Colonization as A Case for The America Play

Gerrad Alex Taylor, Director

Not long after Emancipation, colonization became the leading racial policy in the United States. For those of us that did not have the opportunity to read about this in our history textbooks, the concept proposed that freed slaves would be returned to Africa or sent to some other region of the world. Whites dealing with racial differences in the country - both former slave owners and antislavery advocates - found it to be a reasonable solution to allow the freedom of the enslaved while also ensuring that the now free African Americans would not impinge on the rights or economic opportunities of whites. President Lincoln was a supporter of colonization and in 1862, Congress enacted several laws allocating around $600,000 (probably close to $300M today) to relocate “free persons of African descent” to Haiti, Liberia, and any other “tropical country beyond the limits of the United States.” I'd say that 1862 isn't so far away from 2025. As we enter this new year, all around I see so-called Americans once again screaming political agendas of exclusion, supremacy, and colonization. I am impelled to bring this play about a black fractured family searching for their place in the fabric of the American story to the DMV if for no other reason than to echo the sentiments of A.P. Smith, who wrote the following in response to Lincoln's plans of colonization:

“Pray tell us, is our right to a home in this country less than your own, Mr. Lincoln? Read history, if you please, and you will learn that more than two centuries ago, Mr. White-man and Mr. Black-man settled in this country together… In peace, the country has been blessed with our humble labor, nor have we ever been found wanting in the times that have tried the souls of men… And when the history of present atrocious insurrection is written, the historian will record: ‘Whoever was false, the blacks were true.’ Would you, then, in truckling subserviency to the sympathizers with this bloody rebellion, remove the purest patriotism the country affords? If you would, let me tell you, sir, you cannot do it. Neither fraud nor force can succeed, but by the fatal ruin of the country. Are you an American? So are we. Are you a patriot? So are we.”

Mission: Perisphere Theater produces plays that examine personal and collective history and the notion of history itself. 

Vision: A theater experience that gives audiences a greater appreciation of history and of those who are often left out of its retelling. 

Values: Artistic Excellence, Diversity, Antiracism, and Respect