Review: A View from a Train

Frances Humes, staff writer

My evening started at PVCC’s art building. I was unsure of what the night on the Underground Railroad had in store for me. Based on the turnout, I thought this show is going to be amazing. The lines wrapped around the hallway. When the time came to take my seat, there were few left.  Horace Scruggs and his band presented A View from the Train: Decoding the Stories of the Underground Railroad.

When I turned around I was shocked. The majority of the audience was white. The show was an informational praise service, so I expected more African American families to be piling in to view their cultural history.

The lack of diversity, however, was the only dissatisfying part about the entire event. The first song presented to us was “O Happy Day,” magnificently sung by  Nadia Anderson, the lead singer.

The rhythm of  the music itself made me feel as if I was fighting a hard battle and celebrating my African heritage around a bonfire with family.

I felt at home and one with the singers. The music made the audience rock back and forth, tapping their  feet as they closed their eyes and ran  through the woods with Moses, the  codename given to Harriett Tubman. Listening to the music, I felt as if I was hiding from oppressors  and traveling with the family  gained along the way. I felt as if I was journeying with other runaways as the music filled the room with comfort and overflowed into my body.

I noticed there was a lady sitting just to the left of me taking notes during the seminar. The information given was definitely worth noting. I learned about Harriett Tubman’s codename, Moses, and discovered there was not just one way African Americans fled captivity by traveling  to a surrounding island like Cuba.

Even as the  event came to an end, the show kept going. The crowd still sung along to the same song over and over. It was amazing. I learned a lot.