African Black Brotherhood
A political organization that was affiliated with the
COMMUNISTPARTY. This socialist group was part of
a larger African-American political movement that
saw several groups like the Garvey-related UNIVER-
SALNEGROIMPROVEMENTASSOCIATION(UNIA)
and the NATIONALASSOCIATION FOR THEAD-
VANCEMENT OF COLORED PEOPLE (NAACP)
founded to promote race unity and advancement.
CLAUDEMCKAY, the acclaimed West Indian writer,
recognized the value of the group, and WILFREDA.
DOMINGOorganized its publicity and propaganda
dissemination.
Bibliography
Howe, Irving, and Lewis Coser. The American Communist
Party: A Critical History.New York: Da Capo Press,
1974.
Naison, Mark. Communists in Harlem during the Depres-
sion.New York: Grove Press, 1985.
African Orthodox Church
Founded by MARCUS GARVEY in 1921. The
church, which combined rituals from Garvey’s
Catholic faith and the Episcopalian tradition, pro-
moted worship of a black God and other religious
figures such as the Madonna and Christ who were
rendered as African. The Reverend George
Alexander McGuire, a well-known BOSTONminis-
ter who served as chaplain for Garvey’s UNIVERSAL
NEGRO IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION, was ap-
pointed to lead the church, which ultimately
closed in 1935.
Bibliography
Cronon, E. David. Black Moses: The Story of Marcus Gar-
vey and the Universal Negro Improvement Association.
Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1987.
Clarke, John Henrik, ed. Marcus Garvey and the Vision of
Africa.New York: Vintage Books, 1974.
AftermathMary Burrill(1928)
A play by MARY(MAMIE) BURRILLthat was per-
formed in May 1928 by the HARLEM-based
KRIGWAPLAYERSduring the National Little The-
atre Tournament. It was published in 1919 in the
LIBERATOR,the journal founded by MAXEAST-
MAN. The script, which features black dialect, tells
the tragic story of John, a heroic World War II vet-
eran who returns to his South Carolina family only
to find that his father has been lynched by a white
mob. Mam Sue, his mother, and Millie, his sister,
struggle with the decision to ruin his short leave by
telling him about his father’s awful fate. The play
ends as John, bitter about his military service in de-
fense of white America, prepares to confront the
racist men who killed his father. Burrill’s play is part
of a substantial group of Harlem Renaissance works
that grapple with the horrors of LYNCHINGand its
wrenching effects on African-American families.Bibliography
Gates, Henry Louis, and Jennifer Burton, eds. Zora Neale
Hurston, Eulalie Spence, Marita Bonner, And Others:
The Prize Plays and Other One-Acts Published in Peri-
odicals.New York: G. K. Hall, 1996.
Schroeder, Patricia. “Remembering the Disremembered:
Feminist Realists of the Harlem Renaissance.” In
Realism and the American Dramatic Tradition,edited
by William Demastes, 91–106. Tuscaloosa: Univer-
sity of Alabama Press, 1996.Airs from the Wood-WindsBessie Calhoun
Bird(1935)
A collection of poems by BESSIECALHOUNBIRDof
Philadelphia that contained a forward by ARTHUR
HUFFFAUSET, a fellow writer of the city. Alpress, a
Philadelphia-based company, published 300 copies
of Bird’s only book. Bird published this volume,
which contained poems on traditional themes such
as love and nature, at a time when members of the
PIRANEANCLUBand Beaux Art Club, the two lit-
erary and arts groups of which she was a member,
were meeting regularly at her home to discuss writ-
ing and art.Bibliography
Jubilee, Vincent. Philadelphia’s Afro-American Literary
Circle and the Harlem Renaissance. Ann Arbor,
Mich.: University Microfilms, 1982.Aldridge, Ira Frederick(1807–1867)
A British-American actor celebrated for his im-
pressive dramatic accomplishments throughoutAldridge, Ira Frederick 3