Buried Alive: Performance Magic and Black Herman's Private Graveyard in 1920s Harlem.

  • Published In: Theatre Journal, 2025, v. 77, n. 3. P. 275 1 of 3

  • Database: Academic Search Ultimate 2 of 3

  • Authored By: Robinson, Aileen K. 3 of 3

Abstract

What constitutes magic as a performance and a strategy within 1920s Black life? This article approaches this question through an analysis of Benjamin Herman Rucker, or "Black Herman," a magician, entrepreneur, hustler, and conjure-man who performed throughout the East Coast in the 1920s and '30s. It specifically analyzes his most popular trick, "Buried Alive," in which he "resurrected" himself or his female stage assistants after hours under the earth. His performance restaged the Black funerary, and Black revival, within a complex masculinist stage illusion, which, the article argues, demonstrated shifts from black magic as "dark arts" to Black magic as technique-based (identitarian) practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Additional Information

  • Source:Theatre Journal. 2025/09, Vol. 77, Issue 3, p275
  • Document Type:Article
  • Subject Area:History
  • Publication Date:2025
  • ISSN:0192-2882
  • DOI:10.1353/tj.2025.a971565
  • Accession Number:189042390
  • Copyright Statement:Copyright of Theatre Journal is the property of Johns Hopkins University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Looking to go deeper into this topic? Look for more articles on EBSCOhost.