5TH SUNDAY – TRANSPORTING THROUGH MUSIC

Presented by Kathryn Severson.

To continue this month’s celebration of music and acknowledge the celebration of Kwanzaa by some community members this week, Kathryn Severson will be presenting “Transporting Through Music” a brief historical overview of the impact of spirituals on the African American experience. Inspired by a short passage from  the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave (1845) in which Douglass observes, “I’ve often been utterly astonished, since I came to the north, to find persons who could speak of the singing, among slaves, as evidence of their contentment and happiness. It is impossible to conceive of a greater mistake. Slaves sing most when they are most unhappy. The songs of the slave represent the sorrows of his heart; and he is relieved by them, only as an aching heart is relieved by its tears.” The impact of spiritual music on the human ability to transport mind, body, and spirit has a strong history in the African American experience. We will look briefly at the periods of slavery and reconstruction, the rebirth of the Harlem Renaissance, and the Civil Rights Era post World War II to trace musical expression of the themes of Hope, Pride, and Despair. Please come prepared to participate in this discussion by recalling and sharing a song or lyric that has transported your life experience.