What role did performance play in African American history?
The idea of, of taking on an alternate ethos has been important for Africans living in America since the, since their arrival here. The, for most of them, that existence was so, so dismal, so horrifying, that the taking on of another personality, another way of dealing with those issues, was part and parcel of the existence. In other words, it allowed you to exist. It was a psychological safety valve. The idea of using stories, for instance, to explain the cosmos, explain your place in it, is very, very African. Very folk. I mean, everyone has those stories. For that existence it was particularly important because this is the only group of people that I’m aware of in the United States where it was against the law for them to be able to read and write. So this idea of acting things out, the idea of telling stories and so forth, was a way of passing culture from generation to generation. As well as providing that psychological safety valve. And there has always been a degree of humor in
