Lululala, Lululala, Lululala.
Tealong, tealong, tealong, sing another guitar,
if you're stoned, you'll get hot. Hey.
I know it will be a wonderful, inspiring
evening of music
and of history.
I'm Congressman Walter Tucker, and I
represent the 37th Congressional District of Compton,
And I am one of your narrators for this evening.
In this day and time, seldom do we
get together to celebrate our ancestors,
and indeed ourselves, in a noble way.
In spite of what is happening to us in this country,
socially, economically, and politically,
we do have something to celebrate.
We need programs like this one to continue
to inspire and encourage us on every front, in
the arts
and politics, in education and civil rights,
in governmental affairs and law, health and
business, medicine
and sports, media, religion, science, and technology.
Now before we go any further in the program,
I would like to introduce to you a young woman
who is
doing a lot in the DC area.
She is the non-sitting senator for the District
of Columbia.
Read your works.
Learn your name.
Who will know that you exist except for your namesake
or neighbors?
You're saying, gee, I wish they would cut out
on that note.
The Junior Black Academy of Arts and Letters
and its directors
took their vision and linked it up
to the American Negro Academy and the Black Academy
of Arts and Letters and provided that opportunity
that we are going to witness here this evening.
We welcome you to Washington, the nation's capital.
And we will settle back and watch
the wonderfully talented, artistic people
that you have brought to us.
We love you.
We support you.
And when you were women, her reputation
precedes her.
Jackie Jackson, the wife of the internationally recognized,
known and statesman Reverend Jesse Jackson,
she in her own right is a civil rights pioneer
and also sacrificing her husband, Jesse Lewis
Jackson, for the cause.
Ruby Johnson, one of the greatest unheralded blues
singers of our time.
We're happy to recognize her tonight,
even though she could not be with us because of family
Frances Murphy, the queen of America's black press.
Imagine Stewart, a civil rights pioneer,
founder of the House of Imaging Homeless Shelter
for Homeless and Battered Women.
Dr. Cain Hopefelder, renowned scholar and author
of the African Heritage Bible.
If you don't have a copy, please make sure
that that's a part of your library.
And of course, as we have already
heard from our non-Sing, the United States Senator,
Florence Pendleton, DC's own.
Let's give all of these individuals
a big round of applause, please. Thanks.
Thank you.
When we look back across centuries
and particularly think about the collective struggles
of our forefathers and foremothers
and individuals who are being recognized here tonight,
Perhaps all that one can say is that it has
been an amazing grace.
For the work you've done and the history you've
made, we dedicate this special selection to
Ladies and gentlemen, performing this special
dedication to our history-makers is the legendary
Grammy Award winner and Entertainer, none other
than Mr. Billy Preston.
Please welcome Mr. Billy Preston.
An amazing grace.
This is for you.
For all the nameless and faceless people on
whose shoulders we sit tonight, an amazing grace.
For the Walter Von Troyes, Dorothy Heights and
Ruby Johnsons, an amazing grace.
For the Richard Smallwoods and Curtis Kings, my
thanks to you.
For the Dr. Cain, Hope Felders and Senator
Florence Pendletons.
It's truly an amazing grace.
For all the blood, sweat and tears of Dr.
Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Megan Evers,
it's an amazing grace.
For Harriet Tugners and Mary McLeod Methunes,
it's an amazing grace.
How sweet the sound.
Save the wretch like me.
