Dodson, Owen, 1914-1983

Owen Dodson was a playwright and author.

From the description of Owen Dodson Collection 1936-1951. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 80551547

From the description of Owen Dodson Collection 1936-1951. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 702148305

African American author, poet, playwright, and professor of drama at Howard University; died 1983.

From the description of Owen Dodson papers, 1930-1968. (Moorland-Spingarn Resource Center). WorldCat record id: 741522194

Owen Dodson (1914-1983) was an African American playwright, director, and poet who served for many years as professor of drama at Howard University, where he became known as the "Dean of Black Theater." He graduated from Bates College in 1936 and then studied at Yale Drama School, graduating with an MFA in 1939. He served briefly in the United States Navy, producing plays designed to improve the morale of Black seamen. During this period, and throughout his career, he both wrote and directed plays and also served as a teacher of drama. Dodson was also a poet and novelist.

From the description of Owen Dodson papers. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 706098605

• 1914: Born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Sarah Elizabeth Goode and Nathaniel Barnett Dodson
• 1932: Graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School, Brooklyn
• 1936: B.A. degree from Bates College, Lewiston, Maine; elected to Phi Beta Kappa
• 1938: 1939: Received fellowships from General Education Board
• 1938 - 1942 : Directed drama at Atlanta University and Spellman College, Atlanta, Georgia
• 1939: Master of Fine Arts, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
• 1940: Won Anderson Award for Verse Drama for his Garden of Time
• 1941: Won contest sponsored by the Committee on Interracial Cooperation, Atlanta, Georgia, for his Gargoyles in Florida
• 1942: Directed drama at Hampton Institute, Hampton, Va.
• 1942 - 43 : Served in U.S. Navy (Seaman I/C) during which time he directed a morale building program and wrote several verse dramas
• 1944: Awarded Rosenwald Foundation Fellowship
• 1946: His Powerful Long Ladder, a book of poems was published
• 1947: Appointed Associate Professor of the Department of Drama, College of Fine Arts, Howard University
• 1949: Under the auspices of the Department of State toured Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Germany with his Howard University Players
• 1951: His Boy at the Window, a novel, was published
• 1953: Awarded Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship "for creative activity in the field of fiction."
• 1955: Won prize in international short story contest sponsored by Paris Revue for The Summer Fire
• 1960: Promoted to full Professor, Department of Drama, College of Fine Arts, Howard University
• 1963: Toured the United States with his Howard University Players
• 1964: Named member of National Committee of the Shakespeare Anniversary Committee to plan the American celebration of the Shakespeare Quadricentennial
• 1967: Received Doctor of Letters degree from Bates College Mr. Dodson's plays have been performed by theatre groups throughout this country and in England. His poems, plays and fiction have been translated into French, Polish, Italian, Japanese and Norwegian.

From the guide to the Owen Vincent Dodson Papers, 1930-1968, (Moorland-Spingarn Research Center, Howard University)