Review: Makeba teaches obscure history

Sara Mettlen
Staff Writer
Mar. 11, 2004, Page 5

Awele Makeba was wonderful in her one woman play “Rage is Not a One Day Thing” at 7 p.m. Sunday.
Makeba convincingly became 13 characters, seamlessly transitioning between one person and the next. By changes in vocal tone and body language, she was able to make the characters easily recognizable. She taught a crowd of about 35 people a concealed history of the Montgomery Bus Boycott of the 1950s.
The only objects Makeba used to tell her story were three chairs representing different areas of the bus, shoes symbolizing the different types of people who rode the bus and a few small props, such as glasses or a head scarf.
The story was told mostly through Claudette Colvin, a 15-year-old who refused to give up her seat on a bus nine months before Rosa Parks did the same. Makeba related Colvin’s experience of being forcefully removed from a seat on a Montgomery bus. Makeba also acted the other principal characters’ – JoAnn Robinson, Mary Louise Smith and Rosa Parks – encounters.
Makeba’s performance focused on the rage people felt during those times: rage whites had toward blacks, rage blacks had for whites and rage blacks who stood up for civil rights felt against those who did not.
She made the rage real. The audience could see and feel the passion Colvin and the other characters had for civil rights.
In an hour, Makeba was able to make audience members question the history taught in schools.
The stories of Colvin, Parks and others show how most history books are unbalanced. Makeba presented a commonly unheard side of the story.
The performance left unanswered questions, but also raised some important questions otherwise not considered.
Makeba’s acting was excellent, and the story is one that everyone can learn from.