'Castor and Patience' opera explores systematic barriers to Black land ownership
Cincinnati — A new opera, Castor and Patience, takes on the pervasive barriers to land ownership for Black Americans. With a libretto by former poet laureate and Pulitzer Prize winner Tracy K. Smith and a score by composer Gregory Spears, the opera tells the story of two cousins' struggles in owning and keeping property long held by their family. It premiered at Cincinnati Opera last week.
Smith and Spears started their work together around 2016 talking about a story highlighting how Blacks have been stripped of land ownership. But their ambitions really began to take shape during their research expeditions to the South Carolina and Georgia coasts. There they met with many people including Hilton Head Island resident Emory S. Campbell, a descendant of West Africans brought here as slaves.
Campbell saw the story of his people as a natural starting point.
"This is Black history when we talk about how people settled after the Civil War," Campbell said. "You have to begin with the Gullah culture, with Gullah people."
That history also includes massive land loss from property law exploitation.
"That's a story that America doesn't know very well," he added.
A family struggles
The story and characters of Castor and Patience began taking shape through Smith's and Spear's meetings with Campbell, his family and many others throughout the Sea Islands.
"We learned about people whose families had owned land — Black families in the South — since Reconstruction," Smith said. "They purchased it from the government by pooling their resources sometimes with other members from their community. And this land, from day one, has been sort of fraught.
The opera, set during the 2008 recession, recounts how Castor, who has grown up in Buffalo, New York, is besieged by creditors. So, he visits his cousin, Patience, at the family homestead nestled in the islands. He wants to sell his share of land to stave off bankruptcy. But Patience resists as she counts losses in the community.
Since emancipation in 1863, Black communities nationwide have suffered massive property loss from legal abuses including forced sales of jointly owned real estate and discriminatory laws. Spears had been reading more about them.
"It's something I've thought a lot about and how in that process can I be a part of creating this piece that is about something reckoning with history which is something that we all must do in this country and the importance of that and how art can play a role in that and really connect an audience emotionally," he said.
The opera's characters include Castor's and Patience's children who are getting to know each other as well as the betrayals their family has endured. Throughout Patience underscores her efforts in defending the family's land — as some community members moved away and allowed land speculators and developers to swoop in.
Reflecting personal history
Soprano Talise Travinge, who portrays Patience, identified with many aspects of this story.
"I think Patience found me rather than the other way around," she said before describing how her extended family from New Orleans had settled in Georgia after Katrina. She described that situation as "another issue of land and people losing land, family losing their land because they couldn't find the deed, which was then under water."
But Castor and Patience also delves into other aspects of the Black experience in America such as Castor's lack of power under dubious credit schemes. In an area, Castor lashes out singing:
My car, my money,
My credit, you're
Working on my name.
You took my dignity...
More operas are planned
This production is part of Cincinnati Opera's push to tell grand operas that reflect Black Americans' experiences.
Meantime, Smith and Spears are working on more operas. Castor and Patience is part of a trio of operas the pair has set out to complete that tell American stories. Their next one, The Righteous, is slated to premiere at Santa Fe Opera in 2024.
