Spotlight Turns Ten

Renowned journalist and activist Ida B. Wells led an anti-lynching crusade to protect Black lives in the South, despite facing death threats. Actors Aneisa Hicks and Sheldon Brown read an excerpt from “Southern Horrors: Lynch Laws in All Its Phases.” Directed by Cheryl Lynn Bruce.

Pauline Hopkins is thought to be the first Black woman to pen a sci-fi novel. Actor LaQuis Harkins reads chapter four of the novel “Of One Blood.” Directed by Ron OJ Parson.

Poetess Phillis Wheatley is one of the earliest known writers in African American literature. Actor Diana Coates reads six of her poems: “On Being Brought from Africa to America,” “On Virtue,” “To the Honourable T.H. Esq; On the Death of His Daughter,” “On Imagination,” “To S.M. a Young African Painter, On Seeing His Works” and “An Hymn to the Morning.” Read by Diana Coates. Directed by Cheryl Lynn Bruce.

Alice Moore Dunbar-Nelson was one of the few Black women diarists of the early 20th century. She also worked as an educator for most of her life. Actor Kierra Bunch reads three selections from her first book “Violets and Other Tales”: “Three Thoughts,” “The Woman,” “Paul to Virginia.” Directed by Ron OJ Parson.