A House with No Walls

Following on the extraordinary success of Gibbons’ "Bee-Luther-Hatchee" and "Permanent Collection", A House with No Walls presents a conflict between two African-Americans — a rising star in the world of academia who has just published a startlingly conservative book and an ultra-liberal, Afrocentric political activist. The battleground for these two opposing forces is the site of the new American Museum of Liberty, which happens to be on the grounds of George Washington’s Philadelphia home, including its slave quarters. This dramatic controversy — inspired by real-life events in Philadelphia — serves as a springboard for a volatile debate over whether or not African-Americans should embrace the legacy of slavery as their primary identity or discard this mantle of “victimhood.” A House With No Walls juxtaposes the fictionalized present day conflict with the true story of one of George Washington’s slaves as she contemplates escape.