Ira Aldridge: The First African-American Othello

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Recommended: Shakespeare othello - A dramatic tragedy

Many actors throughout the centuries have performed William Shakespeare’s Othello, both on stage and in film. A few famous actors to have played Othello include Richard Burbage, Edmund Kean, Ira Aldridge, Orson Welles, James Earl Jones, and Laurence Fishburne (Arogundade). Othello was described as a Moor by Shakespeare, despite this, Othello was usually performed by white actors that would wear blackface makeup. Not only were women not allowed to perform in theatre, neither were African-Americans. However, one of the first African-Americans to perform on stage was Ira Aldridge. Ira Aldridge was the first African-American man to perform as Othello, presumably making Aldridge one of the most iconic actors to have portrayed Othello. Although there have been dozens of famous portrayals of Othello, Ira Aldridge was one of the most illustrious actors to have played Othello because of his early life, previous acting jobs, and the risks he took to play Othello, in spite of how critics reacted in his time.
Ira Aldridge’s early life is one of the reasons why Aldridge was such an important actor. Aldridge was born in New York sometime in 1807 (Evans). When he was a teenager, Aldridge acquired his education at one of New York’s African Free Schools, earning an education most African-Americans did not receive in Aldridge’s time (Evans). In essence, the extra schooling Ira Aldridge received helped him to advance his career, because most African-Americans at the time were still working in low ranking jobs and did not get the opportunity to further themselves as Aldridge did. Aldridge went even further to get into an acting career. The first taste of theatre Ira Aldridge got that sparked his interest was at The African Grove Theatre performi...

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...Actors Performances, Productions, Roles. Web. 05 Apr. 2014.
Evans, Nicholas M. "Ira Aldridge: Shakespeare And Minstrelsy." Atq 16.3 (2002): 165. Academic Search Complete. Web. 29 Mar. 2014.
Lindfors, Bernth. "Ira Aldridge At Covent Garden, April 1833." Theatre Notebook 61.3 (2007): 144-169. Academic Search Complete. Web. 29 Mar. 2014.
Lindfors, Bernth. "`Nothing Extenuate, Nor Set Down Aught In Malice': New Biographical Information On Ira Aldridge." African American Review 28.3 (1994): 457. Academic Search Complete. Web. 29 Mar. 2014.
Morris, Sylvia. "Ira Aldridge, Shakespearean Actor and Gentleman of Colour." The Shakespeare Blog. 27 Feb. 2012. Web. 05 Apr. 2014.
Simkin, John. "Spartacus Educational." Spartacus Educational. Web. 05 Apr. 2014.
Sulcas, Roslyn. "Channeling a Breaker of Barriers." The New York Times. The New York Times, 15 Mar. 2014. Web. 05 Apr. 2014.

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