The Playwrights Database

• Home

• Playwrights

• Plays
• Characters
• Literary Agents
• Play Publishers
• Theatres
• Gay/Lesbian
• Useful Links
• About Doollee
• Submit Info to Doollee

web doollee.com

MARITA BONNER  (1899 - 1971)

Nationality:    African American
email:    n/a     Website:    n/a

Literary Agent:    n/a


Marita Odette Bonner was born on June 16, 1899 to Joseph Andrew and Anne Noel Bonner. The Bonner family moved to a middle class community in Massachusetts where Marita, one of four children, was educated. At Brookline High School, Bonner contributed to The Sagamor, a magazine organized by students. Bonner also was a talented pianist and excelled in music and German. After graduating from Brookline High School in 1918, Bonner enrolled in Radcliffe College, where she majored in English and Comparative Literature and won two music competitions. She applied for and gained admission to the writing seminar of Charles T. Copeland. Professor Copeland was a well-respected writer whose limited seminars were highly sought after. Bonner was also a founder of a chapter of the black sorority, Delta Sigma Theta. After graduating from Radcliffe in 1922, Bonner taught for a couple of years at Bluefield Colored Institute in West Virginia. She then accepted a position at Armstrong High School in Washington, D.C. , from 1924 to 1930. Between 1924 and 1926, both of Bonner's parents passed away prematurely, and their deaths affected her deeply. The aftermath of those tragedies caused her to write her first essay, "On Being Young-A Woman-And Colored," published in Crisis magazine in December of 1925. The essay covered the negative conditions that black Americans, especially black women, had to endure. Bonner explains how black women, because of their race and gender, are doubly victimized. As a young woman of the 1900s, a black woman could see opportunity around her, but she could only watch and wait. The essay counsels women to not dwell on the bitterness, but try to outsmart negative situations. She proposes that, until we, as a nation, become wiser and learn not to judge each other by our skin and sex, we will lack the understanding we need to become great. Like the Greeks and Romans, we, as Americans, will fail to live to our full potential. - http://voices.cla.umn.edu/artistpages/bonner.php

Buy Plays with Doollee

Each page of doollee.com has links to play/book outlets, either directly to the Publisher, through Stageplays.com and Amazon to the second hand and 1st editions of AbeBooks. These links will automatically take you to the relevant area obviating the need for further search.
AbeBooks.co.uk   AbeBooks.com   Stageplays.com   amazon.com   amazon.co.uk   amazon.ca

---

whether you are a Playwright who wishes to make their entry definitive, an unlisted Playwright or a User with a tale to tell - we want to hear from you.
download WORD submission template

below is a list of Marita Bonner's plays - click on a Play Title for more information

Exit, An Illusion         Pot Maker, The         Purple Flower, The