Harry Dolan facts for kids
Harry Dolan (born November 5, 1927 – died September 7, 1981) was an important American writer. He was also a director at the Watts Writers Workshop, which was started by Budd Schulberg. Harry Dolan began his career as a janitor. He became one of the most respected African American writers of his time. Through his work at the Watts Writers Workshop, he helped people understand the challenges faced by African Americans in the United States during the 1960s.
Harry Dolan's Early Life and Education
Harry Dolan was born in Pittsburgh. He went to Pittsburgh High and then to Carnegie Tech. He first studied to become an architect. However, he found it too difficult and decided it wasn't for him.
After college, he spent seven years in the Coast Guard. This time allowed him to read many books and learn about different kinds of writing. After leaving the Coast Guard, he worked as a fiction editor for The Boston Sun newspaper.
In 1962, he moved to California with his family. He got a job as a janitor at the Los Angeles City Hall. This job also gave him lots of time to read and write. He was studying at Los Angeles Harbor College when the Watts riots happened in 1965. He learned about Budd Schulberg's Watts Writers Workshop from a magazine called Jet. This led him to join the workshop.
The Watts Writers Workshop and Its Impact
The people who joined the Watts Writers Workshop had one main goal: they wanted to write. They wrote poems, essays, and stories based on their own lives. Their writings often showed the anger, fears, and difficulties of people living in Watts.
In 1966, Harry Dolan, along with Budd Schulberg and Johnie Scott, spoke to a special committee of the United States Congress. This committee was looking into the problems faced by African Americans in big cities. This was one of many important chances the Workshop created that year.
The words written by the Workshop members changed how people saw Watts after 1965. Instead of just seeing streets with police, people started to see a place where people were fighting for their culture and spirit. Harry Dolan wrote a short piece called Will There Be Another Riot in Watts?. In this writing, he spoke out about how people sometimes ignored unfairness. He helped bring attention to these serious issues.
Harry Dolan's Rise to Success
As the Watts Writers Workshop became more popular, it got attention from the news in Los Angeles. For example, NBC TV showed a special program called 'The Angry Voices of Watts' in August 1966.
Among the writers, Harry Dolan became well-known for his plays. One of his most famous was a teleplay (a play written for television) called Losers and Weepers. He first wrote it for a magazine called Mystery Digest. The original story was about a poor white family. It focused on missing money.
However, other writers at the Workshop gave Dolan ideas to change the story. He rewrote it to show the challenges and helplessness of a Black family living in a city neighborhood. The play highlighted the difficult life in these areas. In February 1967, Losers and Weepers was shown on national television. It was the first episode of a show called NBC Experiment in Television.
Losers and Weepers was a big step for Dolan's career. Soon after it became a hit, he signed a deal with Warner Bros. Seven Arts. He was hired to adapt a Broadway show called 'No Strings' for the big screen.
In 1970, Dolan worked with writer and singer Dee Dee McNeal. They produced Dolan's play called The Iron Hand of Nat Turner. This play told the story of an 1831 slave rebellion in Virginia. It was told from the point of view of its leader, Nat Turner, who was a preacher and a slave.
Besides taking care of his wife and six children, Dolan was also very involved in the lives of the Watts writers. He helped many men and women become leaders and artists in their community. He mentored writers like Amde and Otis, who were part of a group called The Watts Prophets. He made Amde an assistant director and asked Otis to teach poetry and creative writing.
