Black theater is as old as the first African tribes who danced with wooden masks to represent gods or legends (Kerr, p3). The playwrights of this period were the Griots, known as keepers of history in African tribes and marking the beginning of the African literary tradition (Freeman). But when does the development of the black playwright actually begin? The first black playwright in history is Terence Afer, born around 159 BC (Arnott). He was brought to Rome as a slave and, because he impressed his master, was given a liberal education and all the freedom a slave could have. Terence managed to produce six plays in his lifetime which formed the basis for the modern comedy of manners (Arnott). Terence's literary career has been deciphered from the collection of his prologues, from the commentary on his works written by Aelius Donatus and from the writings of a Roman biographer named Suetonius. After Terence, the history of playwrights of color was lost or not maintained with enough coherence to get much out of it. The first section of history where the development of the black playwright truly takes hold is between the years 1820 and 1930, in the country of the United States. This was the century when African Americans fought for freedom and equal rights. The major figures who developed and advanced the black playwright were William Wells Brown, Angelina Weld Grimke, Willis Richardson, Alain Leroy Locke, James Baldwin, Langston Hughes, and Lorraine Hansberry. The ancestors of African Americans were shackled, shrouded in death and pain, dragged on long journeys across the sea from home to work until their last breath on settler-managed fields. Given that slavery is the basis for African Americans, what circumstance... at the center of the document... the Circle Award (A&E Networks). Later the show would even be adapted into a musical and win a Tony Award (BHS). At age 34, however, Lorraine Hansberry was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and would die from it (BHS). Before his death he created a second play about the experiences of a liberal engaging in politics and activism entitled The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window (A&E Networks). But reviews for the opera were mixed and the opera became a failure. After her death, Hansberry's ex-husband, Robert Nemiroff, finished her last works and published three of her works, Les Blancs, The Drinking Gourd, and What Use are. Flowers? (BHS). Nemiroff also composed a play honoring Lorraine Hansberry using a combination of her writings and journal entries, titled To Be Young, Gifted, and Black (BHS). Although death came at a young age, his work and fame live on.