You may be familiar with Denzel Washington and Idris Elba. But what do you know about Ira Aldridge, the first black Shakespearean actor?
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Britain is educating the masses this week, because the city of Coventry just honored the star with a plaque 150 years after his death.
“It’s very important,” Tony Howard, who leads a multicultural Shakespeare project at Warwick University, told The Independent. “He’s been admired and respected for a long time as the first black Shakespearean actor, but many people are less aware of the fact that he had also been the first black theatre manager.”
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Born in New York, Aldridge worked in the U.S. as an actor until he migrated to Europe to escape racism.
He initially had a hard time snagging roles, but he eventually found success, playing Romeo, Hamlet, Othello and King Lear. He also spoke against slavery through his poetry and music, breaking down racial barriers within the theater industry.
For years, the husband and father managed a theater and remained mostly active until his death at age 60 on August 7, 1867. Now Britain is honoring his legacy with a permanent memorial that will mark the original site of the theater he once ran.
“I think the city is very proud and very happy,” Howard said.
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