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Chapter 14 - After the Reckoning

Revisiting August Wilson’s “The Ground on Which I Stand” in the Wake of Black Lives Matter

from Part II - Politics and Debates

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 June 2025

Khalid Y. Long
Affiliation:
Howard University, Washington DC
Isaiah Matthew Wooden
Affiliation:
Swarthmore College, Pennsylvania
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Summary

August Wilson forged a formidable legacy as an advocate for Black art and aesthetic practices on and off the stage. In 1996, he delivered a speech at the Theatre Communications Group national conference entitled, “The Ground on Which I Stand,” in which he made a case for the importance of creating, supporting, and sustaining Black art and cultural institutions. The speech continues to serve as an important manifesto for those interested in dismantling the harmful systems and structures that persist in the theatre. This chapter revisits Wilson’s speech and places it in conversation with more recent demands to upend and dismantle white supremacy in the arts, including those articulated by the collective of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color theatremakers organizing under “We See You, White American Theatre.”

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2025

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References

Further Reading

Butler, Isaac, “Breaking ‘Ground’: How the Speech Came to Be and What It Set in Motion,” American Theatre, June 20, 2016, www.americantheatre.org/2016/06/20/breaking-ground-how-the-speech-came-to-be-and-what-it-set-in-motion/.Google Scholar
Editors, “Black Lives Matter: U.S. Theatres Stand With the Movement for Racial Justice,” American Theatre, June 2, 2020, www.americantheatre.org/2020/06/02/black-lives-matter-u-s-theatres-that-stand-with-the-movement-for-racial-justice/.Google Scholar
We See You, White American Theater, “Statement,” June 8, 2020, www.weseeyouwat.com/statement.Google Scholar
Wilson, August, “The Ground on Which I Stand,” American Theatre, June 20, 2016, www.americantheatre.org/2016/06/20/the-ground-on-which-i-stand/#:~:text=I%20have%20come%20here%20today,%2 C%20and%20often%20healing%2 C%20truths.Google Scholar

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