Rachel was first produced in March of 1916 by the Drama Committee of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) at the Myrtilla Miner Normal School in Washington, D.C. The production’s purpose was to provide a counter-narrative to the 1915 film The Birth of a Nation. The NAACP sought to have the film banned and used the production of Rachel to build support for the cause.

This original production included the following quote in its playbill, which set forth the play’s intentions in no uncertain terms: “This is the first attempt to use the stage for race propaganda in order to enlighten the American people relative to the lamentable condition of the ten million of colored citizens in this free Republic.”

Rachel was subsequently produced in 1917 at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York, and then published by the Boston-based Cornhill Company in 1920. More recently, it has been produced at such companies as the Finborough Theatre in London (2014), New Brooklyn Theatre in New York City (2015), and Quintessence Theatre Group in Philadelphia (2020). ♦

Read more: Timeline of Black American Theatre

Read more: Literary Ancestry Essay Series

Read more: Recommended Plays and Further Reading