William Alexander Brown, also known as William Henry Brown (1790–1884),[1] was an American playwright and theatrical producer. He is considered the first known black playwright in America.[2]
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What is Dark Matter and Dark Energy?
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Matter as we know it: Atoms, stars and galaxies, planets and trees, rocks and us. This matter accounts for less than 5% of the known universe. About 25% is dark matter and 70% dark energy. Both of which are invisible. This is kind of strange, because it suggets, that everything, we experience is really only a tiny fraction of reality. But it gets worse, we really have no clue, what dark matter and energy are... or how they work. We are pretty sure, they exist. Then, so, what do we know? Dark matter is the stuff, that makes it possible for galaxies to exist. When we calculated, why the universe is structured the way it is, it quickly became clear that there's just not enough normal matter. The gravity of the visible matter is not strong enough to form galaxies and complex structures. The stars would more likely be scattered all over the place... ...and not form galaxies. So, we know there is something else inside and around them. Something, that doesn't emit or reflects light. Something dark. But beside, being able to calculate the existence of dark matter... ...we can see it. Kind of. Places with a high concentration of dark matter bend light passing nearby. So, we know there's something there, that interacts with gravity. Right know, we have more ideas about what dark energy is not, than what it is. We know dark matter is not just clouds of normal matter without stars, because it would emit particles we could detect. Dark matter is not anti-matter, because anti-matter produces unique gamma rays when it reacts with normal matter. Dark matter is also not made up of black holes. Very compact objects, that violently affect their surroundings, while dark matter seems to be scatted all over the place. Basically, we only know three thing for sure: 1. Something is out there. 2. It interacts with gravity. 3. There is a lot of it. Dark matter is probably made of a complicated exotic particle, that doesn't interact with the light and matter in the way we expect. But right now, we just don't know. Dark energy is even more strange and mysterious: We can't detect it; we can't measure it and we can't taste it. But we do see its' affects very clearly: In 1929, Edwin Hubble examined how the wavelength of light emitted by distant galaxies... shifts towards the red end to the electromagnetic spectrum, as it travels through space. He found that fainter, more distant galaxies, showed a large degree of redshift. Closer galaxies not so much. Hubble determinded that this was, because the universe itself is expanding. The redshift occurs, because the wavelengths of light are stretched as the universe expands. More recent discoveries have shown that the expansion of the universe is accelerating. Before that, it was thought that the pull of gravity would cause the expansion to either slow down or even restract and collapse it on itself at some point. Space doesn't changes its properties as it expands. There's just more of it. Youth space is constantly created everywhere. Galaxies are tight bound clusters of stuff, held together by gravity. So, we don't experience this expansion in our daily lives, but we see it everywhere around us. Wherever there is empty space in the universe, more is forming every second. So, dark energy seems to be some kind of energy intrinsic to empty space. Energy, that is stronger than anything else we know and that keeps getting stronger as time passes by. Empty space has more energy than everything else in the universe combined. We have multiple ideas about what dark energy might be. One idea is that dark energy is not a thing, but just a property of space. Empty space is not nothing; it has it own energy. It can generate more space and is quite active. So, as the universe expands, it could be that just a more a more space appears to fill the gaps and this leads to a faster expanding universe. This idea is close to an idea, that Einstein had in 1917 of a concept of a cosmological constand. A force, that counteracted the force of gravity. The only problem is, that when we tried to calculate the amount of this energy, the result was so wrong and weird that it only added to the confusion. Another idea is that empty space is acually full of temporary, virtual particles that spontaneously and continually form from nothing and then disappear into nothing again. The energy from those particles could be dark energy. Or maybe dark energy is an unknown kind of dynamic energy fluid or field, which permeates the entire universe. But somehow has the opposite effect on the universe than normal energy and matter. But if it exists, we don't know how and where or how we could detect it. So, there are still a lot of questions to answer. Our theories about dark matter and dark energy are still just that: theories. On the one hand, this is kind of frustrating; On the other hand, this is frontier science, making it very exciting. It shows us that no matter, how much we feel we are on top of things, we are still very much apes with smartphones on a tiny fragile island in space, looking into the sky, wondering how our universe works. There is so much left to learn and that is awesome! [This video is supported by the "Australian Academy of Science", which promotes and supports excellence in science. Learn more about this topic and others like it at "nova.org.au". It was a blast to work with them. So, go check out their side. Our videos are also made possible by your support on "patreon.com". If you want to support us and become a part of the 'Kurzgesagt'-bird-army, check out our patreom page!]
