Coretta Scott King Tribute Concert: "Continuation of a Dream: A Legacy Unyielding"
This year's concert is titled "Continuation of a Dream: A Legacy Unyielding." The history of Black people is one filled with tenacity, will, and strength. It is also one filled with vulnerability, wisdom, learning, and growth. Last year with "Continuation of a Dream: Requiem," we mourned what we have lost and reflected on the pain we have endured. This year we rise, our minds and spirits determined to create something meaningful and enrich our world with our hearts and our artistry. Join us for the Fifth Annual Coretta Scott King Tribute Concert as we celebrate Black excellence and honor those who came before us.
Presented by the Black Student Union (BSU) at NEC.
This performer-produced event will be viewable in-person and via livestream. Password protection will be removed from stream prior to start time.
Margaret Bonds | Three Dream Portraits
Minstral Man
Dream Variations
I, TooText
Minstrel Man
Because my mouth
Is wide with laughter
And my throat
Is deep with song,
You do not think
I suffer after
I have held my pain
So long?
Because my mouth
Is wide with laughter,
You do not hear
My inner cry?
Because my feet
Are gay with dancing,
You do not know
I die?
Dream Variations
To fling my arms wide
In some place of the sun,
To whirl and to dance
Till the white day is done.
Then rest at cool evening
Beneath a tall tree
While night comes on gently,
Dark like me-
That is my dream!
To fling my arms wide
In the face of the sun,
Dance! Whirl! Whirl!
Till the quick day is done.
Rest at pale evening…
A tall, slim tree…
Night coming tenderly
Black like me.
I, Too
I, too, sing America.
I am the darker brother.
They send me to eat in the kitchen
When company comes,
But I laugh,
And eat well,
And grow strong.
Tomorrow,
I’ll be at the table
When company comes.
Nobody’ll dare
Say to me,
“Eat in the kitchen,”
Then.
Besides,
They’ll see how beautiful I am
And be ashamed–
I, too, am America.
Langston HughesArtists- Jádon Brooks, baritone
- Tanya Blaich, piano
William Mabuza | Janet
Artists- William Fredenhall, flute
- Garrett Frees, saxophone
- Jonathan Paik, piano
- William Mabuza, double bass
- Kabir Adhiya-Kumar, drums
Audre Lorde | The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action
Artists- Zoe Cagan, reader
Lemuel Marc | Opus 7, k354
Artists- Aislin Alancheril, voice
- Lemuel Marc, trumpet
- Jonathan Paik, piano
- Devon Gates, double bass
- Maliq Wynn, drums
Joy Guidry | Selections from "Radical Acceptance" (2022)
J. Rosamond Johnson/James Weldon Johnson | Lift Every Voice and Sing (The Black National Anthem)
Text
Lift Every Voice And Sing
Lift every voice and sing,
Till earth and heaven ring,
Ring with the harmonies of Liberty;
Let our rejoicing rise
High as the list'ning skies,
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us;
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,
Let us march on till victory is won.
Stony the road we trod,
Bitter the chast'ning rod,
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;
Yet with a steady beat,
Have not our weary feet
Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?
We have come over a way that with tears has been watered.
We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered,
Out from the gloomy past,
Till now we stand at last
Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.
