Paul Green - (1894-1981)
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American dramatist and author, Paul Green was one of
the "South's most revered writers, and one of America's most distinguished." He is best known for his realistic plays depicting the lives of blacks and white tenant farmers; the only equivalent to his literary influence is
his impact on human rights in the South and elsewhere. All through Paul Green's life and writings, he "acted and spoke in support of the basic rights of all humanity." I. Biography
He was born Paul Eliot Green was born on March 17, 1894 to William Archibald and Betty Lorine Byrd Green; they lived on a cotton farm in Harnett County in eastern North Carolina.
He attended Buies Creek Academy and graduated from there in 1914. Green grew up in rural Harnett County playing baseball and became ambidextrous in pitching the ball after an
injury to his throwing arm; later in his life, he pitched for Lillington, a minor league baseball team. Growing up on a farm, Green learned the "value of hard physical labor as well as the
importance and beauty of literature and music." Green taught himself to play violin on a violin he bought himself; later in his life, Green composed music for his own plays.
In 1916, at the age of 22, Paul Green went to the University of North Carolina with money he had earned by playing baseball, farming and teaching. However, World War I
interrupted his studies. In 1917, Paul Green enlisted in the army. Before leaving for France, Green self-published a thin book of poems, Trifles of Thought by P.E.G. (1917), for he was
not certain he would return from the war to pursue a literary career. Green rose rapidly to the rank of Second Lieutenant and saw intense action in the trenches
of Belgium and France; the experiences profoundly affected him but he rarely spoke of them. When Green returned to the States in 1919, he went back to the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill and graduated in 1921 with a major in Philosophy. Because Green had a lifelong interest in philosophy, he did graduate work at Cornell University and then
returned to the University of North Carolina to become an Assistant Professor of Philosophy. In 1939, he became a Professor of Dramatic Art; he taught philosophy, drama,
English, and creative writing until he retired in 1944 to devote all of his time to writing. Green's first full length play was In Abraham's Bosom (1927) won the Pulitzer Prize; it was
followed by six more Broadway plays during his life span, including The House of Connelly (1931), Roll Sweet Chariot (1934), Johnny Johnston (1936), and Native Son (1941).
Paul Green wrote numerous other short and full-length plays, screenplays, short story collections, and non-fiction books. "A lifelong fascination with theatrical elements such
as dance, language, music, and lighting, combined with a desire for the drama to make difference in American social life led to Paul Green's development of the Symphonic
Outdoor drama." In 1937, Green wrote his first "symphonic drama," The Lost Colony, telling of the 1587 colony that disappeared from the North Carolina Coast. It was first
performed in an outdoor theater on Roanoke Island in 1937, was a "notable success" and has been performed every year since in Manteo North Carolina, with the exception of the
war years. Paul Green went on to write fourteen more outdoor dramas to be performed outdoors; they were put on in North Carolina, Florida, Virginia, Kentucky, Texas, and in other places.
Paul Green loved to write and he did so until 1981 when "on the fourth of May, 1981, he lay down in the guest bedroom, turned his face to the wall and slept his way over into death."
