George Portia Walter BORDEN WHITE BORDEN P O E T & G O S P E L A C T O R & O P E R A S I N G E R S O N G W R I T E R P L A Y W R I G H T halifaxpubliclibraries.ca halifaxpubliclibraries.ca halifaxpubliclibraries.ca WALTER BORDEN PORTIA WHITE GEORGE BORDEN Actor & Playwright Opera Singer Poet & Gospel Songwriter Walter Borden was born in New Glasgow, Portia White was born in Truro, in George Borden was born in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia. He has been a school teacher and 1911. Her father was the minister at Nova Scotia. He spent 32 years in the a community worker with the Black United Cornwallis Street Baptist Church, where she Canadian Armed Forces where he eventually Front, but his true passion has always been herself was a choir member from the age of rose to the rank of Captain. He retired from acting. Since the 1960s Borden has appeared six. During the Depression her father would military service in the mid 1980s and since in numerous stage dramas, radio, television organize concerts at the local theatre to sup- that time has been involved with the Black and film productions. His roles have ranged port the church - thus giving White the oppor- United Front for Nova Scotia and the Black from the lead in Shakespeare’s Hamlet to the tunity to perform publicly. White earned her Cultural Centre, where he served on the board preacher in James Weldon Johnson’s God’s teaching degree from of directors.He has also worked as a provincial Trombones. In 1985, Borden performed his and went on to teach in Lucasville, Nova literacy coordinator for local Black communi- semi-autobiographical piece Tightrope Time, Scotia. She continued her musical training at ties. George has been a columnist for several which became a signature piece catapulting the Halifax Conservatory of Music and gave local Black newspapers, including the Ebony his career to new national and international her first recital in June of 1939. collection and The Jet. heights. Borden played a detective opposite Parker Posey in Thom Fitzgerald’s film The In the summer of 1941, Portia made her Works: Event and appeared at Stratford in various debut at the Eaton Auditorium, the A Mighty Long Way (2000) productions including, Agamemnon, The Flies, first of many appearances in the Toronto area. Footprints, Images and Reflections (1993) Elektra and The Swan. In 2005, Borden was In 1944 Edith Read, a principal from Toronto, Canaan Odyssey (1988) honoured with a lifetime membership by the assisted Portia in getting an audition in New Alliance of Canadian Cinema Radio and York. This first shot at “The Big Apple” result- Awards: Televison Artists (ACTRA) and received a ed in a sold out concert at the New York Town - National Black Poetry Competition Heritage Award from the African Nova Scotian Hall. She continued to perform between 1945 (1997) Music Association (ANSMA). and 1948, eventually settling in Toronto to teach music. White gave rare performances Works: after that time, the most notable being a com- Tightrope Time (1986) mand performance for Queen Elizabeth II at Featured in Testifyin’: Contemporary African the Confederation Centre in , Canadian Drama P.E.I. White, for all her fame, also had to deal with the racism of the day, and as such, was Performance Highlights: often refused entry to concert halls and hotels God’s Trombones in many Canadian provinces. Shakespeare’s Hamlet Tightrope Time In 1998 The Nova Scotia Arts Council estab- Gospel at Colonus lished the Portia White Prize and Canada Post Agamemnon issued a stamp in her honour. The Flies The Swan Works The Adventures of a Black Girl in First You Dream [sound recording] (1999) Search of God