Black Folks & Auctions & Freedom, Oh My!

04.20.11    Black Folks & Auctions & Freedom, Oh My!   Harriet Tubman once said, "I woulda freed a lot more folks if they had known they was slaves." Lately, I've been thinking about Sista Harriet as the world prepares to visit the United States to learn about how this great democracy is faring 150 years after the American Civil War.   Here in Hampton Roads, VA where so much of this history happened, we are on the front lines of explaining the details of how a small cabal of white males laid out a beautiful vision, fought a war of independence and from there grew the most powerful nation on the planet by standing on the backs and shoulders of those who were not property-owners.    About 50 guys who looked like Donald Trump set up the USA so that they were the only ones able to participate in the democracy. To make sure they had no competition they made enslavement of Black people legal with a 3/5s taxation formula. Today, which is April 20, 2011, the predominately Black city of Washington D.C. has recently be told by the 99.9% white Republican party that the citizens of D.C. cannot use their own tax dollars to get services from Planned Parenthood. Back in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries this policy was called Manifest Destiny.    Today it's called getting f-k-d and once again people of color, poor people, women, the disabled, the young, the old, the weak keep getting the crap beat out of them by the descendants of the 20 guys who founded Jamestown, VA in 1607. The work of JuneteenthVA is about using the theatre arts to look at this history without shame or blame.   Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant on April 9, 1865.  From my vantage point this is a day to celebrate, but so far, except for a ball sponsored by a group of South Carolina (it's always South Carolina) Confederate re-enactors it's all been fairly somber.  This makes sense for the side that lost, but for those of us who think it was wonderful that the North won, we need to get our act together.  Already there's been quite a lot of huffing and puffing about what's proper and appropriate as teachers in Ohio and Virginia are already in trouble for simulating slave auctions for their students. Clearly, these teachers need help to properly teach what must be taught.  Instead, they will, most likely, be reprimanded for trying to do their jobs.   Richmond, VA, capitol of the Confederacy,  was the location for the second largest slave auction block in the South.  This fact should not be ignored.  The high number of enslaved coming up from the deep South made Hampton Roads very popular with freedom seekers. Because of its numerous ports and the Great Dismal Swamp, the region was a major stop on the Underground Railroad. This fact should not be ignored.  The 1831 Nat Turner Insurrection in Southampton County should rightly be recognized as the first battle of the Civil War. The 60 whites and ove 200 Blacks who died in the immediate weeks after the insurrection were most certainly casualties of war.  Another Southampton County native son was Dred Scott whose legal efforts to claim his freedom took him all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. This fact and none of the many, many facts that are not yet in history books should ever be ignored.   JuneteenthVA's mission is about using the theatre arts to look at this painful history as an ultimately useful step in the bridge building necessary to unite and empower America.  Examples of how hard this work is include being in the auditorium of I.C. Norcom High School (which in the days of segregation was the school for Blacks) when the 2007 13th Annual Hampton Roads Juneteenth Festival presented a slave auction as a part of the annual festival.  At the time I was a member of the Portsmouth School Board.  One year later I was accused of owing Portsmouth Public Schools thousands of dollars.  I was endorsed and then un-endorsed by the Virginian Pilot newspaper for my losing re-election bid.  Connection? You be the judge.   Friday, May 20th, Saturday, May 22nd, and Monday, May 23rd at 7pm and Sunday, May 22nd at 6pm please join us at the Collective Arts Theatre located inside Pembroke Mall at 4554 Virginia Beach Blvd, Virginia Beach, VA  23462 for performances of Abolitionists' Museum. The play features eight historical figures who are wax figures in a museum where the curator brings in a Confederate flag.  Sojourner Truth, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, John Brown, David Walker, Abraham Lincoln and Nat Turner debate whether or not to burn it.  A post show discussion is an integral part of the presentation.  Our goal is to get people to honestly talk about how they feel about the themes presented in the play.  Please see www.youtube.com/juneteenthva to see how we work.   These performances are in celebration of the first three enslaved Africans Americans who gained their freedom on May 23, 1861 before the Civil War. James Baker, Shepherd Mallory and Frank Townsend rowed across the Elizabeth River from Norfolk to Hampton.  There they presented themselves to General Benjamin Butler and requested their freedom.  Butler, a lawyer, developed a legal path to freedom in a policy that came to be known as Contrabands of War.  This important history must be shared by all Americans who believe in Freedom! May 20th - May23rd at CAT-VA will celebrate Contrabands of War Days. Join us and become a part of something good and positive.   The opportunity to understand the connection between the past and the future is now.  Hampton Roads, VA is Ground Zero for this history.  From the Indians to the first Africans in the New World in 1619 it all happened in Virginia.  We must be the ones to carry forth the banner that proclaims that the American Dream belongs to all of us.    In 2009 on the 50th anniversary of when Norfolk closed its public schools rather than integrate there were several dinners and apologies from the mayor and the governor to the Norfolk 17.  These were the 17 Negro children who were chosen to integrate the schools once they reopened in February 1959.  There was a very boring play commissioned and presented with the hope of not offending anyone.  Two years later there is no evidence of what Massive Resistance was and nobody is asking for another performance of the play. Black folks, we must start honoring our history.  This is our responsibility.  We are descendants of a people who never stopped fighting until they were free.  We were not given our freedom.  We earned it by the blood, sweat and tears of our oppressed ancestors.   If you're interested in working with other social justice and creative individuals, you really should make your way to the Collective Arts Theatre at some point between Friday, May 20th and Monday, May 23rd.  There will be screenings of vignettes of serious and funny stuff each day.  There will be vendors and all the wonderful offerings of Pembroke Mall.  Just because we're serious about history doesn't mean we don't know how to have fun.  We do. We truly believe in the power of art to help us all survive and thrive.   Call 757.905.2895 to make reservations to see Abolitionists' Museum on Friday, May 20th; Saturday, May 21st; Monday, May 23rd at 7pm; and, Sunday, May 22nd at 6pm. Tickets are $15 reserved and $10 at the door.   Peace in the Future of a Nu World, sb