“A Passion for Justice: A Conversation with Ida B. Wells” featuring Debra M

Journalist, anti-lynching activist, civil rights leader, and newspaper editor, Ida B. Wells (1862-1931) was truly a remarkable woman. “A Passion for Justice” celebrates the life of an inspiring, outspoken, courageous woman that every American should know about. Award-winning actress and Living History Performer Debra Mims embodies the fire, passion, spirit, and eloquence of the great Ida B. Wells.

Don’t miss this riveting performance!

Special Guests include: Vicki Jones, President, Harford County Branch NAACP; Keliss M. Levoné-Myers, 10th Grade, Edgewood High School, 2nd Place Winner, 2021 Langston Hughes Youth Oratorical Contest; Anya Ehrsam, 8th Grade, Harford Day School, and Jonah Wade, 8th Grade, Harford Day School.

Debra Mims is from Detroit, Michigan and has lived in the Washington D.C. area since 1995. She has been an actress for over Thirty years and was an arts producer for PBS for thirteen years. Debra was trained as an actress, dancer and arts lover and earned a BFA in acting from Marygrove College in Detroit. She has performed with the Children’s Theater in Madison, Wisconsin and with the Detroit-Windsor Dance Company and the Attic Theatre in Detroit. She began performing and teaching with Young Audiences of Maryland in 2000 performing in Maryland Schools.

Previous performances venues have included: Decatur House, Sewall Belmont House, and The Reginald Lewis Museum in Baltimore, MD. The Walters Art Museum, The Publik Playhouse in Maryland, The Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery and the Anacostia Museum in Washington, DC

Shine the Light of Truth-Ida B. Wells is Debra Mims’ seventh solo performance show that she’s written and performed. A ten-minute version of this program was commissioned by the National Archives in celebration of Ida. B. Wells’ contribution to Women’s Suffrage in 2020. The program was subsequently developed to its present form in 2021. Ms. Mims hopes that the performance and conversations of Shine the Light of Truth-Ida B. Wells will facilitate knowledge, empathy and healing. Debra has written four ‘Grandmother’ Tales, Riverdale Tales and the play, ‘Madness Menopause and More’.

Debra Mims has been awarded the Individual Artist Awards for Outstanding Solo Performance from the State of Maryland in 2004, 2008, 2010 and 2016. Debra Mims says: “It is my mission to communicate the beauty and importance of history, emotional memory and culture. As an elder, it is vitally important for me to leave a cultural legacy that educates and resonates.”

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Cultural Center at the Opera House, 121 N. Union Avenue, Havre de Grace, United States