Episode
Playwright Anna Deavere Smith turns to her family’s history for inspiration
- Podcast
- Fresh Air
- Published
- Jun 25, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 2754
- Processing state
not_requested
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Summary
For more than 50 years, Anna Deavere Smith has pioneered a type of theater built from real people's words, interviewing hundreds of Americans and then performing their words verbatim. Now she's telling a story from her own family with ‘Basil Biggs.’ It’s about her great-great-grandfather, a free Black man, who reburied the Union dead at Gettysburg and prepared the ground for Lincoln's most famous speech. Smith spoke with Tonya Mosley about how ‘Finding Your Roots’ led her to this story and why she sees herself as an Americanist. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy