We had the honor and privilege to be apart of A Call to Conscience, Inc‘s production of Beah Richard’s “A Black Woman Speaks” poem.  She was a political artist and activist with a long career on stage, screen and television. She is better remembered by her stage name Beah Richards and the 1967 Oscar-nominated role as Sidney Poitier’s mother in Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, her Tony Award- nominated performance in James Baldwin’s The Amen Corner (1965), or even her role in the 1990’s as Dr. Benton’s mother on the long running television series ER for which she won two Emmy Awards. Her political commitments led her to make a career out of playing older women in a range of politically charged films and stage performances.

Watch Beah herself perform her poem below.

Our role in the production was to provide sound design, soundscapes and music to accompany the poem.   Thomasina Clarke was the sole performer for the poem and sent chills down our spine all three nights at The Griot Museum of Black History.

Bob Wilcox and his crew had this to say about the production:

We were very pleased to work with Fannie Lebby, Linda Smith, Thomasina Clarke and Vivan Watt.