Freedom Song: Young Voices and the Struggle for Civil Rights

Freedom Song: Young Voices and the Struggle for Civil Rights — page 7
land These neighborhoods are mostly black That is the way Chicago looked in 1956 That is still largely the way it looks today At first Moore's choir was made up of children from the First Unitarian Church but he moved quickly to include other children especially black children from economically poor neighborhoods As director Moore insisted on two things The choir would help children to become excellent singers never compromising on quality And it would include children of all races and economic backgrounds on an equal level never compromising on justice The choir that Chris Moore started grew into the Chicago Chil dren's Choir Rob Eller Isaacs joined the choir when he was seven years old As an adult he recalled the experi ence Here we were middle class kids from the chronically overeducated Hyde Park getting to know and become friends with kids who lived in the projects Kids from all over the city Not out of noblesse oblige a feeling that the privileged are obligated to help the less fortunate but out of a common commitment to musical excellence In 1975 Moore wrote about his life for the 25th reunion of classmates from Harvard University I have been deeply concerned about this country and the world in which we live My way of attempting to help change it has been working with children and youth in and through music to assist them to a deeper understand ing of the whole process of building and maintaining a culture that nourishes and ministers to its