Remedying Racist Cultural Theses: The Educational Work of the Free Southern Theater

• In Event: Cultural Reflections: Reparative Narratives and Representations in Community Museums, Literature, and Performance

Abstract

The Free Southern Theater (FST) formed in 1963 “to stimulate creative and reflective thought” among Black people in Mississippi and throughout the South “by the establishment of a legitimate theater” (Derby, et al, 1964, p. 1). In its two decades of operation, FST endured violence and hostility yet remained steadfastly committed to their politically and educationally oriented theatrical methods. What can teachers, researchers, and historians learn from the educational work, which includes the “story circle process” (Cooper-Davis, 2019) and community workshop program, of the Free Southern Theater? Furthermore, how can these examples of community-responsive practices help us repair and remedy racist “cultural theses” (Popkewitz, 2009) through the new “kinds” (Hacking, 2006) of students and people we make up?

Author

• Brittany Johnson, University of Wisconsin - Madison