Hear Westport actress Kimberly Wilson relate the struggles and influence of a handful of prominent black women in her one-woman dramatization “A Journey” on Wednesday, April 11, at the Westport Historical Society.
Through dialogue and song, Wilson will bring to life the trials of such famous figures as Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Rosa Parks and Maya Angelou.Written by Wilson, the program is an outgrowth of a performance first given at Weston Elementary School 20 years ago.
Wilson says her presentation shows how the faith, hope and calling of six women, including a character she calls the African Queen, helped shape the America we know today.
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The program takes place from noon to 1:30 p.m. at the Westport Historical Society,25 Avery Place. Reservations are required. Tickets are $15 (and include a light lunch). Call 203-222-1424.
Wilson says her dramatization consists of a historical journey and that although the stories are those of black women, they could be about women anywhere trying to start families in a place where they must adapt to a new culture and language. Sojourner Truth and Tubman were both born into slavery and escaped to freedom. Both were important abolitionists. Tubman returned to the South and helped 70 slaves find their freedom through the Underground Railroad. Rosa Parks helped launch the Civil Rights movement when she refused to yield her bus seat to a white passenger in Montgomery, Ala., in 1955. Angelou is a biographer and poet who recited one of her poems at President Bill Clinton's inauguration in January 1993.
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