The Great White Hope
by Howard Sackler

Name: The Great White Hope
Brand: Howard Sackler
SKU: 9780573609602
Rating: 3.42 (64 reviews)

The Great White Hope Book Cover — The Great White Hope Cover

Highlights

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Large Cast

Female

Male

120 mins1910s/WWIRole(s) for Black Actor(s)Interior SetPeriod CostumesAmerican

Awards & Recognition

Drama Desk AwardPulitzer PrizeTony Award

Winner! 1969 Pulitzer Prize for Drama Winner! Three 1969 Tony Awards, including Best Play Winner! Two 1969 Drama Desk Awards

What readers are saying

Readers have mixed feelings about the play, with some praising its powerful themes and insights into racial issues, while others criticize its datedness and complexity in written dialogue. Many admire its dramatic retelling of Jack Johnson's life and the historical context surrounding it. Overall, while some find it compelling and thought-provoking, others struggle with its accessibility and presentation.

Powerful and insightful themesWell-structured writingDramatic historical contextDated dialogue and accentsComplexity in written form

Synopsis

Tragic Drama / Characters: 8 male, 3 female, extras w/doublingWinner of Pulitzer Prize and the Tony Award!"A great part a tragic hero, cheated, degraded, and at last brutally beaten.

Mr. Sackler has used his hero, a figure based on the first Black heavyweight champion of the world, Jack Johnson (played by James Earl Jones), as a symbol in part of Black aspiration...Has an epic scope and range...It picks up the Johnson story soon after the Australian day in 1908 when Johnson whipped Tommy B

Press Reviews

"A great part – a tragic hero, cheated, degraded, and at last brutally beaten. Mr. Sackler has used his hero, a figure based on the first Black heavyweight champion of the world, Jack Johnson (played by James Earl Jones), as a symbol in part of Black aspiration... [it] has an epic scope and range."
— The New York Times