Lisa Kelechi Ezie, 'Reading What is There: Africans in Early Modern England', BA senior thesis, Princeton (2008).
I first met Kelechi Ezie in the London Metropolitan Archives, where we were searching through the same parish registers. We bonded immediately and on a subsequent visit to the National Archives together we were almost kicked out of the reading room for giggling too much together!
Some years later, having graduated cum laude in History with certificates in Theatre & Dance and African American Studies from Princeton University, Kelechi is now a successful actress in New York, having written, co-produced and starred in the award-winning short film The Truth About Beauty and Blogs; played Mrs. Brown in the Book Of Mormon First National Tour, and recently appeared in the recurring role Letitia on HBO's The Deuce, Season 2. She is also the host of the Cake and Kombucha Podcast.
Her 2008 senior thesis, 'Reading What is There: Africans in Early Modern England', which was awarded Princeton’s Walter Phelps Hall Prize in European History, is one I often return to, made distinctive by her efforts to square the archival evidence with the impression we gain from the works of Shakespeare and other literature of the Tudor and Stuart period.
I have long been dismayed that the thesis is not readily available online, so I'm delighted Kelechi has given me permission to host it here.
Summary of contents
The thesis is divided into two parts. The first section focuses on uncovering archival evidence of the black presence in order to refute the idea that Africans were not actually a physical presence in England, but imprinted on the English psyche through the symbolically potent canvas of black skin.
This section explores the questions: how were Elizabethan Africans, many of them baptized Christians sponsored by white Godparents, perceived by and incorporated into English society at large? What kind of jobs did they hold? What kind of societal structures abetted or aided their social integration? This section also traces the use of the word ‘black’ or the myriad of other terms denoting African heritage, in the archival records. How were Africans marked as such in the records? How can we apply this knowledge to our linguistic analysis of Early Modern English texts? The second part of her thesis attempts to incorporate the unearthed archival evidence into our analysis of Early Modern English literature, with a focus on Shakespearean Drama and seventeenth century sonnets and lyric poetry, and the avoidance of reading blackness as racial in texts, particularly in the case of women.
You can find the thesis listed in the Princeton catalogue here, and Download the PDF here.
Some years later, having graduated cum laude in History with certificates in Theatre & Dance and African American Studies from Princeton University, Kelechi is now a successful actress in New York, having written, co-produced and starred in the award-winning short film The Truth About Beauty and Blogs; played Mrs. Brown in the Book Of Mormon First National Tour, and recently appeared in the recurring role Letitia on HBO's The Deuce, Season 2. She is also the host of the Cake and Kombucha Podcast.
Her 2008 senior thesis, 'Reading What is There: Africans in Early Modern England', which was awarded Princeton’s Walter Phelps Hall Prize in European History, is one I often return to, made distinctive by her efforts to square the archival evidence with the impression we gain from the works of Shakespeare and other literature of the Tudor and Stuart period.
I have long been dismayed that the thesis is not readily available online, so I'm delighted Kelechi has given me permission to host it here.
Summary of contents
The thesis is divided into two parts. The first section focuses on uncovering archival evidence of the black presence in order to refute the idea that Africans were not actually a physical presence in England, but imprinted on the English psyche through the symbolically potent canvas of black skin.
This section explores the questions: how were Elizabethan Africans, many of them baptized Christians sponsored by white Godparents, perceived by and incorporated into English society at large? What kind of jobs did they hold? What kind of societal structures abetted or aided their social integration? This section also traces the use of the word ‘black’ or the myriad of other terms denoting African heritage, in the archival records. How were Africans marked as such in the records? How can we apply this knowledge to our linguistic analysis of Early Modern English texts? The second part of her thesis attempts to incorporate the unearthed archival evidence into our analysis of Early Modern English literature, with a focus on Shakespearean Drama and seventeenth century sonnets and lyric poetry, and the avoidance of reading blackness as racial in texts, particularly in the case of women.
You can find the thesis listed in the Princeton catalogue here, and Download the PDF here.
