Blueprints to Freedom - Brossura

Washington, Michael Benjamin

Brossura

ISBN 10: 0881459690 ISBN 13: 9780881459692

Casa editrice: Broadway Play Publishing, Incorporated, 2023

Riassunto

In the political and racial upheaval of 1963, Bayard Rustin — the brilliant proponent of non-violent civil resistance — is pushed to orchestrate an unprecedented march on Washington D.C. for jobs and freedom. Exiled from the Civil Rights movement by both internal and external forces, Rustin grapples with his last chance for professional restoration and spiritual redemption as he masterminds "a tribute to the ancestors."

"In Michael Benjamin Washington's absorbing new play about an all-but-forgotten civil rights leader, one of the biggest moments in the fight for racial equality comes off despite — or perhaps because of — a crisis of faith. Faith, in fact, becomes a key motif coursing through BLUEPRINTS TO FREEDOM: An Ode to Bayard Rustin. There's the faith that other African-American activists place in Rustin to organize the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, despite plenty of agonized mutual history. There's the broader faith in the idea that such an action can make a difference, with discrimination and segregation still pervasive in America 100 years after the Emancipation Proclamation. And then there's Rustin's own deep Christian faith, shattered (by his count) 669 days before the play begins, when he was forced to quit the Southern Christian Leadership Council over worries about publicity concerning his private life. Rustin, a pillar of the civil-rights movement who died in 1987, was a gay man (more or less openly so) in a time when that was difficult even for someone not already facing bigotry. That aspect of his identity helps explain why his name has faded from our nation's roll call of those who led the movement in the 1960s. The play … is an often lyrical, dialogue-rich piece of work whose political sweep and sense of building momentum is reminiscent of ALL THE WAY, Robert Schenkkan's 2014 Tony Award-winner about President Johnson's push to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964 … [There is] humor, too. When Rustin's bright young assistant, Miriam Caldwell, asks Rustin and his mentor, A Philip Randolph, why they speak so formally, Randolph replies that it's a nod of respect to their ancestors. Rustin's response: ‘I do it to confuse white people.' (After a pause, he adds: ‘I speak this way aloud because I speak this way to God.') Despite the triumphant notes around the march, which drew a quarter-million people, there's a storm yet to come in BLUEPRINTS. There's always another storm to come, as the ‘Black Lives Matter' movement can attest today. BLUEPRINTS bears witness that history matters, too." —James Hebert, The San Diego Union-Tribune

Dettagli dell?edizione

• Editore: Broadway Play Publishing, Incorporated
• Data di pubblicazione: 2023
• Lingua: Inglese
• ISBN 10: 0881459690
• ISBN 13: 9780881459692
• Rilegatura: Copertina flessibile
• Numero di pagine: 74
• Contatto del produttore: non disponibile
• Persona responsabile: non disponibile