we just want to say thank you Lord we just want
to give you some praise right now for your
amazing grace
it's an amazing grace
Billy Preston ladies and gentlemen Mr. Billy Preston
At this time it gives me a great deal of
pleasure to introduce to some and to present to others
a young man who really needs no introduction
other than to say that he is a Grammy Award winner
and that he is our director and conductor for
this evening ladies and gentlemen Mr. Richard Smallwood
As Richard takes his place and prepares and
readies himself I'd like to also introduce to you
one of our local ministers who will do what we
as a people have a tradition of doing and that is
evoking the spirit of the true and the living god
none other than the Reverend Glenn Staples to
give us the benediction the invocation and the
invoking of this program
let us bow our heads please master we come to
you in the name of your son Jesus Christ
and we thank you for what you've done for us we
thank you God for taking care of us as we
struggle for the civil rights movement we pray
God tonight that you bless this service
oh god let somebody hear your voice tonight
bless them in the name of Jesus Christ
we thank you God for bringing us from the
chains of slavery oh god of the freedom oh god
of the spirit
bless us right now we need your power God move
on us tonight as never before touch somebody tonight
give them new direction give them new hope in
your holy name we thank you right now
right now and we give your name the praise the
glory and the honor and the wonderful name of
Jesus the Christ we pray and for his sake let
us all say amen
ladies and gentlemen our concert narrator none
other than the miracle woman miss Lola Falana yes
for the my
Shame, shame, shame I've heard my people talking
Shame, shame, shame God won't you free us from this
Yes, they dragged us from our homeland
And they chained us in coffins
They huddled us in spoon fashion
In filthy hatches
And they sold us to give a few gentlemen ease
Yes, they broke us in like oxen
They scourged us
They branded us
And they made our women breeders
They swelled our numbers with bastards
But we sang
But we sang I said we sang
I've been working
I've been working all day long
I've been, I've been toiling
I've been sweating
I've been toiling
I've been sweating
Yes, I have been toiling
Working all day long
Well, I've been working
I've been working all day long
I've been, I've been sweating
Yes, I have been toiling, toiling, toiling
Working all day long
Toiling, I've been sweating
Yes, I have been toiling
Working all day long
Well, I've been
Good evening ladies and gentlemen
And welcome to the Black Music and Civil Rights
Movement Concert
A musical salute to black history
Presented by the Junior Black Academy of Arts
and Letters
The evening's concert is an outgrowth of the
black music in the Civil Rights Movement music series
A 12 year annual event by the Academy in
Dallas, Texas
But we're here to celebrate the memory
And the contribution of the many great African Americans
Both living and deceased
Who have plowed acres and acres of freedom's fields
For us to be where we are today
We are here to celebrate our history and ourselves
Without fear or shame
We've been working and we're here to speak with pride
And to celebrate the confidence of the
Frederick Douglases
The scholarship of the Dr. W.E.B. DuBois
The insight of the Booker T. Washingtons
The political awareness of the Barbara Jordan,
Shirley Chisholm's, and Adam Clayton Powell's
The dignity of the Nelson Mandela's
And Marcus Garvey's
The poetic style of the Paul Laurence Dunbar's
and Gwendolyn Brooks'
The business aptitude of the Madame C.J.
Walker's, Julius Irving's, and Popp Your Hands
The determination of the Rosa Parks' Banu
Hammers, Sojourner Cruz, and Harriet Tubman's
The legal and constitutional mind of the
Thurgood Marshalls
The leadership of the Honorable Elijah
Muhammad's and Reverend Dr. Martin Luther
King's Jews
The performance of Hattie McDaniels and Paul Roberts'
The religious strength of Reverend Richard
Allen and Reverend Joseph Jackson's
The teaching ability of Olanee Lay-Cheers' and
Marva Collins'
And the historical foresight of the Carter G. Woodson
The architect of what was once called Negro
History Week
We're here to celebrate, because we've been
working. And we are working.
These are but a few of our black history makers.
Some still ask the question, why do we
celebrate black history?
As Dr. Benjamin Quarles eloquently put it, we
celebrate it because it brings us together
With an identity of antecedent in a community
of remembrances
And a sense of collective pride and
humiliation, pleasure and pain
All based on a shared past
We've been working and we will continue to work
Not just one week, or only during the month of
February, but every day and each day of the year
So in the District of Columbia we celebrate the
works of tonight's honored guests
Because they have been working in the fields
and political trenches
Fighting for humanity and for freedom
They've been working in spite of promises unkept
Trying to survive the horrors of racism and
discrimination in these United States
That's why we're saluting all of our history
makers in this musical tribute
And the songs you will hear tonight did not
grow directly out of the civil rights movement
Nonetheless, they represent and reflect the
ideas of what we thought, felt, and believed
About a social phenomena called racism
That is why we can sing songs like
Jesus is a rock in a weary land
Did my Lord deliver Daniel? You know he did
And hold on
Freedom land
Jesus is a rock in freedom land
Shepherds at the time of storm
King Jesus is a rock in a weary land
In a weary land
King Jesus is a rock in a weary land
He'll be a shelter in the time of storm
King Jesus is a rock in a weary land
In a weary land
King Jesus is a rock in a weary land
He'll be a shelter in the time of storm
King Jesus is a rock in a weary land
In a weary land
King Jesus is a rock in a weary land
He'll be a shelter in the time of storm
King Jesus is a rock in a weary land
The roof over my head
Oh yes he is
In a time
Oh yes he is
In a time of storm
Oh yes he is
Is my Lord Jesus Daniel
And then we're from the land of sin,
children from the valley of the well.
The Hebrew children from the war we burn
as then, Vada, Vada, Vare Vare.
Then my Lord delivered, Dango, delivered, Dango,
delivered, dango.
Then my Lord delivered, Dango, delivered, Dango,
delivered, Dango, delivered, dango.
I stepped my foot on the trusty ship.
The ship we began to sail.
They led me, or came to shore.
