Did Black workers build the Brooklyn Bridge?
Here is an unpublished photo from the 1870s documenting the bridge's construction.
Notice the Black man in the left of the photo, dressed like all the other workers.
Here is the published version of that photo:
What stories are preserved by "history?"
What stories are erased?
THE ROEBLINGS is a new musical set in 1870s New York during the construction of what is now known as the Brooklyn Bridge. It tells the story of a Black family named Robeling who moves to Brooklyn in search of economic opportunity the building of the Bridge promises, alongside the story of the famous white family named Roebling tasked with building it.
THE ROEBLINGS is written by Doug Silver (music and lyrics), Michael Mejias (book), and Andrew Frank (book). We began drafting this material in the fall of 2019, staged a professional reading in the studio at Playwrights Horizons in June of 2022, significantly revised the work over the ensuing years, and recently recorded a comprehensive piano-vocal demo of the current score-in-progress, available on this website.