Writer, Composer Ashli St. Armant tals about her journey with North: The Musical

When artist Ashli St. Armant created North: The Musical it was in response to her sons lacking knowledge about the Underground Railroad. Surprisingly, the topic was included in discussions at school during Black History Month. As a family whose ancestors were enslaved on a plantation in Louisiana, it was important to St. Armant that her boys had a better understanding about this time in their country’s history.

More than a deeper look at slavery and the routes that individuals took to escape the South, NORTH was created to bring humanity to the conversation. The individuals who sought their freedom were multifaceted people who had relationships, struggles, beliefs, families, loves, sorrows, joys. For people who were treated like they were property, the humanity of who they were was stripped away and St. Armant found that modern storytelling of slavery often excludes that complexity of being human; excludes the reality of a multi-generational trauma.

“While doing research, my own ancestry had a significant impact on this work,” says St. Armant. “I visited the plantation where my family had been. I learned so much about the lives of those who had really built the land.”

It was the visit to the plantation, as well as an avenue lined with ancient oak trees that inspired the location of the characters in NORTH and a song called, “Oh What These Trees Have Seen.