Voting Rights
Mainstage Programming
Is This America?
Celebrating the life and legacy of voting rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer.
Premiered September 20th, 2024 at The Strand Theatre, Dorchester
Mary D. Watkins, composer + librettist
Cerise Lim Jacobs, opera-maker + co-librettist
Synopsis
Is This America? brings to life one of the most turbulent periods in American history. It tells the story of Fannie Lou Hamer, the great Mississippi activist who galvanized the registration of Black voters in her home state despite overwhelming odds, including death threats, beatings, and rejections by her own constituency.
The title of the work is taken from the iconic speech Ms. Hamer made at the 1964 Democratic National Convention, when she petitioned the Convention to give her newly formed political party, the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP), seats at the Convention and to recognize the MFDP as the legitimate representative of the people of Mississippi.
A year later President Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which outlawed discriminatory voting practices.
Community Programming
Sing Out Strong: Emancipated Voices
First Parish of Milton | September 15th, 2024 | In coordination with Milton Community Concerts
Our ongoing series where we reach out to individuals in our community to create texts on activist themes. In spring of 2024, we explored voting as freedom, in anticipation of the upcoming general election.
Talks With Tunes: Recreating the World of Fannie Lou Hamer
Roxbury Branch of the Boston Public Library | September 14th, 2024
Panelists included Mary D. Watkins (composer and librettist of Is This America?), Pascale Florestal (director), and Cerise Lim Jacobs (co-librettist, dramaturg)
Featuring guest artist Eliam Ramos Fuentes
Talks With Tunes: The Bonds between Boston and the South
African Meeting House at the Museum of African American History | September 7th, 2024
Panelists included Dr. Noelle Trent (Museum of African American History executive director) and Dr. Jacqueline Jones (2023 Pulitzer Prize in History)
Featuring guest artist Daon Drisdom
Talks With Tunes: Voting as Freedom
Adams Street Branch of the Boston Public Library | September 4th, 2024
Panelists included Ainsley LeSure (Professor, Brown University) and Eric Kennedy (Healing Our Land, Inc.).
Featuring guest artist Naomi Westwater
Voting Resources
Voter registration time takes an average of two minutes or less to complete.
Movement Voter Fund helps funders deploy resources for greatest impact, by investing in grassroots groups working to advance democracy, equity, and sustainability in the United States.
The Massachusetts Voter Table advances civic access, engagement, and representation to increase resources and power for people of color and working-class people toward achieving a multiracial democracy. The Massachusetts Voter Table is committed to a long-term organizing strategy that advances their vision of a more democratic and equitable society.