Events Calendar · August 2022
The Spirit of Joseph James at Showcase Theater
Date: Sunday, August 28, 2022
Time: 2:00pm
Joseph James, the black Marinship welder who played a brief but important role in Sausalito and Marin City’s history by successfully challenging discriminatory union practices in the shipyards in a case that went all the way to the State Supreme Court. But there was a whole different side to James – as a singer featured in numerous Broadway and Hollywood productions.
Joseph Henry James was born in 1910 in Philadelphia to poor black parents. Left fatherless at age 3, he and his mother moved in with his uncle, Henry Hamming. The entire family was musically gifted: Uncle Henry had a rich bass voice, his mother was an alto and a much older sister sang with the great Philadelphia contralto, Marion Anderson.
Music became Joseph James’ ticket to a college education and extensive travels in the US and abroad. Princess Ann Academy enlisted James in a prestigious black quartet that toured to raise funds for the school singing “Negro Spirituals” to live and radio audiences.
ACT ONE centers around his formative years singing Negro Spirituals for tuition in college, and traveling on tour to the Jim Crow South with Eva Jessye as the precursor to his move to California. Featuing Marin City's own Davon Smith.
ACT TWO the centerpiece of the experience, focuses on the Marinship shipyard in Sausalito, California, and James' fight against discriminatory union practices with the help of Thurgood Marshall and 1000 Black Shipyard workers.
Featuring Oakland's own Adimu Madyun.
ACT THREE the finale, features Joseph James in his own words from a video captured in his 70's, a retrospect, and a call to action to continue to work for freedom, justice, and equaity. Featuring Marin city's own Tami Bell
Tickets are $20 per person, including Marin Center fees. Please purchase tickets in the above website link.
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