And I never returned any more.
Then my Lord delivered, Dango, delivered, Dango,
delivered, dango.
Then my Lord delivered, Dango, then Vada, I am
a re-man.
Deliver, Dango, deliver, dango.
It's my God, it's my love.
Then I got every man.
in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, amen.
Hold on just a little while longer.
Everything is gonna be all right.
Hold on just a little while longer.
Because everything will be all right.
Everything is gonna be all right.
My way may not be easy.
You did not say that it would be.
But when I get tired and I can't see my way,
You told me to put my trust in You and I'll
keep praying.
Just a little while longer.
Pray home.
Just a little while longer.
Get down on my knees and pray on.
Just a little while longer.
You said that You would make everything.
Everything is gonna be all right.
Now when my foes were slain,
You know these things they'll try to do.
We will all don't touch them,
But within their hearts make them give their
lives to You.
And we'll keep on marching on.
Just a little while longer.
We'll keep on marching on.
Just a little while longer.
We're gonna keep on marching on.
Just a little while longer.
Because You said that You would make everything.
Every little bit of all that You've made.
On and on now.
Just a little while.
Pray on.
Keep on marching on.
Hey, yeah.
Because everything will be all right.
Everything will be all right.
On and on. Yeah.
Pray on.
Keep on marching on. Yeah.
Because everything will be. Everything.
Everything will be.
I'm gonna keep holding on.
Because it will be all right.
Songs of the civil rights movement offered
powerful messages,
messages of protest and of hope
for the present and ultimately the triumph of
good over evil.
Many people in the general population have forgotten
or are unfamiliar with this rich body of music
that helped to fuel and to sustain the civil
rights movement.
We cannot forget this music because when we are
singing it,
we are singing our history, our past.
We must remember that a people without
knowledge of its past
is like a tree without roots.
So we must continue to sing about our past,
sing about the Africans that reached and
settled in the New World
thousands of years before Columbus.
Yes, go ahead. Yes.
And sing about the fact that black slavery
literally placed America on her feet.
And sing of the fact that the automatic
lubrication of steam engines,
the first machine for mass producing shoes,
the first automatic stop light, the movable
refrigeration unit,
the central unit in artificial heart simulators,
stimulators and electrical device used in all
guided missiles
and IBM computers and countless others
or other inventions in almost every field were
made by African Americans.
Now when we think of these important
contributions we've made to the world,
knowing that the color of our skin was a factor
in our achievement,
we have continued to utter songs like something
about singing for my freedom
makes me feel good.
Gonna be free one day.
Oh, freedom.
And woke up this morning with my mind on freedom.
Oh, I feel good, good, good.
I feel all there is that makes me feel good,
good, good.
Oh, I feel good, good, good.
I feel all there is that makes me feel good.
Oh, I've been abused and I've been scorned.
I've been talked about, should you, but there is.
Oh, makes me feel good.
I feel good, good, good.
Oh, yes I do feel good, oh, that's what I mean.
Oh, makes me feel good.
Sometimes up, sometimes down.
Sometimes down with the ground.
Oh, makes me feel good.
I feel good, good, good.
Yes, I feel good all the time.
Oh, that's the thing that makes me feel good.
Oh, good, oh, good.
Yes, my Lord.
Oh, good, feel good.
Oh, Lord, yes, my Lord.
Yeah, makes me feel good.
Oh, makes me feel good.
Ooh, oh, we're gonna be free one day.
Well, I don't know how and I don't know when.
We're gonna be free one day.
That the freedom train's coming round the bend.
We're gonna be free one day.
Well, it's coming sure and it's coming fast.
We're gonna be free one day.
We're gonna step on board and be free at last.
We're gonna be free one day.
Well, it's coming sure and it's coming fast.
We're gonna be free one day.
We're gonna step on board and be free at last.
We're gonna be free one day.
Oh, freedom.
All freedom, all freedom over me.
And before I be a slave, I'll be buried in my grave
and go home to my Lord and be free.
All freedom, all freedom over me.
And before I be a slave, I'll be buried in my grave
and go home to my Lord and be free.
No more moaning, no, no more moaning over me.
And before I be a slave, I'll be buried in my grave
and go home to my Lord and be free.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia over me.
And before I be a slave, I'll be buried in my grave
and go home to my Lord and be free.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia over me.
All over, all over me.
And before, and before I be a slave,
you might as well bury me, bury me deep down,
deep down in my grave.
And go home, home to my Lord and be free.
Be free.
Well, I woke up this morning with my mind
state of freedom.
Oh, I woke up this morning with my mind state
of freedom.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.
Well, I'm walking and talking with my mind
state of freedom.
