Black Nativity

play

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July 21, 2026

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Black Nativity is a play by Langston Hughes that premiered in 1961. It is a musical drama that retells the story of the Nativity through African American spirituals, hymns, and gospel songs. The play is structured as a church service, with a preacher leading the congregation through the biblical narrative.

Black theater in the United States is a dramatic movement that encompasses plays written by, for, and about African Americans. It has roots in minstrel shows but evolved significantly, particularly during the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s and 1930s. Playwrights like Langston Hughes, Lorraine Hansberry, and August Wilson have been pivotal in shaping Black theater, addressing themes of identity, social justice, and the African American experience.12

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Langston Hughes
Documenting African American culture and posthumous works
Black Nativity (1961; film 2013) is a gospel play that uses Hughes’s poetry, along with gospel standards and scriptural passages, to retell the story of the birth of Jesus. It was an international success, and performances of the work—often diverging substantially from the original—became a…
Read More
Black Nativity (1961; film 2013) is a gospel play that uses Hughes’s poetry, along with gospel standards and scriptural passages, to retell the story of the birth of Jesus. It was an international success, and performances of the work—often diverging substantially from the original—became a…
Read More