Hughes Allison (1908–1974), was an African American author, playwright, and journalist.

Early life

Hughes Allison was born in North Carolina and moved to Newark with his family in 1919. His father was in life insurance, and his mother was a teacher. He attended Bergen Street Grammar School,

Barringer High School Barringer Academy of the Arts & Humanities (formerly Barringer High School and Newark High School), is a four-year comprehensive public high school serving students in ninth through twelfth grades in Newark, in Essex County, in the U.S. sta ...

, and

Upsala College Upsala College (UC) was a private college affiliated with the Swedish-American Augustana Synod (later the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) and located in East Orange in Essex County, New Jersey in the United States, with an additiona ...

. He was married to Elitea ("Lee") Bulkley, a librarian, in 1919.

Published works

Allison's first published story was in Challenge Magazine in 1935. He regularly contributed to

Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine ''Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine'' is a bi-monthly American digest size fiction magazine specializing in crime fiction, particularly detective fiction, and mystery fiction. Launched in fall 1941 by Mercury Press, ''EQMM'' is named after the fic ...

and True Story; he was the first African American to have a short story published in

with the story Corollary. His most famous character in his mysteries was African American detective Joe Hill, who Allison said was "equipped to think with his skin". Some of his mystery stories featured characters inspired by real Newark policemen. Allison wrote the 1937 Broadway play "The Trial of Dr. Beck," which was originally produced by the Federal Theatre. The ''Brooklyn Daily Eagle'' wrote, " tis a vigorous and entertaining sample of its kind". The ''New York Daily News'' called it a "well-written, well-acted drama" and said "when the Federal Theatre Project can present an evening's entertainment of this type for 55 cents, the Broadway producers better look to their box offices". Allison also wrote "It's Midnight Over Newark", which was produced by the Mosque Theatre (now Symphony Hall) in 1941. The play centered around the lack of African-American doctors and nurses in Newark hospitals. Allison also wrote over 2,000 radio scripts. In the 1950s, he wrote a series of articles on school segregation for the ''

Newark Evening News The ''Newark Evening News'' was an American newspaper published in Newark, New Jersey. As New Jersey's largest city, Newark played a major role in New Jersey's journalistic history. At its apex, ''The News'' was widely regarded as the newspaper of ...

'', which inspired court cases by the federal government.

Later life

The home of Allison and his wife, at 15 Wallace St in Newark, was threatened in the 1970s by urban renewal, when the entire neighborhood was slated for demolition. Though the Allisons protested the decision, they were unsuccessful and the house was demolished. In his later years his writing was limited due to failing health and he died in 1974. Allison's papers are held at the Newark Public Library.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Allison, Hughes 1908 births 1974 deaths Black theatre