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Opera ya 'Castor na Subira' inachunguza vizuizi vya utaratibu kwa umiliki wa ardhi ya Weusi Cincinnati <unk> Opera mpya, Castor na Subira, inachukua vizuizi vya kuenea kwa umiliki wa ardhi kwa Wamarekani Weusi. "Kwa libretto ya mshairi wa zamani na mshindi wa Tuzo ya Pulitzer Tracy K. Smith na alama ya mtunzi Gregory Spears, opera hiyo inaelezea hadithi ya mapambano ya binamu wawili katika kumiliki na kuweka mali iliyoshikiliwa kwa muda mrefu na familia yao.""" Ilionyeshwa kwa mara ya kwanza katika Cincinnati Opera wiki iliyopita. Smith na Spears walianza kazi yao pamoja karibu mwaka 2016 wakizungumza juu ya hadithi inayoangazia jinsi weusi wameondolewa umiliki wa ardhi. Lakini tamaa zao zilianza kuonekana wakati wa safari zao za utafiti kwenye pwani za South Carolina na Georgia. Alipata watu wengi, kutia ndani mkaaji wa kisiwa cha Hilton Head, Emory S. Campbell, mzao wa Waafrika wa Magharibi walioletwa hapa kama watumwa. Campbell aliona hadithi ya watu wake kuwa mahali pa asili pa kuanza. "Hii ni historia ya Weusi tunapozungumza juu ya jinsi watu walivyoishi baada ya Vita vya wenyewe kwa wenyewe", Campbell alisema. "Lazima uanze na utamaduni wa Gullah, na watu wa Gullah". Historia hiyo pia inatia ndani hasara kubwa ya ardhi kutokana na utumiaji wa sheria za mali. "Hiyo ni hadithi ambayo Marekani haijui vizuri sana", aliongeza. Hadithi na wahusika wa Castor na Subira walianza kuunda kupitia mikutano ya Smith na Spear na Campbell, familia yake na wengine wengi kote Visiwa vya Bahari. "Tulijifunza juu ya watu ambao familia zao zilikuwa na ardhi - familia za weusi Kusini - tangu Ujenzi", Smith alisema. "Walinunua kutoka kwa serikali kwa kuchanganya rasilimali zao wakati mwingine na washiriki wengine wa jamii yao. Na nchi hii, tangu siku ya kwanza, imekuwa aina ya mzigo. Opera hiyo, iliyoandikwa wakati wa mfumuko wa uchumi wa mwaka 2008, inaelezea jinsi Castor, ambaye amekulia Buffalo, New York, anashambuliwa na wakopeshaji. Kwa hiyo, anamtembelea binamu yake, Patience, katika shamba la familia lililoko katika visiwa hivyo. Anataka kuuza sehemu yake ya ardhi ili kuepuka kufilisika. Lakini Patience anashindana huku akihesabu hasara katika jumuiya. Tangu uhuru wa 1863 jamii za weusi nchini kote zimepatwa na hasara kubwa ya mali kutokana na unyanyasaji wa kisheria ikiwa ni pamoja na mauzo ya kulazimishwa ya mali isiyohamishika inayomilikiwa kwa pamoja na sheria za ubaguzi. Spears alikuwa amesoma zaidi juu yao. "Ni kitu ambacho nimekuwa nikifikiria sana na jinsi katika mchakato huo ninaweza kuwa sehemu ya kuunda kipande hiki ambacho ni juu ya kitu cha kuhesabu historia ambayo ni kitu ambacho sisi sote lazima tufanye katika nchi hii na umuhimu wa hilo na jinsi sanaa inaweza kucheza jukumu katika hilo na kweli kuunganisha watazamaji kihisia. """ Miongoni mwa wahusika wa opera hiyo ni watoto wa Castor na Patience ambao wanaanza kujulikana na vilevile usaliti ambao familia yao imevumilia. Katika muda wote Patience anasisitiza juhudi zake katika kutetea ardhi ya familia <unk> kama baadhi ya wanachama wa jamii wakiongozwa mbali na kuruhusu land speculators na watengenezaji wa kuvamia katika. Soprano Talise Travinge, ambaye anacheza Patience, alitambua mambo mengi ya hadithi hii. "Nafikiri Subira ilinipata badala ya njia nyingine", alisema kabla ya kuelezea jinsi familia yake kubwa kutoka New Orleans ilikuwa imekaa Georgia baada ya Katrina. " "Amesema: ""Hali hii ni suala jingine la ardhi na watu kupoteza ardhi, familia kupoteza ardhi yao kwa sababu hawakuweza kupata hati, ambayo ilikuwa chini ya maji.""" Castor na Subira pia huchunguza mambo mengine ya uzoefu wa Weusi nchini Marekani kama vile ukosefu wa nguvu wa Castor chini ya mipango ya mkopo ya kutilika shaka. Katika eneo moja, Castor anapiga kelele akiimba: Gari langu, pesa zangu, mkopo wangu, unafanya kazi kwa jina langu. "Umechukua heshima yangu... Maonyesho zaidi ya opera yanapangwa Utayarishaji huu ni sehemu ya shinikizo la Cincinnati Opera kuelezea opera kubwa ambazo zinaonyesha uzoefu wa Wamarekani weusi. """ Wakati huohuo, Smith na Spears wanafanya kazi kwenye maonyesho zaidi ya opera. Castor na Patience ni sehemu ya trio ya opera ambazo wanandoa hao wameamua kukamilisha ambazo zinaelezea hadithi za Amerika. "Wimbo wao wa pili, ""The Righteous"" utaonyeshwa kwa mara ya kwanza katika Santa Fe Opera mnamo 2024."" Copyright 2021 NPR Kwa maelezo zaidi, tembelea www.nl.org.