Film, Video Black Pearl Sings!

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Title: Black Pearl Sings!
Summary: A theatrical reading of the play "Black Pearl Sings!" followed by a discussion with director Tom Jones II and actors Roz White and Susan Galbraith from the Alliance for New Music Theater, facilitated by N.J. Mitchell. The discussion will focus on the ways in which the Library's extensive primary source collections inform creative artistic practice. Written in 2006 by Frank Higgins, the play was inspired by the relationship between John Lomax and Huddie "Lead Belly" Ledbetter. "Black Pearl Sings!" is set in Depression-era Texas and imagines a meeting between a white musicologist from the Library of Congress and a jailed African American woman with a soulful voice and steely spirit. This is an evocative story of how they must work together to fulfill the goals of both women. Theirs is a journey of race and reconciliation, religion and tenacity, a search for the origins of indigenous folk music, preservation of the musical heritage of a people, and ultimately one of healing and understanding.
Event Date: February 13, 2019
Running Time: 1 hours, 12 minutes, 38 seconds
Language: English
Online Format: video; online text; image

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Credit Line: Library of Congress