Nearly forty years ago, Pulitzer Prize winning Playwright and screenwriter Charles Fuller (A Soldier’s Play, 1982 – A Soldier’s Story, 1984) promised his two sons Charles III and David Ira Fuller that he would write a historical adventure story in which they would be the heroes. The story and its historical content had been stewing in his head for quite sometime. The intent was to write a story that would be entertaining for young readers, and at the same time deliver a major dose of history about African-American life in the antebellum North.
Five Point Summer Day.
He wrote a complete outline, and slowly began writing the story which he called at the time, ‘The Adventures of David and Me.”
The Colored Orphans Asylum.
Like so many things we begin, Mr. Fuller’s life as a playwright began in earnest, and the story he promised his two sons was delayed for nearly four decades. His sons however never forgot the promise he had made them and through the years asked him regularly, “When are you going to finish that story you promised us, Dad?” After a sixty-ninth birthday, four grandchildren and both sons passing into middle-age, Mr. Fuller finally finished writing their story. It is called, ‘Snatch: The Adventures of David and Me in Old New York’ and represents a promise fulfilled.
