Before he was hired for a role on this year’s “Talking Spirits” living history tour, Madison actor Desmond Hawkins had never heard of Notley Henderson.
But here was Hawkins on a beautiful October morning in the historic Forest Hill Cemetery, dressed in the simple clothes of a 19th-century farmer, mesmerizing a group of Anana Elementary School fifth-graders as he performed the role of Henderson, a Civil War veteran and one of Madison’s first Black landowners.
“Now, I know I don't need to tell y'all how bad slavery was,” said Hawkins, leaning on a shovel and speaking with an accent that evoked Henderson’s Kentucky birthplace. Hawkins went on to describe Henderson’s days in the Union Army, mostly digging “ditches and fortifications,” and how “the war seemed to go on forever, but it did finally end, and I came out to Wisconsin to start a new life.”
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Though Hawkins grew up in Madison, learning about some of the city’s early Black settlers like Henderson wasn’t a part of his education, he said.
Henderson was a formerly enslaved man who welcomed newcomers to his Madison farm, especially Black Civil War veterans and other formerly enslaved people. This week, about 3,000 cemetery visitors will get to know Henderson, via Hawkins' performance.
This is the 24th year for the annual “Talking Spirits” tour sponsored by the Wisconsin Veterans Museum. Traditionally, the tour is built around a historical theme. “Henceforth and Forever Free” is this year’s title, a reference to the Emancipation Proclamation, first issued by President Abraham Lincoln 160 years ago, on Sept. 22, 1862. It went into effect 100 days later, on Jan. 1, 1863.
The “Talking Spirits” on this year’s tour — held for school groups during the week and for sold-out public tours on the weekend — evoke the histories of formerly enslaved people who came to Madison and are buried in the historic cemetery, a city park established in 1857 and located at 1 Speedway Road.
“We chose the (Emancipation Proclamation) theme because that document affected people in Madison and beyond, into the future — so we’re telling stories of people into the 20th century,” museum communications specialist Jen Stevenson said.
Bruce Bradley, a longtime actor, playwright and musician from Spring Green, wrote the scripts for the four historical reenactors on the tour and served as director. He based the actors’ monologues on research done at the Veterans Museum, information found on newspapers.com and ancestry.com, oral histories and books focused on Civil War life.
At the last minute, Bradley also stepped into this year’s tour to perform the role of Frank Newton, a white captain in Company H, 29th United States Colored Infantry, paying his respects to Howard Brooks, who is buried in the cemetery. An African American actor slated to play the role of Brooks had to cancel when he had to leave town for his job.
“One of the difficulties is that we just don’t have a very large pool of nonwhite actors in Madison,” said Bradley, who as Newton wore a blue Union coat studded with brass buttons and a Union Army cap.
Though it’s in a cemetery, the “Talking Spirits” tour “really brings (history) to life,” Bradley said. “Once students are engaged in that experience, I think they take it in more easily than if it was something just read to them in school. We’ve had schools come back year after year, so we must be doing something right. That’s good to see.”
Miller family
Down a winding cemetery path, actor Hawa Bah enacted the role of Anna Mae Miller who, with her husband, William, was a key member and activist in the Madison community. The Millers’ home, built in 1853, was moved to East Dayton Street in 1908 and is a Madison landmark.
Performing the role of Miller, a founder of the Madison chapter of the NAACP, “is just so moving,” Bah said. “You can just tell how much she loves her husband,” who was an aide to Gov. Robert La Follette for 19 years and a longtime associate of W.E.B. DuBois. “How much she admired him. His accomplishments were her accomplishments, and vice versa.”
The vignettes for each 2022 “Talking Spirit” will be videotaped in the cemetery and available online by the end of next week, Stevenson said. A virtual cemetery tour from 2020 and 2021 is online at wisvetsmuseum.com/madison-cemetery-tours.
In this year’s “Talking Spirits,” actor John Kremm, of Spring Green, portrays John Wayles Jefferson, the grandson of Thomas Jefferson and one of Jefferson’s enslaved servants, Sarah “Sally” Hemings. His monologue addresses the complicated “web” of relationships between Jefferson and the slaves he held. The vignette also speaks to how John Wayles Jefferson had to hide his true identity and pass as “white” while serving as an officer in the Civil War and as the co-owner, with his brother, of the American House Hotel in Madison.
“Madison offered more opportunities for whites than for Blacks,” Kremm’s character explains to justify his fears of having his family history exposed.
'Another level'
For dual-language teacher Michele Jaen, bringing her Anana Elementary fifth-graders to see this year’s “Talking Spirits” tour was a must.
“I had been here before, and I completely fell in love with this,” she said.
The story of John Jefferson having to hide his mixed-race identity was particularly striking, she said.
“I think they went to great lengths to represent the African American community and the rich history they played here in Madison,” Jaen said. “If you look at my children, they’re all different colors, so it’s great to see them represented.”
“Talking Spirits” got high marks from Jaen’s students, too.
“I loved the actors,” said Samara Teran, who described the cemetery setting as “super calming and peaceful.”
“They took it to another level,” agreed Ana Lopez-Romero.
“I liked how it had lots of history,” added Emma Kirk. “And I liked the actors, because even though I knew it wasn’t real, half the time I believed it was."