Seattle Peace Chorus presents

Seattle Peace Chorus repertoire will include this stunning gallery of extraordinary Black lives (with various narrator guides)

Kent Stevenson focuses on Black Inventors, the Greenwood District in Tulsa, and six Black individuals. There will be a short song or chant or choral rendering for each of the following six individuals; based on poetry or original text.

• Bayard Rustin: Spiritual for the political strategist and unsung right hand to MLK; architect of the 1968 March on Washington.
• Mary McCleod Bethune: Anthem for the early educator, rights activist, and close confidant of Eleanor Roosevelt. Lyrics are derived from a commissioned poem by the Clinton Presidential Inauguration Committee, authored by Professor Mona Lisa Saloy, presently the Poet Laureate of the State of Louisiana.
• Muhammad Ali: A Rap/Chant titled “Float Like a Butterfly,” for the world boxing legend with his familiar story of championship, determination, confidence, success, loss, humor, recovery, bravery, and power.
• Shirley Chisholm: A Gospel song for activist politician, first woman of color to run for president in the 1970’s, when her campaign slogan was “Unbossed and Unbought.” She paved the way for numerous women of all backgrounds into congressional and other high ranking government positions, clear down to Kamala Harris.
• Josephine Baker: A cabaret or French resistance song for this exotic entertainer, dancer, singer who, fleeing racism in the US in the 1930s, moved to Paris, where she became a cabaret sensation. No other woman of color attained her height of fame. Then, she became a spy! During WWII and in retirement, she adopted children from all over the world to her country house in the South of France.
• Billy Strayhorn: Swing/Jazz for this composer, arranger, and pianist, the unsung genius behind Duke Ellington’s musical career.
• Litany of Black Inventors: A boogie/theatrical, uptempo piece.
• The Greenwood Story: In this piece we focus primarily on the notable success progress of the African-American Greenwood District of Tulsa and Black Wall Street; celebrating the ingenuity and resolve of this community: there is an understated symbolic music & movement ending representing the debacle.

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