By Judy Otto
Staff Writer

Harriet Tubman, played by Thomasina Petrus of Mixed Blood Theatre, acted a little crazy so she could carry out her work of helping slaves escape from the South. Tubman was labeled the “Moses” of the African slaves and had a $40,000 bounty on her head.

Audiences at New Century Charter School and Ridgewater College viewed American history from their plane seats on African American Legacy Airlines yesterday morning.

Minneapolis-based Mixed Blood Theatre and actress Thomasina Petrus led the guided tour through the turbulent history of African American women.

Petrus portrayed some of the most famous black women in history as well as a few that are little-known. She added the feeling and hope that religion and spiritual songs gave to African slaves. She also portrayed the chilling emotion of singer Billie Holiday's ballad telling of the strange crop of fruit dangling from southern poplar trees.

Her drama included:

• Phyllis Wheatley, who later became a poet, was kidnapped as a child from her African birthplace and sold as a slave.
• Madame C.J. Walker designed and sold hair restoration products for black women after many experienced hair loss.
• Ethel Waters, a theater and film actress, was the highest paid actress on Broadway during the Great Depression.

Petrus also firmly stood her ground as Rosa Parks in the seat of a 1955 Alabama bus.

African American history is American history, Petrus said. The two can't be separated. She said the strength of these women is still astounding to her. She added that people need to read and understand the lives of African Americans in order to heal and move forward from the slavery and racism of the past.

"We still have trouble accepting this history," she said.
It amazes her that the slave women who had nothing, whose children were often sold, still chose to live. They had to grasp onto the hope that things might be better someday, even if they didn't get to experience those improvements.

Her presentation of "Daughters of Africa" portrays "the amazing beauty, strength and perseverance of African American women and the contributions they've made through their art," Petrus said. Black women went from "slavery to success ... by being who we really are inside."