SSA Chorus, Soprano Solo and Piano

Recommended for: Middle School and Older

Optional Instrumentation: Piano, flute, violin, cello, drum set, high and low blocks, triangle, claves, djembe, suspended cymbal

“I freely adapted J. Patrick Lewis's poetry and created a story from the civil rights era starting from the death of MLK, to Malcolm X describing the need for justice, to Rosa Parks changing history and finally, Stand Tall Children.

The story grows using different rhythmical devices in a manner of a radio play.

It begins with a mournful choral hymn for voices, flute and piano; followed by a march; then a beautiful bluegrass solo which partners with a hymn-like Amazing Grace; leading to the climax of the work with the story of Rosa Parks, written using Reggaeton and rap. This takes the piece back to the march for justice, ending with an all out hand-clapping gospel version of Stand Tall Children.”

Performance Time: 8:30 minutes

from

THE ACTIVIST

Loretta Scott King

Civil Rights Leader

1927-2006

I

We wept when the man was taken,

But we knew it was meant to be.

Daylilies drooped in the garden;

Night birds fell dumb in the tree.

We expected the worst of the future,

For the future was seldom bright,

And they carried away on the killing day

The last of the first daylight.

II

She moved to the front unbeaten,

Stepped slowly up to the board.

When she lost the man to the Ku Klux Klan

Her silent shadow roared.

Out in the enemy country,

Death marshaled itself for a fight,

But she led a choir in the line of fire

The first of the next daylight.

III

Stand tall, stand all my children,

Put away the sinister guns.

Embrace the boys that Hate employs,

Like mothers do their sons.

Daylilies might bloom in the garden,

Night birds might sing in the night,

When dignity will set us free

The rest of the best daylight.

from

MY PEOPLE

Malcolm X

Black Rights Activist

1925-1965

V

Today the day holds on against the night,

Because the fight for justice has begun.

from

THE MANY AND THE FEW

Rosa Parks

Civil Rights Activist

I

It was an Alabama day

For both the Many and the Few.

There wasn't really much to do;

No one had very much to say

II

Until a bus, the 6:15,

Drove by. But no one chanced to see

It stop to pick up history.

The doors closed slowly on a scene:

III

The quiet seamstress paid her fare

And took the one seat she could find,

…

IV

The Many People paid no mind

Until the driver, J. P. Blake,

Told the Few of them to take

The deeper seats. But she declined.

from

MY PEOPLE

IV

Our fathers know the only hope of gain

Comes to those who turn and stop--and stand.

from

THE ACTIVIST

III

Stand tall, stand all my children,

Put away the sinister guns.

Embrace the boys that Hate employs,

Like mothers do their sons.

Daylilies might bloom in the garden,

Night birds might sing in the night,

When dignity will set us free

The rest of the best daylight.