If you’re looking to engage a white audience in Black Lives Matter conversations… consider this heartbreaking yet love-filled family portrait. This play was “the first attempt to use the stage for race propaganda in order to enlighten the [white] American people relative to the lamentable condition of the millions of Colored citizens in this free republic,” according to the program for the first production in NYC in 1916. Rachel, a young Black woman in love, wonders if she could endure having kids of her own given the racism she and the children in her neighborhood face everyday. Though certainly a tragedy, this play also shows Black love and Black joy in this historically important piece.ExpandTheCanon.combit.ly/HedgepigMembershipsThis episode is hosted by Mary Candler and Shanon Corenthin, and the scene is performed by Jamal James and Samanthia Nixon.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/this-is-a-classic-the-expand-the-canon-theatre-podcast/donations

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“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.

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