In the early dawn of August 20, 1619, a wounded ship limped through the mist into the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. Its mission was dark and shrouded in political espionage. It was an English ship flying under a Dutch flag and carrying a letter of marque from the Protestant Dutch Prince Maurice – a license to legally pirate Spanish or Portuguese ships. The pirate was English Captain John Collin Jope and the ship was The White Lion.
As The White Lion’s hull cut silently through the morning water, they passed, unceremoniously, by Cape Henry, the site where Christopher Newport had led his Virginia Company crew ashore for the “First Landing”. And now, just 12 years later, another “First Landing” was about to take place; one marked with pain and triumph. And one that would forever change the face of this still-infant nation.
1619 tells the compelling story of the native Africans who first set foot on American soil. It is a story of lives and cultures interrupted – and destinies grafted together. Told through riveting live performance and a powerful musical score, 1619 is a story that 400 years later can finally be told.