Paul Green is buried in the old Chapel Hill Cemetery on the University of North Carolina campus near the Paul Green Theatre. Awards Received Belasco Cup for The No 'Count Boy, 1921
II. Selected Works Summarized In Abraham's Bosom This novel tells about "the struggle of a black man, and a white man too – both of whom
have the same white father – to gain a good life in the South. But it is more than the story of how the black man is destroyed by racism. The play shows how man helps to defeat himself." Black Like Me
(movie script) This novel tells "from John Griffith's true story about a white man who dyes himself black in order to find out what racial prejudice is all about." Native Son
(Broadway play with Richard Wright) This famous novel is about a white girl from Chicago who is accidentally killed by a black man. The Highland Call
Tells about the "plight of Scottish Tory settlers in the Revolutionary War in North Carolina." III. Literary Works A. Broadway Plays The No 'Count Boy, 1925 B. Symphonic Dramas The Lost Colony, 1937 C. Plays Published The Lord's Will and Other Carolina Plays, 1925 D. Novels
The Laughing Pioneer, 1932 E. Short Stories (volumes) Wide Fields, 1928 F. Essays (volumes) The Hawthorn Tree, 1943 G. Screen Plays Cabin in the Cotton (from the novel of the same title by H.H. Kroll), 1932 H. Lyrics and music The Lost Colony Songbook, compiler/lyricist, 1938 I. Radio plays
A Start in Life, Wings for to Fly, Three Plays of Negro Life, 1959 J. Foreign Productions (place and date(s) of production) The Field God, Gate Theatre, London, 1927 K. Other Works
Trifles of Thought by P.E.G. (a book of poems), 1917 IV. Paul Green on the Web
Pulitzer Prize for In Abraham's Bosom, 1927
Freedom Foundation Medal for Faith of Our Fathers, 1951
Freedom Foundation Medal for Wilderness Road, 1956
Freedom Foundation Medal for Texas, 1967
In Abraham's Bosom, 1926
The Field of God, 1927
The House of Connelly and Other Plays, 1931
Roll, Sweet Chariot, 1934
Johnny Johnson (with music by Kurt Weill), 1936
Native Son: A Play in Ten Scenes (with Richard Wright), 1941
The Highland Call, 1939
The Common Glory, 1948
The Faith of our Fathers, 1950
The 17th Star, 1953
Wilderness Road, 1956
The Founders, 1957
The Confederacy, 1959
Cross and Sword, 1966
The Stephen Foster Story, 1960
Texas, 1967
Trumpet in the Land, 1972
Drumbeats in Georgia, 1972
We the People, 1976
Lonesome Road, Six Plays for the Negro Theatre, 1926
The Field of God and In Abraham's Bosom; 1927
In the Valley and Other Carolina Plays, 1928
The House of Connelly and Other Plays, 1931
Roll, Sweet Chariot, 1935
Shroud My Body Down, 1935
Hymn to the Rising Sun, 1936
Johnny Johnston (with music by Kurt Weill), 1937
The Enchanted Maze, 1939
Out of the South (a collection of fifteen plays revised), 1939
Native Son (adaptation of Richard Wright's novel), 1941
Peer Gynt (American version), 1951
Wings For to Fly, three radio plays of Negro Life, 1959
Five Plays of the South, 1963
The Sheltering Plaid (one act), 1965
The Honeycomb, 1972
This Body the Earth, 1935
Salvation on a String, and Other Tales on the South, 1946
Dog on the Sun, 1949
Words and Ways, 1968
Home to My Valley, 1970
Land of Nod and other Stories, 1976
Forever Growing, 1945
Dramatic Heritage, 1953
Drama and the Weather, 1958
Plough and Furrow, 1963
State Fair (from the novel of the same title by Phil Strong), 1932
Dr. Bull (from the novel, The Last Adam, by James Gould Cozzens), 1933
David Harum (from the novel by E.N.Westcott)
The Highland Call Songbook, compiler/lyricist, 1941
Song in the Wilderness (Cantata with music by Charles Vardell) lyrics, 1947
The Common Glory Songbook, compiler/lyricist (includes Paul Green melodies), 1951
Carmen (American version), 1953
Texas Songbook, compiler/lyricist (includes Paul Green melodies), 1967
White Dresses, Japan, 1951
Johnny Johnson, Bochum, Germany, 1973-74
Johnny Johnson, Finnish National Theatre, Helsinki, 1975-77
The House of Connelly, Vienna, Austria
In Aunt Mahaly's Cabin, 1925
Tread the Green Grass, 1931
Fixin's, 1934
White Dress, 1935
The Southern Cross, 1938
A Southern Life: Letters of Paul Green, 1916-1981
http://ncwriters.org/pgreen.htm
http://www.ncstuff.com/people/greenp.htm
http://members.home.net/teylu/lostcolony/pgreen.html
http://www.ibiblio.org/paulgreen/daughter.html
This essay was submitted by a student of Rita Achenbach, a teacher at Fuquay-Varina High School in Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina.