Self-study
P1
The Federal Theater Project (FTP) was established in the late 1930s by the United States government. ████████ ██ ███████ ███ ████ ████ ██████ ██ ███ ████ ███ ███ ████████ ██ ███████ ██ ██████ ████████ ████████ ███ ██████████ █████ ██ ██ ███████ ███ ███████████ █ ██████ ████████ ██ ██████ ████ █ ███████ ███████ ███
Intro to Topic ·
Federal Theater Project
Government funded theater program. Short lived but big.
Main Topic ·
Negro Units, an important legacy of the FTP
Units dedicated to producing African American plays for African American audiences.
Main Point ·
Unit came close to founding a national black theatre
P2
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Background ·
Harlem Renaissance
Premise ·
Debate on what kinds of plays the Negro Units should produce
E.g., folk drama with rural culture; urban and contemporary drama; adapt white playwrights' plays.
Premise ·
The larger debates that reflect a diversity of views
Blend into mainstream culture or be different? Aim for black or white audience? Try to instruct or entertain?
Example ·
The Swing Mikado
P3
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Main Point ·
FTP allowed the Negro Units to create art that reflected the diversity of African American culture
Passage Style
Single position
Spotlight
5.
In referring to
a
a publicly funded ██████████ ████ ██████ █████████ ██ ███ ██████████ ██ █████ ███ ███████ ████████ █████████
The Negro Units did not perform at a single arts center. They performed throughout cities in the United States. It’s not even clear there were designated centers for them when they performed.
b
a broad-based dramatic-arts ██████████ ██████████ ███ █████████ ██ █████ ███ ██████ ██ ███████ ████████ ███████ ███ ███████████
This best captures the meaning, which relates to the way in which Negro Units were
c
a federal government ███████ ███████████ ██████ ███ █████ ██████████ ██ ███████ ███ ████████ ████ ██ ███████ ████████ ███████████
We have no reason to think this is the meaning of the phrase, because there’s nothing about the mere establishment of a federal program that’s impressive. The author is highlighting the achievements of the Negro Units. It wouldn’t make sense for the author to point out how they came closer than other theater groups to founding a federal government program. It’s not even clear that this makes sense, since the federal government founded the FTP. So how could the Negro Units come “closer than any other group of African American Theater artists had come before to founding” a federal government program?
d
a canon of █████ ███████ ██ ███████ ████████ ███████████ ███ ████████ ██ ████████
Nothing in the context leading up to the phrase suggests there was some established set of plays endorsed by scholars (”canon”).
e
a successful chain ██ ███████████ ██████████ ██████ ██████████ ███ ██████ ██████
Nothing in the context leading up to the phrase suggests there was a collection of black-owned playhouses. The Negro Units performed in different cities; this doesn’t imply black-owned playhouses.