"From the Mississippi Delta" chronicles, through theater and music, a story of oppression, triumph and tumult based on the life of an African-American woman activist. This musical play will run
tonight at 8 p.m. in Spaulding Auditorium.
Endesha Ida Mae Holland wrote this autobiographical play, which traces her journey from poverty and prostitution to civil rights activism to feminism and academia.
The original version of "From the Mississippi Delta" played off-Broadway to great acclaim. The play is loaded with gospel and blues and is performed by three actresses, Kathi A. Bentley, Venida Evans and NeAnni Y. Ife, who represent many characters who were influential in Holland's life.
Holland was born in 1944 in Greenwood, Miss. into a segregated life of limited opportunity. By her 11th birthday she had been raped by a white man, and less than a year later had been initiated into life on the street.
When the workers for the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee came to Greenwood in the early 1960s, Holland traded in her destitution for a career at the center of the movement. She went to work registering voters, marching in rallies and giving speeches.
Anti-civil rights groups targeted Holland, firebombing her mother's house and killing her wheel-chair bound mother.
Holland persevered and eventually joined the faculty of the State University of New York at Buffalo, writing a number of well-received plays, including "Miss Ida B. Wells" and "Requiem for a Snake." As the assistant director of the American Studies department, she frequently focuses her courses on African-American and female literature.
Tickets for "From the Mississippi Delta," $8.50 for students, are on sale at the Hopkins Center Box Office. A discussion will follow the performance.
