The Pennsylvania Past Players
The Pennsylvania Past Players
A primary task of the Pennsylvania Past Players is to help animate Central Pennsylvania’s cultural and heritage venues and their surrounding public places and grounds. The stories, remembrances, speeches and historical quotes of the Pennsylvania Past Players reflect the period from 1820 to 1920. A core of historical movements and events both anchor and frame the Players’ interpretation of the period.
Sharia Benn as France E.W. Harper
Frances E.W. Harper (1825-1911)
Frances E.W. Harper was the first African American to have a short story (“The Two Offers”) published. She was an abolitionist who used her gifts in writing and speaking to further the platform against slavery, racism and gender inequality and was instrumental in the Philadelphia region Underground Railroad, which helped transport freedom seekers to the North and Canada.
Harper was born in Baltimore, Maryland, orphaned at the age of three and raised and educated by her uncle, William Watkins—an abolitionist and A.M.E. preacher. Although born in difficult times and under difficult circumstances, she did not let these issues stop her from fighting for freedom and equality for others. She began her career as a writer by publishing her first book of poetry, Forest Leaves, at the age of 19.
In 1850, around the time of the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act, Harper moved to Ohio to be a teacher at the Union Seminary. In 1854, she headed to Philadelphia to become active in the Underground Railroad, after meeting the famous abolitionist and author William Still. In 1858, she was recorded in Philadelphia newspapers for refusing to give up her seat or ride in the “colored” section of a segregated trolley car in Philadelphia—100 years prior to Rosa Parks’ stand. This experience was the influence for one of her most famous poems, “Bury Me in Free Land.”
In 1860, she married Fenton Harper and moved to Columbus, Ohio, where their daughter, Mary, was born. Harper returned to Philadelphia upon her husband’s death and resumed lecturing, with focused attention on education for the formerly enslaved, the equal rights movement and the temperance movement. She also spent years speaking and teaching in churches and Freedmen’s schools in the South, stressing the importance of education and self-empowerment.
At the age of 67, Harper published a bestseller and her most famous novel and, Iola Leroy. In 1896, Harper worked with Ida B. Wells, Harriet Tubman and other influential women of the time to form the National Association of Colored Women, where she served as the vice president. Frances Harper died on February 22, 1911, in Philadelphia.
Sharia Benn
Frances E.W. Harper will be played by Sharia M. Benn. Benn holds a special passion for increasing the knowledge and understanding of the African American experience, and she combines acting and historical studies to engage contemporary audiences and bring to life the story of Frances Harper.
Benn is founder, president and executive artistic director of Sankofa African American Theatre Company. She is an artivist, using the canvas of theater to create safe and healing spaces for theater artists and audiences to think, talk and act in constructive ways on issues of race and social justice. She has written and produced shows that amplify African American culture, history and perspective using a cross-cultural, collaborative approach to address issues of inclusion, diversity and equity. Sharia also currently serves as the director of corporate planning and specialty projects for Penn National Insurance and chairs its Diversity and Inclusion Council. She has over 35 years of experience in the property and casualty sector. She is a member of the United Way’s Women Leadership Network and has served on various ministries, boards and as a mentor to women and youth.
Lenwood (Leni) Sloan as Henry Watson
Henry Watson (1830–1898)
Henry Watson was born into servitude in Maryland. After achieving his own freedom, he moved to Franklin County, where he married Pennsylvania-born Elizabeth Inu.
Throughout the pre-Civil War period, several Underground Railroad “stations” crisscrossed what are now Routes 11, 15 and 30. As an Underground Railroad agent, Watson helped to connect those on the quest for freedom with temporary places of refuge before conductors led them through the rugged South Mountain and Tuscarora terrain to freedom further North.
Watson made a good living for himself as a barber, and his well-known Chambersburg establishment was less than a block west of the square on Route 30. Watson’s clients were mostly affluent businessmen of the region who traded stories about invading bounty hunters for their own amusement while waiting at his barber stations. From his barbershop, Henry was able to pass along critical information to the conductors and proprietors of the safehouses of the Central Pennsylvania Underground Railroad network. He also organized Vigilance Leagues along the way.
