Voices from the Past

Hope Shiver illustrates through story and song the life of famous abolitionist Sojourner Truth. Her sensitive portrayal, often using Sojourner’s own songs and speeches to bring the story to life, inspires participants to learn how laws are made and to explore the plight of slaves in the North while clapping and chanting to the familiar spirituals of the time. Performance topics include the abolitionist movement, the women’s movement, the Civil War, and President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation.

Presented in partnership with Young Audiences of Houston.

Date & Time: 11:00 a.m., Saturday, February 10, 2024
Performance Location: Mangum-Howell Community Center, 2500 Frick Rd. (inside Doss Park), Houston Tx 77038

Date & Time: 11:00 a.m., Saturday, February 17, 2024
Performance Location: George H.W. Bush Community Center, 6827 Cypresswood Dr, Spring, TX 77379

Tickets: FREE
Single Ticket Sales: 9am, Monday, July 31, 2023

Who is “Voices from the Past”?

Soprano/storyteller Hope Shiver is an award-winning performer and writer who enjoys a varied career singing, dancing, writing and directing. She is also one of the most entertaining history teachers you’ll ever encounter. Even school history teachers agree. She receives standing ovations whenever she performs for them.

This Alabama native has brought historical characters to life for school audiences for nearly 20 years. A former college instructor, Hope Shiver began performing these musical, historical programs after realizing that many of her students not only did not know the historical significance of African American spirituals, they didn’t know them at all.

“It just amazed me when I was teaching that so many of my students did not know about spirituals. These songs are such an important part of our American heritage, we can’t afford for them to be forgotten. I was a woman with a mission. But, I soon realized that I could not just sing spirituals in school assemblies. So, I came up with the idea of interweaving the songs with life stories of famous women. I love to sing, and I love to tell stories. After completing the necessary research, it was a relatively simple task to create the scripts.”

Shiver comes from a family of storytellers. Her father, now deceased, was a minister who intermingled personal testimonials and humorous quips with his sermons. Her mother is a retired school teacher who even today loves to entertain her family with stories from her childhood and stories from her mother’s era. “We truly practice oral tradition in our family. I’m the youngest in the family, and I listen to all the stories. I know stories of family incidents that happened over a hundred years ago.”