- Her name is Osonye Tess Onwueme.
- And Osonye means
"If you like me, accept me the way I am.
If not, leave me alone."
[chuckes]
- Born into African culture,
your name, your family and
your sense of place are highly valued.
- The food is part of the culture.
- It's a culture Tess brought with her
when she arrived in Eau Claire.
- My children were very young,
my five children.
And I was a single parent trying to raise them.
At the time I came,
Eau Claire was...
much less diverse.
[chuckles]
And the curriculum even more so.
- The position of
distinguished professor for cultural diversity
was created specifically for Tess.
She also brought with her clout
as a prominent African playwright.
- My work, my plays, my writing
take me all around the world.
And so in a way,
I'm like a culture ambassador for the UW-Eau Claire and
for the UW System and for Wisconsin and for America.
- Her plays are infused with the rhythm of social justice.
- My heart hungers for peace.
My eyes thirst for equity,
social, political, you know and
racial and gender and just...
harmony in the world.
- On this night, she's teaching a course
on women in African literature.
- So I guess we can start now.
Speaking Ebu: Kweneu. Class responds: Ayy.
- She offers a glimpse into her work
called "The Reign of Wazobia."
- "The Reign of Wazobia" is about women in Africa.
She begins to question why women are held back while
you know, men are privileged to do that and that.
Wazobia defies all tradition and, you know, goes...
[chuckles]
goes to town and organizes, mobilizes the women
to rebel against the men.
- Tess's compositions come from the heart and
the heartache of a personal narrative that fuel her writing.
- My mother ran away when I was six years old.
I knew that I had no parents to care for me.
I know what poverty is.
And I also know what it is to experience abuse and
violence and oppression and suppression.
Maybe that's why I'm much more passionate and
I have a very keen eye for...
justice and for...
equity.
- In colonial Nigeria,
she was one of the few from her village
to attend a Catholic boarding school
taught by Irish nuns.
- I had a notebook.
Every thought that came to me, I started writing it.
That's how I started writing.
- Then on to college
at the University of Ife in Nigeria
where one of her professors was the first black person
ever to win a Nobel Prize for Literature.
- One day I was writing,
and then I began to feel the voices.
- It's like a new door was opened.
I wrote a play.
I said "Oh."
And I was really happy,
so happy,
overjoyed,
from then on, I started writing plays.
- By her late 20s, Tess would achieve greatness
as an African playwright.
- Her name is now etched
alongside other contemporary writers
she is proud to call her friends.
- I was in a very privileged league
with the older generation of women writers
like Maya Angelou,
Alice Childress,
Sonia Sanchez.
The big-name writers in African-American and Africa.
It's a nice league to be in.
[laughs]
- All the accolades and accomplishments
couldn't prepare her for one more surprise.
- It felt like...
I was struck by thunder,
[laughs]
a thunder bolt.
But the time that just provokes joy,
ignites joy,
and terror at the same time
because I quivered inside.
- In 2016, Tess learned in an email
she had been nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature,
the most prestigious literary award in the world.
- I felt...
very humbled.
I felt...
elated...
and a heavy weight of responsibility as well.
- In the end, Tess did not win
but another famous writer did.
- Bob Dylan, who is also an idol.
I grew up in high school when we studied learning
you know, and listening to music from the west.
I... I...
I loved his music.
So he won it.
And...
To God be the glory.
I'm happy.
- A collection of Tess's lifeworks are
now housed in the UW-Eau Claire archives.
In recognition of her accomplishments,
the state of Wisconsin passed a proclamation in her honor.
- I remain me:
simple...
rootsy...
(chuckles)
rootsy...
striding...
walking tall in my African identity
anywhere I go.