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Saluting Vinie Burrows
LYNDA WALKER pays tribute to a trailblazing black actor who championed progressive causes, leading to a close relationship with struggles for justice in Ireland
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Vinie Burrows (November 11 1924 – December 25 2023), actor and political activist, died peacefully on Christmas Day aged 99. Her friends in Ireland send our deepest condolences to her family and friends.
Nicole Rosky, editor-in-chief of Broadway World, writes: “Actress Vinie Burrows, once proclaimed ‘the queen of black theatre’ by Clive Barnes of the New York Times, passed away peacefully surrounded by her family.”
Burrows, the world-renowned actor and activist, was a native New Yorker and NYU graduate, with a BA and a Masters, and in recent years was bestowed an honorary PhD from the New School.
Burrows started her career as a child actor in radio and then made her Broadway debut in the production of The Wisteria Trees starring Helen Hayes, followed by several appearances in other notable Broadway productions, including The Skin of our Teeth alongside Helen Hayes, Mary Martin, and George Abbott.
Always ahead of her time, Burrows realised: “As a black actress whose talents have never been fully used in our theatre, I then turned to solo performances not merely to find employment but also to gain a greater measure of artistic fulfilment and personal satisfaction. In creating the six different programmes in my solo repertoire, I have tapped a rich vein from my own black culture and heritage.”
This was exemplified by the success of her 1968 production of Walk Together Children, which broke all records for the longest-running off-Broadway one-woman show. Some of her other highly acclaimed multimedia one-woman shows include Dark Fire and Sister Sister.
Burrows was the Women’s International Democratic Federation (WIDF) representative at the UN. It was through her work with the WIDF that women in the Northern Ireland Women’s Rights Movement got to know her and she was invited to Ireland. Burrows visited Ireland three times: in 1984, when she stayed in Twinbrook, west Belfast, and in 1994 and 2011 when she stayed in north Belfast.
In 1994 she was interviewed by Ulster Television about her work on and off stage. On all three occasions, she met with women’s organisations and trade unionists.
She helped organise anti-racist workshops, performed from her productions Children Walk Together and Sister Sister, and spoke at women’s rights meetings and anti-war meetings. In March 2011 she travelled to Cork to perform for the Irish Congress of Trade Unions women’s committee seminar.
As part of the 2011 Reclaim the Agenda International Women’s Day events in Belfast, she spoke and performed in Stormont and also helped lead the centennial anniversary IWD march. She can be seen in some of the photographs in the book Phenomenal Women: A Decade of Action.
She was a women’s rights, civil rights and anti-war activist. In her later life, she was one of the leading activists in Grannies Peace Brigade. The grannies had many protests and also went to enlist to join the US army, in protest against the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. These are just a few observations of Burrows’s contributions in life.
Burrows continued her acting, cultural, and political actions all her life. We salute you Burrows and will carry on the work and ideals that you shared for a better, peaceful world. Burrows is survived by her son and daughter, six grandchildren; seven great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild.
Burrows won the Paul Robeson Award in 1986. In 2018 she received an award from the International Communications Association and Audelco for her outstanding contribution to the arts and the community. In 2018, Burrows was named the honoree at theatre for the New City’s 15th annual Love ‘n’ Courage gala, where she was given a lifetime achievement award. In 2020 Burrows was given an Obie Award for lifetime achievement.
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