Mike Wiley loves Black History Month, but he doesn’t like that only select milestones and acts of courage are remembered, and other sacrifices go unrecognized.

There are so many untold stories of African Americans who broke color barriers in sports outside of Jackie Robinson, he said. There are slave narratives other than Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman, such as Henry Brown who mailed himself to abolitionists in Philadelphia, said Wiley.

To address these omissions in black history, Wiley created one-man plays based on historical figures and moments – some famous and some not so famous. Wiley’s newest play is “Blood Done Sign My Name” about the uprising following the murder of a black man in Oxford. Wiley performs at ImaginOn on Wednesday. Wiley and Tim Tyson, author of the memoir “Blood Done Sign My Name, will participate in a talkback after the play.

“Blood,” published in 2004, is Tyson’s memoir about the 1970 murder of Henry Marrow in Oxford, N.C. It’s a story that sounds achingly familiar. Marrow, a 23-year-old black Vietnam veteran, walked toward a white-owned store, and something he said was interpreted as an insult to a white woman. Store owner Robert Teel and his son Larry were accused of beating and fatally shooting Marrow. Their acquittal was met with angry protests from blacks. There were marches, riots and bombing of tobacco warehouses.

“Blood” focuses on Tyson’s father, Vernon. He was a pastor who tried to unite blacks and whites, but became an outcast among some whites. The book also marks the emergence of Oxford native Ben Chavis as a young civil rights organizer.

“Blood” is also the subject of a movie which opens in theaters Friday. It was filmed in Shelby, Charlotte, Gastonia and Statesville in 2008. The movie stars Nate Parker, who played in “The Great Debaters,” as Chavis.

Wiley portrays Chavis, the younger and elder Tyson as well as more than 30 other characters during the play. Wiley met Tyson after a performance of “Dar He: The Lynching of Emmett Till.” The two talked over a drinks and Tyson began talking to Wiley about doing an adaptation of “Blood.” Wiley hadn’t read the book. Tyson was nonplussed, and the two became fast friends.

Once Wiley read the memoir he knew he wanted to create a play.

“The story of ‘Blood’ really filled my heart in a way that other stories had not,” he said. “All of these factions in this one community erupted out of this one man’s murder. This was an unknown story. This was an untold story.”

This wasn’t yet another monolithic story of African Americans moving in the same direction with the same goals and the same methods, Wiley said. Blacks fought back with violence. Most people hear about the non-violent resistance, but the fight for equality was multi-faceted.

“We learn so very little about the Civil Rights Movement that we think everybody was non-violent or that everybody followed the teachings of Dr. King,” Wiley said. “The methods used were quite different. I try and uncover and review those layers within the play.”

Wiley premiered the play at Duke University's Shaefer Theater in November 2008. He played to a capacity audience at the city hall in Oxford last year. It was so well received that he will perform it again in Oxford later this year.

Wiley said he was initially nervous about performing in Oxford. After the play, he received a standing ovation and community members talked with him about how the tragedy changed the town, he said.

People shared their stories with him, and with each other. By sharing those stories they add another narrative to a movement that changed a nation.

IF YOU WANT TO GO:
Date: Wed., Feb. 17
Time: 7 p.m.
Place: ImaginOn, McColl Family Theater
Tickets: $12 and $10

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