Joseph Bradford (playwright) explained

Joseph Bradford
Pseudonym:	Jay Bee
Birth Name:	William Randolph Hunter
Birth Date:	October 24, 1843
Birth Place:	Nashville, Tennessee
Death Date:	April 13, 1886
Death Place:	Boston, Massachusetts
Notableworks:	Out of Bondage

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]

Bradford was also an actor, poet and journalist.^[1] He wrote for the Boston Courier as "Jay Bee".^[1]

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]
• A.A. 1900 (1879)
• John Mishler (1882)
• One of the Finest (1883)
• A Wonderful Woman (1883)
• Cherubs (1885)
• Rose and Coe (1886)

References

Sources

• Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography – Volume 1 – Page 348
• Book: A History of African American Theatre. Errol. Hill. James Vernon. Hatch. 2003. Cambridge University Press. 0-521-62443-6.
• Book: Koskoff. Ellen. 0-8240-4944-6. Garland Publishing. Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, Volume 3: The United States and Canada. 2000.

Notes and References

1. Book: Tennessee Biographical Dictionary – Page 106. 2000. Somerset Publishers, Inc.. 0403097002.
2. http://people.ischool.berkeley.edu/~mkduggan/music.html Composers and Music, California Sheet Music
3. Book: Riis, Thomas L.. The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music. Musical Theater. 614–623.
4. Hill, pg. 71
5. Augustus Thomas The Print of My Remembrance – Page 115 (2004)