The African Roscius

<p><b>Beginning with his autobiographical sketch, <i>Memoir and Theatrical Career of Ira Aldridge</i>, <i>The African Roscius</i> follows Aldridge's journey as a Black man who, "obtained and maintains among Europeans...a reputation whose acquisition demands the highest qualities of the mind and the noblest endowments of the person."</b><p>Making it a lifetime goal to use his success and influence to speak on the horrors of slavery in America and abroad; this memoir is addressed to what he hopes to be an enlighted reader, and details how he rose to fame as a Shakeperian actor in spite of the racism and prejudice he faced as a Black man in theater. <p>This edition also includes Aldridge's 1847 translation of Auguste Anicet-Bourgeois's<i>Le Docteur Noir</i> (<i>The Black Doctor</i>). At the age of forty, Aldridge adapted the play about a hidden romance between a formerly enslaved doctor and the daughter of a French aristocrat and was said to have brought dignity to a role that traditionally ended in tragedy for its bi-racial lead.<p> Together, these two pieces paint a stunning portrait of one of the first great Black actors. One part memoir and one part translation, <i>The African Roscius</i> is an exceptional piece of Black history professionally typeset and reimagined for modern readers. </p>

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