Trees (produced 1952), The African Garden (produced 1971), Gullah (produced 1984; based on Childress’s 1977 play Sea Island Song), and Moms (produced 1987; about the life of comedienne Jackie “Moms” Mabley).

Childress was also a successful writer of children’s literature and young adult literature. A Hero Ain’t Nothin’ but a Sandwich (1973; film 1978) is a novel for adolescents about a teenager who struggles with drug addiction. Similarly, the novel Rainbow Jordan (1981) concerns the experiences of impoverished Black urban youth. Also written for juveniles were the plays When the Rattlesnake Sounds (1975) and Let’s Hear It for the Queen (1976). Childress’s other novels include A Short Walk (1979), Many Closets (1987), and Those Other People (1989).