Ira Aldridge
As we begin to celebrate some of our favorite Black Shakespearean actors and stories, please remember these are just a handful of amazing people and theatre works worthy of praise. We will also share links to other sites with great information. We encourage you to keep discovering and sharing your favorites!
Ira Aldridge is thought of as the first, or at least one of the first, great Black Shakespearean actors. Born in 1807 in New York City, he was the son of free parents, though slavery was still legal in the State of New York. History thinks his father wanted him to become a preacher, but after a few years of attending the African Free School, Aldridge caught the acting bug. His first Shakespeare role was probably Romeo in Romeo and Juliet. He may have performed at the African Grove Theatre in New York, but there are no records of him there as an actor.
Aldridge set sail for Europe at the age of 17. He had experienced racism performing in the United States, and he knew he would have a better chance at becoming a respected actor in other places. He started performing on London stages soon after arriving and quickly gained popularity, touring Europe and became one of the highest paid actors at the time. He found success playing roles in Shakespeare plays such as Othello, Shylock and Aaron. Aldridge did endure more racism when he played opposite Ellen Tree, a white actress, in Othello in Covent Garden. Critics at the time were split on if he was a “genius” or not. At the time, it was customary for white actors to put on blackface to play the African character of Othello, a practice that would be completely inappropriate today. Because of the uproar that was caused by a real black man playing Othello and a white woman playing Desdemona, the run of the play was cancelled. But it didn’t stop Aldridge. He played many Shakespeare roles, such as Macbeth and King Lear, and performed in Dublin, Bath, Edinburgh and many other famous cities in the United Kingdom. He also traveled to countries in Eastern Europe like Russia, Serbia and Poland.
Aldridge won many accolades, such as the Golden Cross of Leopold from the Czar of Russia and the Maltese Cross from Switzerland, and is the only African American to have a bronze plaque at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre at Stratford-upon-Avon. (You can see it today!) Aldridge died at the age of 60, from a lung infection, while in Poland. He never returned to America.
Aldridge was quoted as saying, “True feeling and just expression are not confined to any clime or color”.
Places to discover more about Ira Aldridge:
https://www.folger.edu/shakespeare-unlimited/african-americans-shakespeare
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ira-Frederick-Aldridge
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