Freedom Song: Young Voices and the Struggle for Civil Rights
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
And when that process includes the fortunate side by side with street kids and those of every imaginable back ground and circumstance and nothing is of importance but the persons themselves and what they are about together then I begin to feel that there may be some sub stance to that American Dream of the open society that we have so often preferred to mouth rather than to accept to live Today the Chicago Children's Choir provides music programs to dozens of Chicago elementary schools and offers eight after school neighborhood choirs The Hyde Park neighborhood choir is pictured here Andrea Bechert courtesy of the Chicago Children's Choir Moore died in 1987 but the Chicago Children's Choir continues So does its commitment to racial equality and justice From the first dozen children the Chicago Chil dren's Choir has grown to include thousands of chil dren each year Today there are almost 3 000 children involved in the choir Some sing in school choirs in
the dozens of Chicago area schools served by the choir Others sing in CCC’s neighborhood choirs in Hyde Park Albany Park Beverly Garfield Park Hum boldt Park Lincoln Park Pilsen Little Village and Rogers Park Each year about 100 talented singers participate in the Concert Choir This choir travels and sings on national and international tours In recent years the Chicago Children's Choir has per formed throughout the world from South Africa to Scotland from the Czech Republic to Italy from Rus sia to Japan Under artistic director Josephine Lee the CCC per forms regularly with the Chicago Symphony Orches tra the Joffrey Ballet and the Lyric Opera of Chicago In recent years it has performed at Carnegie Hall in New York City Constitution Hall in Washington D C and the Democratic National Convention The choir has performed for President Bill Clinton South African president Nelson Mandela the Dalai Lama Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Queen Noor of Jordan Over the years the children have per formed with or for such varied and distinguished artists as Luciano Pavarotti Sir Georg Solti Harry Belafonte Quincy Jones Willie Pickens Gwendolyn Brooks Roberta Flack Samuel Ramey Bobby McFer rin and Ladysmith Black Mambazo In 2006 the CCC's production of Sita Ram an original musical rendering of the Ramayana the Indian creation epic was nominated for three Jefferson Awards the
Chicago version of the Tony Awards given to theatri cal productions in New York City Celebrating its 50th anniversary year the CCC looked for a way to mark its historic commitment to civil rights The CCC wanted to tell the story of the civil rights movement to new generations In the summer of 2007 as part of its anniversary celebra tion the CCC sent a group of its most talented singers on an extended tour of the American South They retraced the steps of the heroes and martyrs of the civil rights movement They cried in the Slavery Museum reenacting the journey from Africa They sang in Birmingham in a church that had been bombed in 1963 standing in the place where Rev erend Martin Luther King Jr had preached They walked over Selma's Edmund Pettus Bridge follow ing the footsteps of people who had been bloodied and beaten to the ground simply because they wanted the rights guaranteed by the U S Constitu tion They sang at the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis beneath the balcony where Dr King was assassinated in 1968 The CCC's Freedom Tour was the inspira tion for Freedom Song Many of the songs they sang on the Freedom Tour are included in the CD at the back of this book Throughout the book Voices of the Choir sidebars offer the reflections of choir mem bers This book tells the story of the civil rights move ment through the freedom songs that strengthened
