Story: Edgar Jessop Smith is the son of Samuel Morgan Smith. Samual Morgan Smith, an African American tragedian, is buried in Sheffield General Cemetery. Samuel achieved some success when he came to perform as there was no colour bar unlike in his home country. He died in poverty leaving his widow and son Edgar.
The recovery: CJ picks up the story of Edgar. What is it like to be the child of someone well known? The troubled celebrity offspring or the lost and rootless. Edgar drifted. He stole some spoons and was imprisoned in Wakefield in 1884. The story of Black performance here in the UK, in Sheffield, is something that we don’t speak to enough. That Black performance is a state of being. CJ dreams his longing into being with his poetry.
