Black Theatre—Go Home! The Black Arts Theater Movement in San Francisco

In the 1960s and 1970s, Black Power and Black art merged into the Black Arts Movement. This movement revolutionized Black theater in San Francisco. Curated by San Francisco-born playwright, Kheven LaGrone, Black Theatre—Go Home! re-lives the spirit of the revolution that still drives San Francisco’s Black theater today. This exhibit follows the revolution through original posters, newspaper articles, and quotes from prominent players of San Francisco’s movement. The title of the exhibit was taken from a 1970 essay titled “Evolution of a People’s Theater.” In this essay, director Woodie King and playwright Ron Milner wrote:

“Black theater—go home! If a new black theater is to be born, sustain itself, and justify its own being, it must go home. Go home psychically, mentally, aesthetically, and, we think physically.”

Image: Exterior of Y.W.C.A., at 1830 Sutter St., and The American Theater, at 1230 Fillmore St., both sites of emergent Black Theater in mid-1960s San Francisco. Alan J. Canterbury, San Francisco Photograph Collection, San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library.