History Theater's play "George Bonga: Black Voyageur" probes identity politics of the 1830s

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MPR’s Euan Kerr interviews the creators of new play “George Bonga: Black Voyageur.”

The History Theater pulls together a dream team of playwright Carlyle Brown, director Marion McClinton, and actor James A. Williams to tell the story of African American voyageur George Bonga. The story focuses on a time in 1837 he was sent into the wilderness during a winter storm in pursuit of an Ojibwe warrior accused of murdering a white man. What was once perhaps viewed as a historical oddity now becomes an examination of the racial tensions of pre-statehood Minnesota.

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Digitization made possible by the National Historical Publications & Records Commission.

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