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Tag: Paul Robeson

Henry Wallace: Progressive Pioneer

Henry Agard Wallace (October 7, 1888 – November 18, 1965) served as Vice President under Franklin Delano Roosevelt from January 20, 1941 to January 20, 1945. Roosevelt preferred that Wallace serve a second term as Vice President, in which case he would have become our 33rd President, but other forces intervened to bounce him off […]

An Intersectional Black History Month Roundup

Black History is Village history, and while many are celebrating Black Futures Month, as a historic preservation organization, we’re glad to amplify a history that often goes unnoticed in the Village. These histories live in the context of the other movements that have their roots in our neighborhoods. So many of these stories are intersectional, […]

The Birth of the Provincetown Playhouse

On November 3, 1916, the Provincetown Players performed their first production in their new home in Greenwich Village. The theater company performed King Arthur’s Socks by Floyd Dell, The Game by Louise Bryant, and Bound East for Cardiff by a young, relatively unknown Eugene O’Neill. Referred to as “the birthplace of modern drama”, the Provincetown Playhouse staged the works […]

    Happy Birthday, Paul Robeson

    Although Paul Robeson is most strongly associated with the Harlem Renaissance, this dynamic public figure cut his teeth on the Greenwich Village theater circuit and fully embraced the bohemian, progressive, and activist lifestyle that made the neighborhood so famous. A college football star, lawyer, actor, and activist, Robeson was even the subject of a great sculpture […]

      Bittersweet Anniversary for Provincetown Playhouse

      On November 22, 1918, the first performances were staged at the Village’s renowned Provincetown Playhouse in the theater company’s permanent home. Founded in 1915 in Massachusetts as the Provincetown Players by a group of writers and actors, the theater company moved its performances to an apartment at 139 MacDougal Street in Greenwich Village in 1916. […]