“Dutchman”, also known as “Dutchman & The Slave”, is a one-act, dramatic play written by poet, writer, educator, political activist and playwright Amiri Baraka, then known as LeRoi Jones. “Dutchman” was first presented at the Cherry Lane Theatre in Greenwich Village, New York City, in March 1964. The play, which won an Obie Award, was made into a film in 1967, starring Shirley Knight and Al Freeman Jr. Dutchman was the last play produced by Baraka under his birth name, LeRoi Jones.
As a political allegory depicting Black and White relations, during the time Baraka wrote it he founded the Black Arts Repertory/Theater School (BARTS), and also became a founding voice of the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s, where he promoted a uniquely black nationalist perspective and influenced an entire literary generation. In June 2002, Amiri Baraka served as the second Poet Laureate of New Jersey until the position was abolished in June 2003.