On Harriet and Whitewashing Our Heroes

Nicole Racquel Carr
Nov 2 · 6 min read

August Wilson lived by one rule: No white directors for major productions of his plays. Ever. Because white people refused to hire Black directors, Wilson’s plays rarely made it to Hollywood. When he finally decided that it was time for Fences to become a film, he made sure white people knew that they had no business directing anything with us in it. “White people have set themselves up as custodians of our experience,” the famed playwright explained. It isn’t enough that they once owned our bodies. They must own our stories too. William Styron, a wholly unremarkable white man, whittled…

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