OUT OF BONDAGE AND BOUND FOR GLORY, THE OCTAVIA ROGERS ALBERT STORIES (English Edition) [Kindle-editie] beoordelingen het boek quotes

Octavia Roger Albert was a slave when she was young, but after emancipation was educated. She later married a Methodist Minister and moved from Georgia to Louisiana to help former slaves. In Louisiana Octavia was able to establish relationships with former slaves such as Charlotte Brooks. The former slaves began to tell Octavia about what transpired 24 years ago during salve times. She interviewed them from a Christian perspective and wrote down what they told her. The former slaves opened up to Charlotte in ways that they would never have opened up to a white biographer. Octavia died soon after writing down these stories. Her husband submitted the “slave narratives” to a Southwestern Spiritual Newspaper, which published them in serial format. People were so moved by the series of articles that they requested for them to be published in book form. Her husband complied and the book OUT OF BONDAGE was published in 1890. The dramatization of the play involves a cast of “Saints” who serve as kind of a “Greek Chorus”. They sit to the right of the stage with a sign that reads “Saints”. They also double in most of the other roles. A rack of clothes stands behind them, and the Saints change clothes onstage for their different roles. The play shifts from the present to the past and back to the present in most scenes. When the characters address Octavia we are in the present. Usually, when characters are interacting with each other, we are in the past. The only characters who address the audience are the “Saints”. And, as “Saints” should be, they are aware of the audience and try and encourage audience participation in a couple of scenes.