[Hughes, Langston]:

$75 · Offered by William Reese Company

[Original Handbill for:]... THE ROXANE PLAYERS PRESENT "DRUMS OF HAITI".... [caption title]. An original handbill for this production of Hughes's play dating back to the 1920s. The Roxane Players was founded by playwright and director Elsie Roxborough in Detroit while she was still a student at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. Roxborough had the distinction of being the first African American student to live in a University dormitory; she was a friend to the boxer Joe Louis, as well as a classmate, friend, and fellow student newspaper reporter with the playwright Arthur Miller. Langston Hughes was rumored to have been engaged to Elsie, a rumor he was amused by but denied, "I'm afraid that my marital intentions have been greatly exaggerated...." "Drums of Haiti" was presented by the Roxane Players on 15, 16, and 17 April 1937 at the Lucy Thurman Y.W.C.A., in Detroit. It is an historical play about Jean-Jacques Dessalines, "a rebellious slave who freed his people to become the black emperor of Haiti." The theatrical leaflet proclaims, "The Most Colorful and Exciting Spectacle since 'Macbeth'! Authentic Voodoo Rituals and African Dances. Enormous Cast!" On the verso, among other accolades, Hughes is quoted as saying, "I consider Dessalines one of the most exciting historical figures... I shall be on hand in Detroit to see my play when the Roxane Players present it." Elsie Roxborough spent the rest of her life, post-1937, passing as a "Nordic" model, having changed her na

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