William Wellington Mackey's plays address the questions and debates raised by the black nationalism movements of the 1960s. Mackey focuses his attacks on the black middle class and explores the ways in which the various generations, sexes, and interests which make up a family unit respond to an increasingly radical and violent vision of American life.

Information about Mackey's life is not widely available. He was born in Miami, Florida, and graduated from Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in 1958. Returning to Miami, he taught high school, but spent his summers working as a waiter and bellhop in the New York Catskill mountains. He earned a master's degree in recreational and drama therapy from the University of Minnesota in 1964 and later worked as a recreational therapist at Colorado State Hospital while completing his first play. He was the recipient of a Rockefeller Foundation Playwright's Grant (1972) to begin work...