James de Jongh

Born in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, de Jongh is a playwright, college professor, novelist, and actor. He is an alumnus of Williams College (BA, 1964) and Emeritus Professor of English of the City College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY). He began his career as an actor in Woodie King Jr’s Death of a Prophet. His passion, however, is writing plays. He often collaborated on several plays with Carles Cleveland beginning with Hail Hail the Gangs! (1976), a full-length experimental theater piece about a black teenager who joins a Harlem street gang. – Historical Dictionary of African American Theatre