About the project
Frederick Douglass is a project that presents dramatic readings of Douglass' speeches by professional actors as a catalyst for powerful dialogue about racism, inequality, civil rights, education, and the legal system with the objective of fostering compassion, understanding, and positive action.
Taking advantages of the general disposition in this country to impute crime to color, white men color their faces to commit crime and wash off the hated color to escape punishment. In many places where the commission of crime is alleged against one of our color, the ordinary processes of the law are set aside as too slow for the impetuous justice of the infuriated populace. They take the law into their own bloody hands and proceed to whip, stab, shoot, hang or burn the alleged culprit, without the intervention of the courts, counsel, judges, juries or witnesses. In such cases it is not the business of the accusers to to prove guilt, but it is for the accused to prove his innocence, a thing hard for any man to do, even in a court of law, and utterly impossible for him to do in these infernal Lynch courts.
Explore Projects
-
Addiction & Substance AbuseThe Dionysus ProjectThe Dionysus Project is an innovative public health project that presents readings of scenes from Euripides' Bacchae, an ancient Greek play about the destructive power of intoxication, as a catalyst for town hall discussions about the impact of substance abuse and addiction upon individuals, families, and communities. The project uses an ancient Greek tragedy, written nearly 2500 years ago, to engage audiences in crucial discussions about the timelessness of the human struggle with substance abuse and addiction, as well as resources and solutions that communities can utilize today.
-
Natural DisasterThe Tohoku ProjectThe Tohoku Project: Sumidagawa presents powerful dramatic readings by professional actors of Sumidagawa, a Noh play from the early 15th Century that timelessly depicts the unique challenges faced by parents in the wake of unimaginable disaster. Each reading is followed by the responses of community panelists, culminating in a lively, facilitated audience discussion. This interactive event promotes healthy, constructive dialogue about the lasting impact of the Tohoku disaster upon individuals, families, and communities—fostering compassion, understanding, awareness, and positive action.
-
War & Mental HealthTheater of War: Hector, Andromache, and the Death of AstyanaxTheater of War: Hector, Andromache, and the Death of Astyanax presents live, dramatic readings of selections from Homer’s Iliad, Book VI and scenes from The Trojan Women by Euripides—featuring acclaimed actors and a Chorus of students, from a variety of backgrounds, whose lives have been impacted by war—to help frame powerful, healing dialogue about the human cost of war, centered on the suffering of children and civilians. The project uses ancient texts that explore and depict the dehumanization of war to create a vocabulary for openly discussing challenging and divisive subjects, with the aim of generating compassion, empathy, moral repair, understanding, and positive action.