Diverse essays on the life and career of one of the greatest tragic actors of the nineteenth century.

Memoir and the Theatrical Career of Ira Aldridge, the African RosciusIra Aldridge (1860)Men We Have Known: Ira Aldridge (1867)"Nothing extenuate, nor set down aught in malice": New Biographical Information on Ira AldridgeIra Aldridge's Swedish Wife"African Tragedian" in a Golden Prague: Some Unpublished CorrespondenceA Garland of Love LettersIra Aldridge's Fight for EqualityIra Aldridge in ManchesterActing Black: Othello, Othello Burlesques, and t he Performance of BlacknessIra Aldridge: Shakespeare and Minstrelsy"Mislike me not for my complexion . . . ": Ira Aldridge in WhitefaceIra Aldridge as Macbeth and King LearCreating the Black Hero: Ira Aldridge's The Black DoctorThe First American on the Zagreb StageA Heartwarming, Radiant Othello in the Netherlands, 1855Ira Aldridge's Performances in Meiningen"Othello's Occupation's Gone!": The African Roscius in Poland, 1853-67