Eulalie Spence papers

1926-1991

Eulalie Spence was born in Nevis, West Indies, on June 11, 1884. She and her family moved to New York in 1902. Spence was among the pioneer playwrights during the Harlem Renaissance and wrote fourteen plays, five of which were published, including Episode, Fool's Errand, Her, The Hunch, and Undertow. She wrote only one three-act play, "The Whipping", which was optioned by Paramount Studios, but never made into a film. Several of Spence's plays won awards; "Foreign Mail" placed second in the Crisis competition for playwriting. Spence was a contemporary of W. E. B. Du Bois and taught Joseph Papp. Spence died on March 7, 1994. The Eulalie Spence collection consists of correspondence, playbills, scripts, photographs, agreements, and newspaper clippings. Also included are materials related to her participation in The Dramatists' Guild and "The Lightouse Players.