Ma Rainey's Black Bottom is a 1982 play - one of a ten-
play cycle by
August Wilson, a
Pulitzer Prize-winning
American playwright - that chronicles twentieth century African American experience. The play is set in
Chicago in the 1920s (the only play in the group not set in
Pittsburgh), and deals with issues of race, art, religion and the historic exploitation of black recording artists by white producers.
The play's title refers to a song of the same title by
Ma Rainey referring to the
Black Bottom dance.