ECHOES
of the PAST & VOICES of HOPE:
CELEBRATING AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN
ECHOES OF THE PAST
weaves in and out of history to explore the turning points in the
lives of five African women of remarkable strength and courage.
Each character comes complete with a concise background narrative
along with subtle costume pieces to set the stage. This dramatic
performance takes a look at what it has been like to be black and
female over the past 150 years.
The play
opens with Henrietta King, an old slave woman who begins to move
us along this time line with an incredibly moving story of "What
slave days was like."
Spotlighted
are the vital turning points in the lives of remarkable and courageous
women including antislavery activist Sojourner Truth, journalist
Ida B. Wells and fifteen year old Elizabeth Eckford, one of the
"Little Rock Nine" who integrated Central High (Little
Rock, Ark.) in 1957.
The performance
ends with the courageous battle of the children of South Africa,
known as the Uprising of Soweto relived through the words of Winnie
Mandela.
VOICES OF HOPE is a celebration of the spirit of
African American women who believed that they could make their dreams
a reality. Each character introduces herself along this journey.
Side by side the audience walks along the path of the Underground
Railroad with Harriet Tubman who "never ran her train off the
track and never lost a passenger."
With less
than two dollars and a dream we meet Madam C.J. Walker who developed
a solution to the "nappy head blues" and became a self-made
millionaire.
 The climax of this drama
soars to new heights with the first African American female aviator,
Bessie Coleman, remembered by her fans as "Queen Bess".
And before its all over we are inspired by the determined fight
of charming, youthful Wilma Rudolph, who against all odds, becomes
the fastest woman in the world.
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