African-American Story Telling in La Crosse, IL
- Artist/Author/Producer: Shanta
- Confronting Bodies: Community members
- Dates of action: 1991
- Location: La Crosse, Illinois
- Description of the Art Work
- Shanta tells traditional and original stories from African, Caribbean,
and African-American cultures with songs, poetry, chants and numerous
instruments of African origin. She also tells stories to adult audiences
through what she describes as a spiritual process called
trans-channeling. In this process, she says, she allows ancestral spirit
guides to speak through her.
- Description of incident
- Several parents called the schools after reading about her upcoming
appearance in local papers, saying Shanta's guardian angels were actually
demon spirits and said they feared she would affect their children. La
Crosse school officials suggested to parents that they accompany their
children to the program or withhold their children from the performance
altogether. At each school's program, some parents, church members, and
school officials attended, but no disturbances were reported.
- Results of incident
- Shanta omitted the channeling portion of her performance, and reports
were that the stories were well received.
Source: Artistic Freedom Under Attack 1992