William Hairston papers

1928-2000

William Hairston was an actor, writer, director, producer, and administrator. Born in 1928, in Goldsboro, North Carolina, Hairston appeared in several off-Broadway productions; television, including Harlem Detective (1953); and films, such as Take the High Ground (1953). Additionally, Hairston was the production coordinator and co-producer at the Greenwich Mews Theatre in New York City; theatre manager for the New York Shakespeare Festival; director of Jerico-Jim Crow by Langston Hughes, produced in New York City; co-director of community relations at the NYSF Mobile Theatre Unit; and assistant to the director at the Arean Stage in Washington, DC. Hairston also worked in radio as a correspondent and radio news editor for the Democratic National Committee. He also worked in the District of Columbia Executive Office of the Mayor, as the executive manager of personnel. Hairston wrote a number of plays, including "Walk In Darkness" and "Ira Frederick Aldridge (The London Conflict)"; books, such as The World of Carlos and Sex and Conflict; and scripts. He also served as an editor and publisher of the government employer's newsletter, D.C. Pipeline. Throughout his career as a writer, actor and producer, he was awarded several grants including the Ford Foundation Theatre Grant, 1965-1966; NEA Literary Study Grant, 1967; and the Group Theatres Multi Cultural Playwrights Festival Award, 1988. Hairston died in 2020.