Brain Snacks: Tasty Tidbits of Knowledge
Harvard philosopher Stanley Cavell pointed out that there is a "demon" in Desdemona and a "hell" in Othello. (Source: Schalkwyk, David. Speech and Performance in Shakespeare's Sonnets and Plays. Cambridge, England; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002. 195.)
There have been several productions of Othello performed with all-black casts, and at least one, a production in 1997 starring Patrick Stewart, in which Othello is white and the rest of the cast is black. (Source)
In more recent years, one of the first well-known black actors to play Othello was Paul Robeson, a high-profile black actor, singer, and activist. Robeson played the title role in productions in England in 1930 and in the United States in 1943. These were groundbreaking productions (although not the first time a black actor played the role). (Source)