Henry Watson is best known for helping to organize the meeting of Frederick Douglass and John Brown on August 19, 1859, prior to Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry. Douglass could not agree with Brown’s use of violence; still, he recruited Watson to serve the cause by assisting O. Perry Anderson, the only survivor of Harpers Ferry, as he escaped and made his way to York. During the Civil War, Watson enlisted in the 29th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry, Company E, at Suffield, Hartford County, Connecticut, under the United States Colored Troops. He was wounded in action near the Kell House outside of Petersburg, Virginia, in October 1864, hospitalized for the remainder of his service and mustered out as a private on a surgeon’s certificate in November 1865.
Watson continued to organize for equity, parity and justice throughout Central Pennsylvania and the Allegheny and Appalachian regions. He was a respected member of the Pennsylvania Colored Conventions and an elder of the A.M.E. and A.M.E. Zion churches. Watson died on May 20, 1898, and is buried in Mount Vernon/Mount Lebanon Cemetery in Chambersburg, PA.
Lenwood (Leni) Sloan
Henry Watson will be played by Lenwood (Leni) Sloan. Leni Sloan is well known across the U.S. as a catalytic agent, animator and facilitator of cultural and heritage programs. His artistic credits include the Art in the Marketplace programs for the Rouse Corporation in New Orleans, St. Louis, Boston and Baltimore. In addition, he participated as a movement specialist on the artistic team for 12 Years a Slave and four national public television documentaries: Faubourg Tremé: The Untold Story of Black New Orleans; Emmy-winning Ethnic Notions; Stephen Foster; and the Emmy-winning Dance Black America. For 30 years, he collaborated with the renowned Dr. Mick Maloney, presenting programs, concerts and masterclasses on the convergence, contributions and conflicts of Black and Irish experiences in the United States.
Sloan serves as the executive director of the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Monument Project, which preserves, conserves and rededicates historic and cultural monuments throughout the state. In that capacity, he spearheaded the placement of the first monument dedicated to the 15th and 19th Amendments to the Constitution at the Pennsylvania capitol. He also served as Governor Tom Wolf’s appointee to the Commonwealth Capitol Preservation Committee. In addition, he is a board member of the African American Irish Diaspora Network, the Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation, the Pennsylvania Downtown Association, the Lancaster Heritage Society, the Lancaster Public Arts Program and the Harrisburg Sprocket Mural Project and co-convenor and moderator of Lancaster: ARTS TALK!
Kelly D. Summerford as William C. Goodridge
William C. Goodridge (1806-1873)
William C. Goodridge was one of the signatories of the Declaration of Independence and a station master on the Underground Railroad, connecting escaping freedom seekers to places of safety.
Goodridge was born into the institution of slavery in Maryland, as his mother worked on the Carroll Plantation in Carroll County. At age six, he was sent to York, Pennsylvania, to be apprenticed to a tanner. When he was freed at the age of 16, he was given a Bible and a set of new clothes. Goodridge left York briefly and learned the skill of a barber. He later returned to York and successfully operated a one-chair barbershop. Goodridge also owned 13 rail cars that traveled to Philadelphia each day.
Kelly D. Summerford
William C. Goodridge will be played by Kelly D. Summerford. Summerford is a 47-year member of the Screen Actors Guild and served on the nominating committee for the SAG/AFTRA awards. He currently serves as the director of the William C. Goodridge Freedom Center and Underground Railroad Museum in York, Pennsylvania. Summerford formerly served as a Harrisburg city councilman and currently serves on the Harrisburg Police and Fire Civil Service Commission. He is the publisher of ShowcaseNow magazine and owner of Kreative Lines L.L.C. His time as a certified living history interpreter has included presentations at the Harriet Tubman Museum in Maryland and the United States Colored Troops (USCT) Institute at Hartwick College in Oneonta, New York.