On Friday, Dec. 2, from 11 a.m. to noon in room T220 of Clayton Hall, the Clayton State University Department of Teacher Education will be hosting noted playwright and children's author Calvin Alexander Ramsey, who will share his inspirations for historical plays and fiction, his writing techniques, and his future aspirations. His presentation is free and open to the public.
Ramsey’s best-known work, the play The Green Book is set in the Jim Crow era. It reveals a piece of forgotten history, the use of the Green Book by African-Americans from 1936 until 1964 to safely travel cross-country. This historical guidebook identified lodging, gas stations, and restaurants where African-Americans were welcomed along the way across the country.
According to Clayton State Associate Professor of Teacher Education Dr. Mary Hollowell, Ramsey’s moving play about the Green Book, featuring an African-American businessman, a Jewish Holocaust survivor, and an African-American military officer, has brought many audiences to tears.
Ramsey’s children’s book, “Ruth and the Green Book,” is based on the same topic, recently winning a Jane Addams Children’s Book Honor Award given by the Jane Addams Peace Association. “Ruth and the Green Book” will also be presented as a puppet show at the Center for Puppetry Arts in February 2012.
The author’s latest book, about the funeral of Martin Luther King Jr., is titled “Belle, the Last Mule at Gee’s Bend.”
“Mr. Ramsey is skilled at conveying difficult historical subject matter with great sensitivity to wide audiences,” says Hollowell.