Ruth Sloane often writes about Black history. Now she’ll explore her own in Ghana.

Charlotte playwright Ruth Sloane has spent a lifetime digging into the lives of others to share stories from the past.

“Every play I’ve written has been in the historical genre,” she told The Charlotte Observer recently. Sloane has been commissioned by The Mint Museum and Theatre Charlotte, among many others, to write plays that explore Black history.

Now, at age 73, it’s the Charlotte native’s turn to explore her own roots.

In April, Sloane learned that she would receive a $15,000 Arts & Science Council Creative Renewal Fellowship to achieve her dream of traveling to Ghana in West Africa, the land of her ancestors.

Sloane will use her fellowship to explore the history, rhythmic patterns and language usage in plays and poems in Ghana, while visiting theaters, historical sites, interviewing artists and writing.

Sloane expects to produce poetry, plays and maybe even a book of monologues while on the three-week trip to Ghana next December.

Digging into other people’s history

For decades, Sloane has written, directed and acted in stories about African Americans.

Her play “Second City, debuted in 1996 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the founding of Brooklyn, which was one of Charlotte’s once-thriving Black communities, demolished during urban renewal of the 1960s and ‘70s. Theatre Charlotte had commissioned the play.

Sloane, who grew up in Charlotte’s Greenville community, which met the same fate as Brooklyn, dove into the project. “I didn’t just sit down (and write),” she said. “I researched it for two years before writing the play.”

Many years ago, she wrote “Ramesses: A History of Ancient Egypt” for the Afro-American Children’s Theater. For that play, she spent 10 months reading and researching ancient Egypt and the life of Ramesses the Great.

In 2003, The Mint Museum commissioned her to write a play about Charlotte-born artist Romare Bearden. When Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation broke ground in 2011 on the uptown park named for the artist, Sloane was invited to read from her play, “Romare Bearden 1911–1988” at the ceremony.

And in October, Sloane received a Lifetime Achievement award from the Metrolina Theatre Association.

She is keeping herself busy throughout the new year, even well before her trip to Africa. In February, Sloane is directing “Crowns,” a play that examines hats, history and tradition in Black culture, at Providence Presbyterian Church.

Becoming a writer

Sloane first started writing her own plays in junior high and, while attending West Charlotte High, recalls spending afternoons watching the basketball team — and writing plays. “I love basketball — the game and the guys that played it,” she said.

She also was a member of the Brandon Presbyterian Church, now C.N. Jenkins Memorial Presbyterian Church on Statesville Avenue.

But it was her love of music that really charted her eventual career path.

“Music was initially a very important part of my life,” she said. Sloane’s soprano, which she cultivated under music teachers like Clara Jones, among others, gained the attention of the traveling performance ensemble, Sing Out—Up With People.

Three days after high school graduation, she hopped aboard a bus with 250 other vocalists and performers from all over the world and headed on tour.

“We criss-crossed America three times in one summer,” Sloane said. They had gigs in every state but Florida and Alaska. They also traveled abroad and to countries all throughout Europe and beyond. But they never got to Africa.

She eventually returned home and received a theater arts degree from Mackinac College in Michigan.

Learning about her African roots

Growing up in Charlotte’s Greenville community, Sloane’s mother, who taught English and history, passed along family history. Her father had died when she was young.

Sloane also remembers her grandmother sharing stories passed down through the generations about her ancestors. “I have a picture of my great-great-grandmother that’s about three feet tall, and it’s in a beautiful old antique frame,” she said. “And she’s standing in front of a slave hut here in Charlotte.”

The photo was passed down from her grandmother to her mother and eventually, to her.

From that oral tradition, she learned of her family’s West African roots.

A trip of a lifetime

Sloane plans to travel to Ghana in late 2023, and anticipates making connections and visiting sites that highlight the resiliency of the African people.

Ama Ata Aidoo, Ghana’s former Ghana Minister of Education, is on her list of people she has made arrangements to meet. A pioneering writer in Ghana, Aidoo established the Mbaasem Foundation to promote the work of African women writers.

Sloane also plans to see a performance by Kingdom Kweku, a professional Ghanaian traditional storyteller and dancer. “What they do is different from storytelling in America,” Sloane said. “From 400 years ago, (stories have been) passed down orally for generations through family.”

She will visit major landmarks, including the National Theatre of Ghana, home to three resident companies. “I hope to be able to get into the theater and to talk to the playwrights,” she said.

Sloane also plans to visit the Du Bois Centre, a museum and library that commemorates the life and work of W.E.B. Du Bois.

And she’ll visit the town of Elmina, on Ghana’s southern coast, where millions of African people were captured and sent through the “Door of No Return” before long journeys across the Middle Passage into slavery in the Americas. “And I will do something of pleasure, like walk through the forest with the Frankincense trees,” Sloane added.

Listening for Ghanaian dialect is also of interest to the writer. “Most people speak English, but if I get to hear one of the native tongues, that will be good.

But as is often the case with travel plans, Sloane is leaving enough wiggle room for unexpected exploration and inspiration. “All I can tell you is what I plan to do,” she said. After I get there, honey, it may be a whole different story.”

Sloane can’t wait to take advantage of all the creative opportunities awaiting her in Ghana.

“Being able to see and feel and to create in that environment will be an absolutely invigorating opportunity,” she said.

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This story was originally published December 28, 2022 at 5:50 AM.