Playwright, novelist, actress, and director. Alice Childress was born in Charleston, SC, 1920, and died in Queens, NY, 1994. She attended public schools in New York, and was a recipient of a Harvard appointment to Radcliffe Institute as scholar-writer, 1966-1968. She began her career in the theater as an actress, with her first appearance in "On strivers row," 1940. For eleven years she has been actress and director with American Negro Theatre, New York City. She also performed on Broadway and television and made her first film appearance in "Uptight," in 1968. In addition to her credits as an actress and director of several off-Broadway productions, she has written numerous stage plays, essays and a regular column for the Baltimore Afro-American newspaper.
Alice Childress is the author of a dozen published plays, and novels, among others, "Like one of the family," 1956, "A hero ain't nothin' but a sandwich," 1973, a novel which was also produced as a film, and "A short walk," 1979. Her memberships include PEN, Dramatists Guild (member of council), American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, Writers Guild of America East (member of council), and Harlem Writers Guild. Her awards and honors include an Obie Award for "Trouble in mind," 1956; a grant from the John Golden Fund for Playwrights, 1957; the Sojourner Truth Award, presented by the National Negro Business and Professional Women's Clubs; the Black Filmmakers First Paul Robeson Medal of Distincion, 1977; and an AUDELCO (Audience Development Committee) Pioneer Award, 1985. Alice Childress was also a lecturer at universities and schools; and a member of panel discussions and conferences on Black American theater at numerous institutions, including the New School for Social Research, 1965, and Fisk University, 1966.