Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson said last night that although slavery has been abolished for over a century in America, evidence of slavery is still present in this country's culture.
Wilson, the Winter term Montgomery Fellow, focused on slavery and its aftermath in black theater today when he addressed a packed Moore Theater.
Wilson told the hundreds in attendance -- including College President James Freedman, Dean of the College Lee Pelton and English Department Chair William Cook -- that the "lack of viable communities" and the "blunting of aspirations" by policies that exclude blacks are both signs that blacks are still "in servitude."
And nowhere is this disparity more prevalent, Wilson said, than in the arts. In his 1996 speech at Princeton University, "The Ground on Which I Stand," he attacked the current state of black regional theater, which comprises only one of 65 regional theaters across the country.
Additionally, Wilson said last night, this theater operates in dingy basements without sufficient lighting or sets, and hardly ever performs for audiences in as large as the other theatres draw.
He spoke out against colorblind casting, white theaters which draw black audiences and the "white hegemony" which he dubbed "America's days of apartheid."
Not all students reacted positively to the speech, however.
Nader Akhnoukh '99 said he felt Wilson "spoke eloquently and beautifully, but his position [on theater] creates boundaries."
Wilson said he does not want to create divisions in the theater, but rather he wants to rid blacks of their historical heritage of slavery, which, he says, is still being carried "like a bag of cotton." He said his parting wish was to get rid of this heritage for the sake of future generations.
Finally, Wilson called for what he called a "reordering of the world," a world which currently maintains an unequal balance of power, a balance which Wilson said cannot remain unchallenged.
"This country has the means and the resources [to fund black theater], now all we need is the will," he said.
Freedman gave a brief introduction and history of the Montgomery Endowment, then introduced Wilson as "a rare treasure."
Wilson stepped to the lectern and began his speech, by saying, "I have traveled many roads ..."
Many roads, he said, but they have all led back to one, which he has repeatedly traversed -- the path "burnished with art."
Wilson, who was born into a poor Pittsburgh family, described his family as "rich in spirit," a gift which his mother bestowed upon him. After quitting school at 16, Wilson spent his time at the library, and left home at age 20.
After speaking about his mother, who was born in North Carolina, Wilson related the history of her ancestors, speaking at length on the first Africans brought to the New World. When Wilson proclaimed, "the first African didn't know he was never going home," members of the audience showed their reaction with shouts of approval.
Wilson's description of this African as "the first link in a new chain" that is continued in his descendants to this day also drew scattered applause.
Wilson then turned to the black culture that has emerged in the 20th century, touching on the sharecropping system and The Great Migration, which brought millions of blacks into cities like Chicago, Detroit and Wilson's future home, Pittsburgh.
Wilson has won numerous awards, including two Pulitzer Prizes for his series of six plays dealing with different problems in the African-American culture.
