A Pioneer of the Stage

About Willis Richardson

Willis Richardson was a dramatist and essayist born in Wilmington, North Carolina. He was educated in the public schools of Wilmington NC and Washington DC. He began writing during the Harlem Renaissance and his interest in literature led him to pursue a correspondence course in poetry and drama. He was respected as a significant African-American playwright and drama anthologist. With the opening performance of The Chip Womans Fortune (1923), he became the first African American to have a play produced on Broadway.