On-The-Move People

On Wednesday evening July 13, Carolyn Evans interpreted Harriet Tubman in a Histro-Drama, “Harriet Tubman - The Love In That Cabin,” to a nearly capacity crowd in the Gerritt Smith Oswego Public Library Community Room.

Harriet Tubman came to life for an hour and a half in that room. The performance was neither a lecture nor a play, but a series of reminisces in the voice and manner of one of the most passionate and driven women in the 19th century. Evans embodied Tubman in a series of stories: one about the violent head injury she suffered as a child, which caused a dent in her skull and spells where she would slip into a sleep like state. A story about returning to the South to bring her husband, John Tubman, back north with her, only to find that he had a new wife who was already with child. Carolyn Evans, with a few props and costume pieces, drew the audience into the world of the self-liberated heroine, often called “the Moses of her people”.

After the performance, Carolyn invited the audience to ask her any questions, and indicate if they wanted her to answer as Harriet Tubman or herself. The requests about her later history in Auburn NY prompted her several times to return to her performance and tell another story in the voice of Harriet.

Ms. Evans is a graduate of Syracuse University, attended SUNY New Paltz, Marymount College, and the City University of New York. She has appeared at the Apollo Theater, the Seneca Falls Women’s Rights National Historical Park, on PBS and CNN television channels, and at numerous libraries, schools and historic sites throughout the Northeast and the South. She presents the music and stories of a variety of other African American historical figures, including Sojourner Truth, aviatrix pioneer Bessie Coleman, and Emmitt Till’s mother Mamie Till in a series titled: “Women Who Could’ve Sung the Blues But Didn’t.” She also creates interactive workshops on the Underground Railroad and African culture incorporating music, dance and poetry. Her website is www.singstruth1.com

The production was co-sponsored by the Oswego County Historical Society, the Oswego Public Library and the Mexico Historical Society.