Born on the 4th of July: From Mississippi to Minnesota

*Born on the Fourth of July…* is an original interdisciplinary performance work exploring the life of Queen’s mother: a Black woman born in Mississippi on July 4, during WWII, whose journey carried her from the segregated South to nursing school at age sixteen, then onward to Chicago and Minnesota through decades of social changes in the U.S.

 

Using original music composition, oral history interviews, improvisational performance, poetry, and sound installation, the project examines Black womanhood, Black land ownership, caregiving, migration and family lineage. Throughout the piece, personal memory intersects with moments in American history occurring around the 4th of July during key years of Queen’s mother’s life.

 

The work unfolds through four musical “movements” tracing different periods of her life:

 

* Mississippi childhood: Harmony community, picking cotton, family land

* Early departure for nursing school

* Chicago years: Finding her way in the big city

* Minnesota years: Motherhood, aging, loss, and legacy

 

Queen will also be engaging with the summer youth interns at PHT+T to create a sound and artifact installation to accompany the live performance.