Taboo Mary Hoyt Wiborg(1922)
A short-lived play about voodoo, curses, and slav-
ery by Mary Hoyt Wiborg. The show opened in
April 1922 on BROADWAYat the Sam H. Harris
Theatre. The play is set on a Louisiana plantation
during a devastating drought. Eventually some of
the enslaved plantation workers decide that the
drought and the ruined crops are the results of a
curse directed toward the Gaylords, their owners.
They decide that the mute white grandchild of the
plantation mistress must be sacrificed in order to
alleviate the suffering. Plans are interrupted by the
arrival of Jim, an itinerant musician. Jim’s arrival
prompts a drastic change in time and scenery as
the play turns its attention to long-ago African
scenes and history. Jim is reintroduced as a voodoo
king whose wife is Mrs. Gaylord. Jim, now an au-
thority on the African roots of voodoo, clarifies the
origin of the Louisiana curse. The play ends as the
child speaks, but the surprise of the event prompts
Mrs. Gaylord to die from shock at the sudden turn
of events.
Tabooappears to be the only Broadway play that
Wiborg, a NEWYORKCITYsocialite and the daugh-
ter of a rich banker, staged during her career. It lasted
only four performances. Produced by Augustin Dun-
can, its predominantly African-American cast on
opening night included PAULROBESON. Robeson,
who would make his name in EUGENEO’NEILL’s
THEEMPERORJONESsome three years later, left
the Harmony Kings to take the lead role in Wi-
borg’s play. The play also included African dances
and musical accompaniments provided by the Clef
Club Orchestra.
Bibliography
Boyle, Sheila Tully, and Andrew Buni. Paul Robeson: The
Years of Promise and Achievement.Amherst: Univer-
sity of Massachusetts Press, 2001.
Duberman, Martin. Paul Robeson. New York: Knopf,
1989.Talbert, Mary Burnett (1866–1923)
A visionary activist, educator, and clubwoman
who, in 1923, became the first African-American
woman to win the prestigious SPINGARNMEDAL.
Born in 1866 in Oberlin, Ohio, Talbert was one of
eight children born to Cornelius and Caroline
Nicholls Burnett. Burnett’s parents were visible
citizens of Oberlin and, as owners of a barbershop,
boardinghouse, and restaurant, also among the
city’s most enterprising entrepreneurs. Burnett at-
tended Oberlin College, the alma mater of HALLIE
QUINNBROWN,ANNAJULIACOOPER, and MARY
CHURCHTERRELL. Following her graduation from
Oberlin, Burnett began teaching in Arkansas. In
1887 she became the state’s first African-American
principal.
Burnett married William Talbert, a Buffalo na-
tive, in 1891. The couple’s only child, Sarah May,
was born one year later. Sarah May Talbert, a gifted
musician, went on to attend the New England
Conservatory of Music and enjoyed a career as a
composer and pianist.
In the years before the Harlem Renaissance,
Talbert played a leadership role in two major na-
tional organizations, the NATIONALASSOCIATION
FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF COLOREDPEOPLE506