MARY ANN SHADD CARY’S HERSTORY IN THE COLORED CONVENTIONS
ARTISTIC REPRESENTATIONS
Image courtesy of Sharing Our Legacy Dance Theater.
Sharing Our Legacy Dance Theatre has beautifully memorialized Mary Ann Shadd Cary and her legacy through its newest production entitled “Shadd’s Daughters.” The team of University of Delaware dance students directed by Dr. Lynette Overby previously presented Shadd Cary within a larger cadre of nineteenth-century Black women activists in their production called, “Women of Consequence.” Dr. Overby’s collaborations with Colored Conventions Project founder and faculty director Dr. P. Gabrielle Foreman led to the their teams of dances and researchers to work together in developing the dance out of historical records. Their interpretations of the histories and reenactments of speeches by Black women, including Shadd Cary and her contemporaries like Frances E.W. Harper and Harriet Tubman, serve to elevate the voices of women often silenced or confined within the archives.
Image courtesy of Sharing Our Legacy Dance Theater
Image courtesy of Sharing Our Legacy Dance Theater.
“Shadd’s Daughters” centered Mary Ann Shadd Cary, engaging her story beginning in Delaware and ending with her legacy today. The production blends Shadd Cary’s life with oral histories and thoughtful, personal reflections on her importance to us today. It was performed by a diverse cast including the UD dancers, community members, children, elders, singers, and more. To learn more about this collaboration and the many ways the Sharing Our Legacy Dance Theater honor Shadd Cary’s memory, watch the videos below: