Blues for Mister Charlie: A PlayAn award-winning play from one of America’s most brilliant writers about a murder in a small Southern town, loosely based on the 1955 killing of Emmett Till. • "A play with fires of fury in its belly, tears of anguish in its eyes, a roar of protest in its throat." —The New York Times James Baldwin turns a murder and its aftermath into an inquest in which even the most well-intentioned whites are implicated—and in which even a killer receives his share of compassion. In a small Southern town, a white man murders a black man, then throws his body in the weeds. With this act of violence, James Baldwin launches an unsparing and at times agonizing probe of the wounds of race. For where once a white storekeeper could have shot a "boy" like Richard Henry with impunity, times have changed. And centuries of brutality and fear, patronage and contempt, are about to erupt in a moment of truth as devastating as a shotgun blast. |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
ain't going ain't never Amen Corner anyway arrest baby Baldwin believe BEREAVED better bird-brained BLACKTOWN BLUES FOR MISTER buddy CHARLIE JAMES chicks church CLERK Calls Cokes colored crazy damn dope drink ELLIS Exits face father folks friends GEORGE Giovanni's Room girl go home Grandmama Ha-ha happened Haruki Murakami HAZEL hear Hell husband JAMES BALDWIN Joel JUANITA kind knew Laughs live look Lord LORENZO Lyle Britten Lyle's marry MEN WITHOUT WOMEN MERIDIAN Mister Charlie morning MOTHER HENRY murder Nadeem Aslam Negro nigger night Old Bill PAPA D Papa D.'s peckerwood PETE pretty Ralph Raoul Peck rape reckon remember Reverend Henry Reverend Phelps scared shot sick singing sleep sure SUSAN talk tell there's things thought told tonight town truth trying walk What's white women WHITETOWN wife Willa Mae witness may step woman Yeah