Aduke Aremu’s Harlem Children’s Theatre Company

ABSTRACT This article explores the history of Aduke Aremu’s Harlem Children’s Theatre Company during the time of Black Arts Movement in the United States, as well as the significance to the field of Black Theatre for Youth. It is adapted from a chapter of the author's dissertation, “Overturning Topsy’s Legacy: Black Theatre for Youth and the Black Arts Movement,” which was awarded the Distinguished Dissertation Award in 2013 by the American Alliance for Theatre in Education. Source materials include interviews with Aduke Aremu, the theatre company’s founder, as well as numerous reviews of Harlem Children’s Theatre Company plays in the black newspaper, New York Amsterdam News.