Trend Magazine Online™
Travel Review Fall 2023
National Black Theatre Festival
Part II, Pg. I of II
Winston-Salem, NC
Douglass-Sojourner
#nbtf #frederickdouglass #sojournertruth

By Jay Whipple

Trend Magazine Online™

Edutainment At It's Best!^cont'd.

Welcome to Part II of my exclusive 2022 National Black Theatre Festival (NBTF) review. As promised, I will share with you my experience of the second half of my memorable day in the quaint city of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, during this iconic theatre festival. I chose a play about the life and times of two of my favorite emancipators Mr. Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey b.k.a. Frederick Douglass (1818 - 1895) and Ms. Isabella Baumfree b.k.a. Sojourner Truth (1797 - 1883) entitled Frederick Douglass: No Turning Back by the Actors' Theatre of South Carolina, Summerville, SC. I am an endearing student of Black history and could not wait to delve into the producers of this play's account of the lives of these he/sheroes of the anti-slavery movement during the most sullied period of American history which is currently under attack by evil forces in very high places.

I arrived at approximately 6:50 pm after getting turned around because my GPS (Global Positioning System) took me to a house in an adjacent neighborhood after I entered in the address provided by the NBTF program. It worked better when I entered the Reynolda House Museum name into my GPS. I was a bit concerned because there was absolutely no NBTF signage at the entrance which made me wonder if I was in the right place. There were groups of younger people exercising/walking along the long driveway after entering the site.

I felt relieved when a Shuttle bus arrived around 7 pm and folks that appeared to be theatre goers got off and headed to one of the site's front entrances. I then relaxed and fed my face until about 7:25 pm, then walked up to that entrance to get in at my usual 30-minute early time frame to get a good seat. I have not been to this place in ions; so long ago that I cannot remember when and why I was here, and with who on that occasion. I seem to recall being with a female but that's about it for that vague memory - or was it a dream? I honestly cannot attest to one or the other.

I was treated to a warm and friendly welcome upon entry by the greeters that were present. This set up was a lot more organized than the 2 PM Aretha play downtown. Some theatre-goers were already gathered in the lobby where there were restrooms and a water fountain in proximity to the theatre entrance. The staff began allowing us in at about 7:40 PM to this very quaint modern-style theatre with descending seats to the stage level.

There was a lady playing the piano and singing old spirituals -- dressed in a green robe with white lace to include a matching, white-laced top hat. Audience members were still trickling in just after the 8 PM advertised start time, and the players took to the stage at approximately 8:05 PM. There was a 10 second moment of silence for the NBTF's co-founders Mr. and Mrs. Hamlin who some may say were watching from above. Our mixed audience of mostly seniors (60+) were then treated to some more singing and piano playing by Ms. Sandra S. Barnhardt, who brought to this stage nearly 60 years of music experience and an illustrious career as musician and music educator.

The Frederick Douglass (1818? - 1895), played by New York actor Kyle Taylor, portion of the play began after his escape to freedom in 1838 when he was 29 years old, and the setting is an integrated church in western Ohio in 1872, 34 years later when he was about 63 years old. They brought up Mr. William Lloyd Garrison (1805 - 1879) and his The Liberator anti-slavery newspaper (1831 - 1865), and Douglass's North Star anti-slavery newspaper which was first published in 1847.

They then mentioned how his two sons (Lewis and Charles) fought on the side of the Union (north) for the historic colored 54^th Infantry out of Massachusetts during the American Civil War (1861 - 1865). Next, they got into his endearing quest to learn how to read and how he paid white kids with pieces of bread to teach him, as well as assistance from Ms. Sophia Auld, and other white as well as colored (today Black/African-American) folks that crossed his path to freedom. The performer Kyle Taylor then broke off into the song "Still Away" which featured his deep bass voice followed by applause from the audience.

The play then addressed Douglass's trials and tribulations concerning his interactions with his master and other white men he found himself having to serve; with special attention to his physical altercation with Edward Covey - known as The Slave Breaker. He fought back and history states that he never had any other such issues with that demon. They then got into how he met his future wife (Anna Murray, a free colored woman) and her role in assisting him with his escape to New York in 1838.

NBTF Signage!

That snippet was followed by Taylor's second song "Deliver Daniel" with the audience clapping along and erupting in a huge applause afterwards. They then got into his life as a fugitive Slave, some of the folks who offered him refuge, his marriage to Anna (his first wife), and their subsequent move to New Bedford, MA, which was considered a safer place to hide from capture and return to the dirty south.

Douglass-Sojourner eTicket!

They brought out that New Bedford was a much better choice for run-away Slaves because it was integrated and most folks there were against returning Slaves. In addition, they delved into his and his wife's move into their first abode at 21 7^th Street near Elm which is now a National Historic Landmark known as The Nathan and Polly Johnson House; and subsequent move to their home on Elm Street where he joined a white Methodist church but eventually left to join the Black A.M.E. (African Methodist Episcopal) Zion church which was also Araminta Ross's (Harriett Tubman; 1822 - 1913) denomination.They then covered the origin of his acquaintance with Mr. Garrison and his Liberator newspaper and his subsequent joining of the Anti-Slavery Society after giving a speech on Nantucket Island, MA. That speech led to others and Douglass was so eloquent that folks did not believe that he was a bona-fide run away Slave which prompted him to write and publish his first book "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written by Himself" in 1845.

The play then brought out Douglass's self-exile in England for reportedly 21 months (circa 1845 - 1847) to avoid being captured and returned to slavery. While there he gave speeches and sold copies of his book in England, Scotland, and Ireland. He then accepted the offer by abolitionists to purchase his freedom and thus returned to the States a free man and subsequently relocated to Rochester, NY, with his wife (Anna) and then four children. There Douglass began to engage in equal rights for all genders and races to include women's rights, colored (now Black/African-American) men's rights to serve in the Union Army, Black suffrage against Jim Crow laws, and other social issues. He became involved with other high-profile icons of American history to include President Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865), abolitionist John Brown (1800 - 1859), and women's suffrage leader Susan B. Anthony (1820 - 1906), to name a few.On Saturday July 5, 1852, Douglass delivered one of, if not his most, famous speeches held at Rochester's Corinthian Hall, known today as "What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July?" This play ended with another soul-stirring solo by Taylor entitled "I am your fellow man and not your Slave" and subsequent standing ovation, at approximately 9:05 PM.

I first became acquainted with Frederick Douglass in grade school at Lillie C. Evans elementary in Liberty City Miami, Fl., back in the mid 1960's during the height of the Civil Rights Movement. I had no idea that six decades later I would be attending a play about his life and times over 700 miles away from that school and then writing this article. Mr. Douglass is still one of my favorite abolitionists along with Ms. Tubman and Ms. Truth. This play was a good homage to my hero, and I am pleased to present my review of Sojourner which is the second half of this very important presentation.