Shirley Graham Du Bois and Karamu House: Art and Mentorship Synchronized

Shirley Graham Du Bois' life was devoted to her race and her art, both of which are evident in the intentions of Karamu House. This chapter will examine Graham Du Bois' relationship with Karamu House, the oldest black community-based theater in the United States. This institution was instrumental in the production of Graham Du Bois' works due to the mentorship of the two white social workers who founded the theater, Rowena and Russell Jelliffe. Karamu House was a small venture that became a commanding force in depicting the black experience. Shirley Graham Du Bois grew up in relative privilege, as the daughter of a minister, a privilege which she built on through her pursuits in higher education at places like Oberlin College, the Sorbonne, and Yale University. Most other African-American women were not given the same opportunities as Graham Du Bois. Thus, she utilized this position of power to advance the artistic and social possibilities for the future. Shirley Graham Du Bois collaborated with the Karamu Theater to serve her race and her creative ambition.  

The Jelliffes' interest in social education led them to form Karamu House, a racially-integrated arts center, in Cleveland, Ohio. It did not begin as a theater, but rather a settlement house since communities of "Jewish, Colored, and Italian peoples’ were being neglected." It was founded as The Playhouse Settlement in 1915, and later renamed Karamu House. To draw the largely African-American population into the settlement house, Rowena Jelliffe began producing children’s plays with interracial casting.  

Karamu House’s approach has always been based on the conviction that racial issues would not be solved by legislation alone but rather by the "free release of the total potential of all men- including the Negro." The story of Karamu House is not a momentous one. It began with two recent college graduates who lacked financial resources. In addition, "there was no flavor of opportunism in the Karamu concept in 1915, nor is there any today." The Jelliffes wholeheartedly believed in the power of art and creativity to help combat racial disparity. They would rather unsettle people’s perceptions of race than ignore them. It is clear that the Karamu Theater and Graham Du Bois had similar sensibilities which makes for a successful partnership. 

Rowena Jelliffe became involved with an adult dramatic theater troupe, the Gilpin Players, in 1920. In an article Jelliffe wrote in 1928, she stated "both actors and audiences were empathetically opposed to Negro plays and thought them highly degrading to their race." They all wanted heroic roles in dramas, while audiences requested comedies. By 1924, the Gilpin Players were performing “Negro plays” specifically Ridgely Torrence’s Granny Maumee and Willis Richardson’s Compromise. The actors were happiest performing these types of productions and thus in 1927 the Karamu Theater was founded. The word "karamu" means a place of joyful gatherings in Swahili. Rowena Jelliffe, the director, was pleased by this development, and stated "It has been my fundamental purpose… to capture, preserve, and develop the dramatic qualities peculiar to the Negro race."

Shirley Graham Du Bois first became involved with Karamu House in 1931, after she enrolled a Oberlin College. She sent a draft of her play Tom-Tom to the theater for consideration. According to Gerald Horne, "the producers were suitably impressed, but wanted her to rework it for the Cleveland Opera." The Jelliffes remembered the play when Laurence Higgins consulted them about works to fit his “Theater of Nations” series, which was to present operas from around the world at the Cleveland Stadium Opera. Graham Du Bois' Tom-Tom premiered as an opera in the summer of 1932. The Karamu Theater’s support was fundamental to Graham Du Bois' success as a playwright, helping Tom-Tom come into existence as a professional production. Graham Du Bois was forever grateful for the Jelliffes, and when she was applying for the Julius Rosenwald Fellowship (which gave grants to African-American artists and intellectuals) for the 1940-1941 year, she set her intentions as furthering the black theater movement by creating her plays for the Karamu House and thus Rowena Jelliffe. She wrote in her application, "I wish to set to work furnishing that first and most important need towards the development of a Negro theater… Together we shall raise the standards of production, produce better and better plays until our influence will be felt throughout the country." Nearly ten years after Graham Du Bois sent Tom-Tom to Jelliffe, their collaboration was far from over. Jelliffe went on to produce two of Graham Du Bois' plays, Coal Dust in 1939 and I Gotta Home in 1940.

Both Shirley Graham Du Bois and Karamu House understood that the arts offered common ground to understand people’s differences. Just as Graham was using her own advantages for a wider purpose, the Jelliffes were doing so as well. The Jelliffes were aware of their advantages stating, "[w]e think it a great privilege to have been allowed to live so long so close to Negro life and thought… but we always ask ourselves whether we adequately present it to others." Alumni of Karamu House include revered figures like Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston in addition to Shirley Graham Du Bois. She knew about the accomplished reputation of the theater and sent in her play which led to a long-standing partnership. She was cognizant of her status and used it to work in harmony with the Karamu Theater. As the Jelliffes said: