Melvin B. Tolson - Dust Bowl Players - MAIN PAGE

The Oklahoma Conference

of the NAACP presents

The Dust Bowl Players

of Langston University

M.B. Tolson

Playwright-Director

The Fire in the Flint

Historic Premiere

A dramatization based on the novel

The Fire in the Flint by Walter White.

Oklahoma City, June 28, 1952

LEFT: Melvin B. Tolson

and
Walter White backstage

Mrs. Rosa B. Moore, mother of martyred

Harry T. Moore, receives the Spingarn Medal from

N.J.Congressman Clifford P. Case. Crisis Nov 1980

In addition to writing original dramas, Tolson adapted two novels for the stage:
George Schuyler’s BLACK NO MORE and Walter White’s FIRE IN THE FLINT.

Tolson’s FIRE IN THE FLINT premiered at the 43rd NAACP Conference in Oklahoma on June 28, 1952 with a performance by The Dust Bowl Players who were also directed by Tolson. We include 2 photos of Tolson backstage with Walter White, a copy of 2 pages of the script, the programs for the performance and the conference, and a few external links related to the tragic case of the civil rights activists Harriette and Harry T. Moore. The performance was dedicated to the Moores.

Mrs. Rosa B. Moore received the Spingarn Medal at the Conference on behalf of her son. The Moore’s daughter, Evangeline Moore, who was not home at the time of the bombing of the Moore’s home (see news article below), has worked to promote the story of her parents’ contribution to the Civil Rights Struggles of our time.

notes on:

Walter White

Fire in the Flint

and

The Work of a Mob

Two Pages
of the Script

Tolson’s dramatic adaptation of

Fire in the Flint

Dust Bowl Players

Program

and

NAACP Conference Program

External Links:

from The Crisis

Aug – Sept 1952

A Report on the

NAACP Oklahoma Conference

from

google news

The St. Petersburg Times

December 27, 1951

Negro Educator is Killed

As Explosion Wrecks Home

from WBIR

Evangeline Moore Visits

Replica of Parent’s House