Jenna Bacon, Campus Carrier arts and living editor

On Feb. 12, 2025, “American Journalism,” a peer-reviewed academic journal, published Professor of Communications Brian Carroll’s new scholarly article titled “Transgressions: An Editor’s Crusade to Thwart America’s First Black Shakespearean Acting Company.” Carroll’s article examines newspaper coverage of a Black Shakespearean theater company in 1821, using this research to examine the roles of print media in the 1820s. It investigates how political parties and agents leveraged the press while uncovering the racial tensions that fueled the opposition to Black Shakespearean performances by opponents of racial equity. The article is accessible via Taylor and Francis Online, an online platform that allows users to read peer-reviewed journal content from their computers.  

The newspaper that is examined in the article is the “National Advocate,” a white newspaper sponsored by supporters of white supremacy. Mordecai Manuel Noah acted as the newspaper’s editor beginning in 1817. Noah was a wealthy, white, influential figure in society who was voted the sheriff of New York in 1821, the same year he wrote the article’s covering the Black Theater performances. The Black Theater Group was owned and run by William Alexander Brown, a free black man who once worked as ship’s steward. Brown kept the theater running through many hardships, including being shut down by the police. He moved the location of the theater multiple times in an attempt to give the Black community of New York a place to enjoy and engage in the art of theater. 

Noah’s coverage of the theater’s performances was blatantly racist. He mocked the performers’ speech and referred to their dress and socialization as “imitative,” insinuating that the black community merely copied upper-class, white culture rather than authentically participate in the arts. It wasn’t until 1827 that “Freedom’s Journal,” the first Black-owned newspaper in the United States, was able to give the Black community a voice within print media. This newspaper came to fruition partly in response to Noah’s incessant harassment of the Black community. However, a large chunk of American history only recorded Black experiences from the perspective of their oppressors. This incentivizes us to question what stories of Black resilience we can gather from these racist recordings of history.  

“The irony is Noah wished to silence black actors,” Carroll said. “And he ends up being the record of what happened, which is so surreal.”  

One of Noah’s main points of contempt was that the African Grove Theater Company were putting on productions of Shakespeare’s plays, meaning Black individuals were playing white characters. This became such a big deal to opponents of racial equity that Brown was actually threatened. He was told that his theater group would be allowed to continue performing as long as they didn’t do Shakespeare.  

 “I think representation is so important and things get retold and all the time and we see the backlash,” said Assistant Professor of English, Rhetoric, and Writing, Whitney Adams. “One example is the remake of The Little Mermaid. I think a lot of the issue around it just has to do with control or like having feeling like that you have ownership over something, which is problematic.”  

Another aspect of Noah’s outrage at the African Grove Theater was the fact that the black community was participating in leisure-oriented social engagement. At one point, a New York citizen raises objections to a group of Black individuals taking a walk in their Sunday bests. Carroll expands upon this in his article.  

“Two observers, presumably one of them the letter writer, counted Black pedestrians for two hours, noting with some irritation that those in the Black parade were dressed in fashion superior to the white onlookers.” 

Christina Bucher is the Associate Professor of English, Rhetoric, and Writing Department Chair. One of her primary research areas is African American Literature. Bucher highlighted there longstanding pattern where Black individuals simply enjoying public spaces is deemed as “loitering” refelcting the racist social biases present in society.

“I mean there’s a little bit of a sense there of  them not being criminal so much, but but behaving out of their place,” Bucher said. “So,  I mean, obviously sure. You know, you think about what do what do various media outlets decide to cover? What do they decide not to cover? And how does that shape the consumers of that media?”

    Carroll’s article sheds light on a pivotal moment in American history, where the clash between racial equity and entrenched racism played out through the lens of theater and print media. By examining Noah’s vehement opposition to the Black Shakespearean Theater Company, Carroll reveals how media was used as a tool for racial control. Despite the racist coverage, the persistence of William Alexander Brown and his theater company, alongside the eventual emergence of “Freedom’s Journal,” demonstrates the resilience and resistance of the Black community in the face of adversity. This history, though recorded through the biased eyes of its oppressors, offers a powerful reminder of the strength of Black voices and the ongoing battle for representation and equality. As modern day struggles for representation continue, Carroll’s analysis invites reflection on how far we have come—and how far we still have to go—in the fight for racial equality.