“Art and politics are complementary, not opposing terms.”

These are the words and philosophy of playwright and social activist, John M. O’Neal, Jr., one of the leading figures of Black theater in the South and co-founder of the Free Southern Theater (FST).

Born in Mound City, Illinois, John M. O’Neal Jr. earned a BA degree in English and Philosophy from Southern Illinois University in 1962, where he also studied playwriting. With deep sentiment and strong convictions about the nonviolent civil rights movements in the South, O’Neal moved to Jackson, Mississippi, shortly after graduation and became a Field Secretary of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in Georgia and Mississippi. O’Neal also served as the Committee Chairman and Coordinator for the Freedom School Program of the Council of Federated Organizations’ Freedom Summer in Mississippi project in 1964. After extensive contributions to SNCC, the Council of Racial Equality (CORE), and other civil rights organizations, and as a result of his work as a socially active student at Southern Illinois University, O’Neal helped establish the Free Southern Theater (FST) in 1963.

FST began as the Tougaloo Drama Workshop, co-founded by O’Neal, Doris Derby, and Gilbert Moses at Tougaloo College in Mississippi in October of 1963. For a number of practical reasons, the theater relocated from Mississippi and established its headquarters in New Orleans in 1965. FST played a pivotal role for African Americans and oppressed people in the South by using theater as a tool of social justice. The touring repertory company inspired its cast members to become activists, as well as artists. FST eventually produced its last play in 1980. That same year marked the creation of FST’s successor, Junebug Productions, which was led by O’Neal for many years.