Our Black History Concert was inspiring! As each 5th grade
scholar proceeded into the auditorium dressed in African attire, the
audience sat amazed to realize that the characters they portrayed could
have been some of the individuals taken into slavery. Then as the 2nd
and 3rd graders sang field songs, we were also moved by the beat they
played.
Between choral selections, we viewed historical pictures of those events as scholars read excerpts on a voice thread from ‘The Sound That Jazz Makes’
by Carole Boston Weatherford. The climax of the program was our own
‘Freedom Train’. Representative scholars from grades 2-5 formed a
‘Freedom Train’ and we learned of its history as scholars sang in a
five-part circle canon for each ‘train.’
Closing the program, we heard scholars from Ms. Mallon’s 5th grade
class reading excerpts from speeches of Malcolm X, Nelson Mandela, and
Dr. Martin Luther King. Jr. Afterwards our scholars sang ‘The Dream Lives On’ and we closed the program with the audience joining us in ‘Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing!’ A spectacular performance indeed! Our next Grade 2-5 performance is tentatively scheduled for May 30, 2014 at 8:30AM.