Richard Berry Harrison
Berry in 1932
Born	(1864-09-28)September 28, 1864
Died	March 14, 1935

Richard Berry Harrison (September 28, 1864 – March 14, 1935) was anactor,teacher, dramatic reader andlecturer. His parents escaped slavery and settled in Canada. He performed from a young age, studied acting inDetroit, Michigan, and became a dramatic reader and actor in the United States. He was featured on the cover ofTIME magazine on March 4, 1935.

Harrison's parents escaped slavery through theUnderground Railroad. Harrison was born inLondon,Canada West, on September 28, 1864, the eldest of five siblings. His mother named him Richard after seeing a performance ofShakespeare'sRichard III. Her interest in theatre placed Harrison on the way to becoming an actor. In his youth, he worked selling newspapers, and managed to work near a local theatre where he would try to get to know the actors. Whenever he saved enough money he would attend the plays. His talents were recognized early in recitations that he would give at school and in church.

After moving to Detroit, he began his dramatic studies at the Detroit Training School of Dramatic Art, and privately with British drama coach Edward Weitzel, drama editor for theDetroit Free Press. From 1892 to 1896, Harrison traveled the U.S., performing as a dramatic reader. Harrison's repertoire included works from Shakespeare and poetry from his friendPaul Laurence Dunbar, including promotional tours for Dunbar's bookOak and Ivy.

He married Gertrude Janet Washington in 1895. She was the first Black person to graduate from theChicago Conservatory of Music.^[when?] They had two children, Lawrence Gilbert and Marian Ysobel. He has descendent family members in Kansas City, Missouri and throughout the Kansas City metro area.

Harrison was booked by the New York Federation of Churches, a lyceum that included 1,600 churches.^[1]

Harrison became extremely well known after playing "de Lawd" in more than 1,650 performances ofMarc Connelly's play,The Green Pastures, which opened onBroadway on February 26, 1930. The show ran for 16 months, then went on tour, appearing in more than 203 cities and towns (including his hometown of London, Ontario, at theGrand Theatre), and later won aPulitzer Prize for Drama for playwright Connelly in 1931.

He taughtelocution and dramatics courses atNorth Carolina Agricultural and Technical College, Branch Normal College (University of Arkansas at Pine BluffArkansas), andFlipper-Key College inOklahoma.

Harrison died of heart failure inNew York City, on March 14, 1935, ten days after he was featured on the cover ofTIME magazine. He was buried atLincoln Cemetery in Blue Island, Illinois.

• Received theNAACP's 1931Spingarn Medal for Distinguished Achievement.
• On his 70th birthday in 1934, he was awarded an honoraryMaster of Arts degree fromHoward University and honorarydoctorate degrees in Dramatic Literature from North Carolina Agriculture and Technical College andLincoln University, and he became the first actor ever to be awarded theSigma Society Key fromBoston University. He had shaken the hands of mayors and received congratulatory telegrams from 14 university presidents and seven governors, was praised by many religious leaders for his performance and was awarded an inscribedBible from the Clergy Club ofNew York City.
• A public library inRaleigh,North Carolina, founded byMollie Huston Lee, was named after Harrison in 1935. In today'sRichard B. Harrison Library is also theRichard B. Harrison Community Auditorium.
• Richard B. Harrison High School is named after Harrison, located at Elm, Noble and McHaney Streets in (Selma NC),Blytheville,Arkansas.
• Richard B. Harrison Gymnasium on Noble Street inSelma, North Carolina, North Carolina, former site of Richard B. Harrison High School. Richared B. harrison Alumni Association purchased former Agriculture building as community facility.
• Harrison has also receivedhonorary degrees from many U.S. colleges and universities.
• Due largely to the efforts of documentaryfilmmaker/historianChris Doty, in 2003 an interpretive historical plaque was erected in aLondon, Ontario, park named in Harrison's honour at the foot of Clarence Street, near where Harrison's childhood home was before it was torched in a race-related incident, hours after the Harrison family moved toDetroit, Michigan, circa 1880. (Harrison's childhood home was located on Wellington Street (west side) immediately north of the Thames River.)
• In 2006, theRichard B. Harrison Auditorium was completed at theNorth Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University (NC A&T).
• The North Carolina Agriculture and Technical State University's theater company is named after him.
• In 2015 the Harrison Park Square Senior Residence was dedicated to him in Newark, NJ.

• Walter C. Daniel,De Lawd: Richard B. Harrison and the Green Pastures. Series: Contributions in Afro-American and African Studies, hardback, 188 pages, 1986, Greenwood Press,ISBN 978-0-313-25300-3

• Andrea J. Nouryeh,When the Lord was a Black Man: A Fresh Look at the Life of Richard Berry Harrison, Indiana State University, Black American Literature Forum, Volume 16, Number 4, Winter 1982, pp. 142–146]
• Bio of Richard B. Harrison
• Richard B. Harrison Library in North Carolina
• TIME magazine cover of March 4, 1935, featuring Harrison
• Memorial Service for Richard B. Harrison

• 1864 births
• 1935 deaths
• Black Canadian male actors
• Canadian male stage actors
• North Carolina A&T State University faculty
• Canadian people of African-American descent
• Canadian emigrants to the United States
• University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff faculty

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