Biography
Willian A. Brown was born in the West Indies, and worked there as a ship steward. After retiring from his maritime work, he settled in a community of free Blacks in the lower Manhattan district of New York City.
In 1816 he opened a summer tea garden in New York called the African Grove Theatre, the first resident all-Black theatre company in America,[3] to cater to the community of free Blacks.[2] The African Grove featured music, theatrical and occasionally outdoor entertainment until officials closed it down in 1821.
Brown reformed his group of performers in the African Theatre (also known as the African Company) and continued to perform outdoors.[2] Brown's theatre company was constantly harassed by "White hoodlums". Eventually, the nearby Park Theatre, fearing competition, and the city sheriff forced the African Theatre to close. Brown continued performing outdoors illegally. The last record performance of the African Theatre was on Mercer and Houston Street in January 1824.[4] It was not until after the American Civil War that all-Black theatre companies began to emerge again.[3]
The African Theatre presented a programme of classical plays, popular plays, ballet, music and opera.[5] The theater produced Shakespearean works, as well as plays written by Brown.[6]
Brown also wrote a number of original plays for them to perform. His most notable play The Drama of King Shotaway (1823), based on the life of Black Carib leader Joseph Chatoyer (whom Brown called Shotaway in the play) and his revolt against British rule, is considered the first play written by a person of African descent in America. It is thought that Brown may have had first hand experience of the Carib Wars when he worked as a ship's steward at the time of the Atlantic slave trade.[7]
Significance
William Brown established the first US theater that catered to black people in the ways that only white audiences had been catered to previously. It was one of the first spaces that gave free blacks a sense of inclusion, as well as the ability to immerse themselves in theatrical culture and see a reflection of themselves in works written by black playwrights and performed by black actors.[6][7]
The African Theater, or the American Theater, had its first produced play on September 17, 1821, which was Richard III. The African Theater moved to 1215 Mercer Street in New York City in the year 1822. Brown has been said to allow a white audience in the theater but were only allowed to sit in the back of the house. He said, "Whites do not know how to conduct themselves at the entertainments of ladies and gentlemen of Colour." The company then went on to produce more plays, such as William Moncrieff's Tom and Jerry. In 1824, however, the African Theater was closed.
Controversy
Brown's theater proved to be highly successful and threatening to neighboring theaters, particularly when he opened up a theater space next door to the well-established Park Theater. Shortly after, the police shut down the theater after complaints from the owner of the Park Theater — Stephen Price — and white theater goers.[8]
References
- ^ "William A. Brown, Playwright born". African American Registry. Retrieved November 9, 2021.
- ^ a b c Kennedy, Dennis (August 26, 2010). The Oxford Companion to Theatre and Performance. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199574193.
- ^ a b Nelson, Emmanuel S. (October 30, 2004). African American Dramatists: An A-to-Z Guide: An A-to-Z Guide. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 9780313052897.
- ^ Lindfors, Bernth (2011). Ira Aldridge. University Rochester Press. ISBN 9781580463812.
- ^ Peterson, Bernard L. (2001). Profiles of African American Stage Performers and Theatre People, 1816–1960. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 9780313295348.
- ^ a b Young, Harvey (2012). The Cambridge Companion to African American Theatre. Cambridge University Press. pp. 2–7. ISBN 9781107017122.
- ^ a b Jones, Douglas A. (2012). Young, Harvey (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to African American Theatre. Cambridge University Press. pp. 23–28. ISBN 9781107017122.
- ^ Hatch, James Vernon, and Ted Shine (1974). Black Theater, U.S.A.; Forty-five Plays by Black Americans, 1847–1974. New York: Free Press. pp. 1. ISBN 9780029141601.
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This page was last edited on 2 April 2024, at 00:57