Ms. Lupita Nyong’o

3/9/2016

Ms. Lupita Nyong’o

“Eclipsed”

c/o John Golden Theatre

252 West 45^th Street

New York, NY  10036

Dear Ms. Nyong’o,

My name is Matt Winick with a strong interest in studying history and I’m a fan of your work as an actress and as an activist.  In 12 Years of a Slave, I thought you did a great job playing Patsey because I liked on how you made Patsey a strong character who works hard to overcome her struggles as a slave  during the Civil War era and how she develops a friendship with Solonom when he gets captured where he is put into slavery.  12 Years of Slave was a great movie because I enjoyed learning about how slaves struggled in slavery in the Civil War and learning about Solomon including Patsey’s life with their struggles.  Also the movie really showed about the need to not repeat the same mistakes in the past and a strong need to end slavery to help give people equal opportunity. Ms. Nyong’o, I enjoyed watching Shuga, an MTV drama show where it talks about the need to reduce HIV/AIDs and ways to prevent it in Africa.  Your documentary In My Genes that you directed was great because it did a great job explaining about Kenya, express the need to end discrimination in Kenya, and how the Kenya albino population in Kenya are being discriminated.   In My Genes, I liked on how you gave people who are discriminated due to a simple genetic anomaly a chance to share their story about how they work hard on overcoming different struggles.  Besides your work as an actress and as a producer, I find your activism truly inspiring to me. I like on how you advocate to help protect elephants globally from being hunted by poachers, working with WildAid organization to help educate the world about the need to protect the environment including wildlife with endangered species,  and  advocating in Kenya for equal rights including women’s rights, and  funding  on the arts.

Your work in 12 Years of Slave got me really interested in trying to read the book to continue learning about what slavery was like. Also your role in that movie gave me motivation to continue studying American History to learn not to repeat the same mistakes in the past, understand to need to advance on Civil Rights including equal rights to reduce discrimination, have diversity to make society better, and many others.  Your work on creating the documentary In My Genes, starring in Shuga MTV show, and being an activist to help Africa especially Kenya including the world really got me interested to take a course at Washtenaw Community College in Ann Arbor, Michigan called African History.  In my African History class, I enjoy learning about different countries in Africa, history of how it was colonized by other countries which later changed, different rulers of African countries, and how discrimination in Africa causes problem.  I enjoyed taking the class and had fun learning about African History.  My future goal is  to use  history as a tool to teach people about the need to improve society with having equal rights to reduce discrimination or work in a museum to find ways to make education with history easy to motivate people to learn.

Ms. Nyong’o, I strongly believe that you make a great difference as an actress and as an activist to make society including history a better place.  You and your work inspire me to continue learning history and understand the need to end discrimination to give people who are different equal rights. Here is $5 as a donation for you to use to help Kenya and Africa get the care they need. Thanks for taking the time to read my letter, working hard to make a great difference, and inspiring me. I wish you well on your Broadway “Eclipsed.”

Sincerely,

Matt Winick