News Release
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Laurie E. Bick-Jensen
Director,
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320 DuPont Highway
New Castle, DE
19720
(302) 295-1164
laurie.e.bick@wilmu.edu
Bringing a Legend to Life for Black History Month
Wilmington University hosts "Harriet Tubman: The Chosen One" on February 1
Harriet Tubman escaped slavery and rescued hundreds of other slaves in the decades before the American Civil War. She became a leader in that era's abolitionist movement and worked tirelessly to achieve the emancipation put forward by President Abraham Lincoln. Actress Gwendolyn Briley-Strand will bring Tubman to life on the Doberstein Admissions Center (DAC) auditorium stage at the Wilmington University main campus, 320 N. DuPont Highway in New Castle, on Wednesday, February 1 at 6:00 p.m., when she performs her one-woman show, "Harriet Tubman: The Chosen One," which Briley-Strand wrote and presents around the country.
The performance, scheduled in February to commemorate Black History Month at the University, immerses viewers in Tubman's life and times through Briley-Strand's dynamic portrayals of Tubman as the "Underground Railroad" conductor as well as some of the slaves she transported to freedom - and those who sought to stop her.
This event is free and open to the public; no registration is required. A question and answer session with Briley-Strand will follow the performance.
"Portals Through Time," a traveling exhibit featuring photos and artifacts of slavery and abolitionist history, will also be on display in the DAC auditorium from 4:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. Attendees are encouraged to walk through the exhibit as part of the experience of this presentation.
Briley-Strand, who performed as Tubman at the White House's Independence Day celebrations in 1991 and 1992, has been performing "The Chosen One" to audiences across the country since 1993, including at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C., and the New York State Museum in Albany.
In 2008, she premiered a second one-woman show, "Rosa Parks: Such a Time," which she brought to Wilmington University last February. Her acting credits also include roles in "House of Cards," "Homicide: Life on the Streets," "Species II," and voiceover work for numerous national advertising campaigns.
This performance of "Harriet Tubman: The Chosen One" is sponsored by the Wilmington University College of Arts & Sciences, the Department of Student Life and the Robert C. & Dorothy M. Peoples Library.
For additional information about Gwendolyn Briley-Strand and her work, visit her website at www.seethefruits.com.
For more information about this one night only performance, contact Lynn Moore, regional history chair and assistant professor, at (302) 356-6984 or via email to lynn.w.moore@wilmu.edu.
About Wilmington University
Wilmington University is a private, nonprofit institution committed to providing flexible, career-oriented, traditional and online associate, undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degree programs. Ranked as the second fastest growing nonprofit doctoral institution in America 2004 – 2014 by The Almanac of The Chronicle of Higher Education, affordable tuition, academic excellence and individualized attention are hallmarks of the University that enable greater student success in their chosen careers. For more information, contact Wilmington University at 302-356-INFO (4636), via email at infocenter@wilmu.edu, or visit our website: www.wilmu.edu.
