IS THIS AMERICA? Composer Mary D. Watkins

One of America’s most turbulent periods in history serves as the backdrop for the passion, power, and relevance of a leader who led a movement for civil and voting rights as well as economic freedom for Blacks in the 1950s and 1960s.  Fannie Lou Hamer was the daughter of sharecroppers who rose from the Mississippi Delta to the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP), which she founded.  With only a sixth-grade education but an unwavering determination, Hamer became a voice for the disenfranchised, downtrodden, and oppressed.  Her heroism is what appealed most to Is This America? composer and librettist Mary D. Watkins.

“The Civil Rights movement of that time had always focused on heroes who were men, but there were a lot of women who were also involved in various, important ways, and they paid their dues,” said Watkins.  “I thought it would be great to honor a strong woman like Fannie Lou Hamer, who risked her life and did so much for all.  Sometimes it seems like we’re not making much progress, and we are, and it is because of people like Fannie Lou Hamer who did the work so it cannot go unnoticed or unrecognized.” 

Watkins began writing the opera sixteen years ago.  The earlier version, “Dark River,” was produced by the Oakland Opera Theatre in Oakland, California.   Although there was not a significant amount of written research about Hamer from which she could dissect, Watkins read books, watched documentaries, and interacted with people who were acquainted with Hamer in Mississippi. 

“I knew people who marched and worked in Mississippi. I even went down to Mississippi and met a few people who knew Fannie well in her community.  But all along, I was hearing music all the time in my head and it was life.  Life has a certain kind of sound to me.  So when I started putting the music down, I had a good idea of where I wanted to go with it,” said Watkins.

At 84 years of age, Watkins faithfully immerses herself in music as a pianist, composer, arranger, producer, and recording artist. She credits her classical music education at Howard University for her gift and talent of creating other full-length operas as Queen Clara, based on the personal life of American Red Cross founder Clara Barton, and Emmett Till, the young fourteen-year-old Black boy who angry white haters lynched for allegedly offending a white woman. 

The Is This America? Opera traces Hamer’s childhood and emergence to political activism – most critically, her valiant fight for MFDP’s recognition at the 1964 Democratic National Convention.  It is there where Hamer rattled the Convention with her electrifying Is This America? televised speech, which challenged the seating of Mississippi’s all-white delegation.  A year later, the Voting Rights Act was signed into law, eliminating all semblances of discrimination.  Original songs like Freedom Now were written by Watkins to “feel like a spiritual but still be uplifting” with the intent of an homage to the struggles, beatings, and death threats Hamer and others endured for their vigilance. 

“The Civil Rights workers and students relied on music to inspire them to help them move through their fears.  They were dealing with some pretty crazy people, so the music they sang, including spirituals, got them through the pain,” stated Watkins.  “Music is a language to me, and it is not one that is devoid of feelings and imagery, so I did not have trouble coming up with dark or painful parts or even hope.”

With the upcoming 2024 presidential election in November, WSP is committed to cultivating civic engagement through artistic platforms. Is this America? plays an integral part. Performances and conversations will be a dominant factor encompassing the “voting as freedom” theme.  Mary D. Watkins encourages everyone, even those who are not opera buffs, to give Is This America? a chance, particularly for the sake of Fannie Lou Hamer’s humanitarian dedication. “I want people to be inspired and to love themselves and others so the world can be a better place for all of us.”

 The world premiere of Is This America? Opera will occur  September 20-22, 2024, at The Strand Theatre, 543 Columbia Road, Boston, Massachusetts.  To purchase tickets, visit WhiteSnakeProjects.org