Dorothy Livingston, Mary M. Webb and Susan Cayton Woodson. Those
who read parts of the manuscript, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., who supported
the project from its beginning; Marsha Diggs; Fay Greenwald; James V.
Hatch; and Beth Turner, also have my sincerest appreciation. Hughes
scholar Leslie Catherine Sanders generously responded to my numerous
inquiries concerning Hughes's plays.

Various institutions and archives provided me with access to their
materials: Carnegie Hall; the Case Western Reserve Historical Society;
the Hatch-Billops Collection; the Kheel Center for Labor-Management
Documentation and Archives, Cornell University; the New York Public
Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center; the Schomburg
Center for Research in Black Culture; and, especially, the Yale Collection
of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library,
Yale University. Beinecke staff members Patricia Willis, Curator of
American Literature, and Ngadi W. Kponou, Public Services Assistant,
were most helpful. I am also grateful to Karen Treat, James Sabin,
Marcia Goldstein, and Jean Lynch of Greenwood for their patience.

Finally, I would like to thank my brother, Anthony; my sisters,
Beverly, Mary, and Joan; and my aunt, Daisy Stuart, for their faith and
good wishes.

-xvi-