Analysis Of James Gow's Deep Are The Roots

On October 8, 1960, The New York Amsterdam News reported the article “Deep Are The Roots’ Still Important Play.” In 1945, Arnaud d’Usseau and James Gow’s play, Deep Are the Roots, first premiered on Broadway. According to reports, “…this production…is as shocking as ever as it dramatizes the impasse still prevalent in the South between Negros seeking social equality and the “over my dead body” reactionary Southerners.” (Walker 1) In this play, Brett Charles, an African American lieutenant had difficulty reintegrating into society as a second class citizen after the war. The producers also incorporated an interracial love story between Charles and a childhood friend. This play centered on racial equality in the United States during the twentieth century. This newspaper article expressed the importance of the play’s revival because African Americans continuously faced the same disparities fifteen years later. Moreover, it is likely that people reintroduced this play at this time, which was when the Civil Right Movement rose, to reiterate the necessity for a serious change. This newspaper article is captivating because it artistically expresses the theme of
As a result, some remaining questions include did others compose similar plays? Did the play writers experience repercussions because of their controversial work? Play reviews and newspapers provide useful records to answer these questions and determine the public’s reaction as well as any political uprising that occurred surround this production.
Some larger questions remaining is in 1945, did play writers envision this composition as a potential vision of reality for the future? The ideas of social equality and methods to achieve these results existed preceding the Civil Rights Movement, but did the themes present in the original production of this play contribute to this