Joseph Bradford (playwright)

White Bostonian Joseph Bradford (1843–1886)[1] was an American playwright who most famously helped write a landmark production, Out of Bondage, the first African American musical comedy,[2] with Pauline Hopkins and the Hyers Sisters, debuting in 1876.[3] The production featured Sam Lucas, a famous minstrel performer of the era.[4]

Joseph Bradford
BornWilliam Randolph Hunter
October 24, 1843
Nashville, Tennessee
DiedApril 13, 1886
Boston, Massachusetts
Pen nameJay Bee
Notable worksOut of Bondage

Bradford was also an actor, poet and journalist. He wrote for the Boston Courier as "Jay Bee".

Works
  • New German (1872)
  • Law in New York (1873)
  • 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1874) Libretto
  • The Conditional Pardon (1875)
  • Fritz's Brother (1875)
  • Out of Bondage (1876)
  • In and Out of Bondage (1877)
  • Our Bachelors (1877)[5] OCLC 44017470
  • A.A. 1900 (1879)
  • John Mishler (1882)
  • One of the Finest (1883)
  • A Wonderful Woman (1883)
  • Cherubs (1885)
  • Rose and Coe (1886)

References
  1. Tennessee Biographical Dictionary – Page 106. Somerset Publishers, Inc. 2000. ISBN 0403097002.
  2. Composers and Music, California Sheet Music
  3. Riis, Thomas L. "Musical Theater". The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music. pp. 614–623.
  4. Hill, pg. 71
  5. Augustus Thomas The Print of My Remembrance – Page 115 (2004) ISBN 0766199436
  • Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography – Volume 1 – Page 348
  • Hill, Errol; Hatch, James Vernon (2003). A History of African American Theatre. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-62443-6.
  • Koskoff, Ellen, ed. (2000). Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, Volume 3: The United States and Canada. Garland Publishing. ISBN 0-8240-4944-6.


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