I'm walking and talking with my mind state of freedom.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.
Ain't no time to keep your mind state of freedom.
Oh, I said it ain't no harm to keep your mind,
state of freedom.
Oh, it ain't no harm to keep your mind, state
of freedom.
I said it ain't no harm to keep your mind,
state of freedom.
Walking and talking with your mind, state of freedom.
I don't know about you, but I definitely woke
up this morning with my mind stayed on freedom,
freedom from doubt, freedom from depression,
freedom from despair, freedom from lack and
limitation, freedom from defeat.
You gotta wake up every day with your mind
stayed on freedom.
When we think about the great inventions that
we have made over the years and continue to
make as a people, I'm sure you'll agree with me
that we do have something that the world
can't take away, and that's all right because
if they gave it, they'd surely take it away.
Leading the selection of I've Got Something
This World Can't Take Away will be the concert's
guest vocalist for this evening.
I think somebody knows who I'm talking about.
Let me see.
Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce and
present to you, none other than Ms. Jennifer Holliday.
I've got something that can't be taken away.
And I don't care what men may say.
Because I'm going to keep on serving God anyway.
Because I've got something,
I've got something that this world can't take away.
Just can't take away.
I've got something this world can't take away.
You see, Jesus has given me joy within.
And He has blessed me once again.
He has taken every one of my fears away.
He has brightened my day, brightened up my day.
You see, I don't care.
I don't care whatever men, whatever they got to say.
Because I'm going to keep on serving God anyway.
Because I've got something,
I've got something that this world just can't
take away.
No, can't take away.
I've got something, oh yes I do, this world
can't take away.
Oh no, oh no.
I've got something, yes I do, this world can't
take away.
No, no, no, nobody can take it away.
Oh, I've got something this world can't take away.
You can't take it away.
No, no, no, you can't take it away.
No, no, you can't take it away.
Keep me stringing it your way.
Can't take it away, no, no, no, you can't take
it away. Yeah.
And you can't take it, yes.
I got peace and you can't take it, no.
I got joy, and you can't take it, yeah.
I got joy. Yeah.
You can't take it away, no, no, no.
You can't take it away, no, no.
You can't take it away Wait a minute, bring it
down, y'all
Oh, eh, oh
Somebody out there Don't know what I'm talking about
Somebody don't know what it means
When you gotta stand alone You ain't got no friends
Nobody to talk to But I stopped by here tonight
to tell you
That whatever they take away from you Don't let
the devil steal your joy
Don't let the devil steal your peace Don't let
the devil steal your joy
Eh, oh, you can't
Eh, oh, you can't take it away
You can't take it away
You can't take it away, no This joy that I have
down in my heart
You can't take it away, no You can't take it away
Now, yeah, oh, eh, oh
You can't take it
You can't take it away
No, no, no, no, oh
I want to preach now.
Can't take it away.
The civil rights movement
was one of the most important events in
American history.
It was emotional.
It was controversial. It was transitional.
It was life changing.
Through sit-ins, marches, and soaring rhetoric,
the movement
aroused widespread public indignation.
Through the medium called television, this
movement gained its passport
into millions of living rooms all across America.
America became incensed as the injustices
were inflicted upon black people, all in the
name of the law.
Despite some success accomplished
by this movement, the masses of black people in
America remained poor
and uneducated. Most remained unable to avail
themselves of the opportunities that went to a few
well-prepared black people. Unemployment
for African Americans remained at rates two, three,
and four times that of whites.
The ghettos and slums continued to deteriorate.
Crime still plagued black neighborhoods.
The various government programs that sought to
correct the problems
were never funded at the proper levels. They
were never maintained
long enough to make any real difference.
Looking back over the
years and seeing the kinds of problems that we
are facing today
in America and abroad,
one would have to wonder if we have made any
real progress. Nevertheless,
we must continue to sing.
We must sing of our struggles, and we must fight
for our rights. In the words of Frederick Douglass,
the great, self-taught orator and scholar and
leader of our
people in the late 1800s, where there is no struggle,
there is no progress.
And if
there is something that we do know something
about, it is struggle.
That's why
we can sing songs like, my country,
tis of thee, sweet land of liberty,
of thee I sing. Land where my fathers
cry, land of the pilgrims' pride, from every
mountainside let freedom ring.
That's why
we can sing songs like, fighting for my rights,
my people will rise,
rise up and walk, and
freedoms table.
You know I'm tired of segregation,
I want my equal rights,
segregation did me wrong, made me leave my abode,
well, I'm fighting for my rights,
fighting for my rights,
oh mother done told me,
upon the day,
if you don't fight for your
freedom, I'd rather see you dead, that's why I'm
fighting for my rights,
my daddy done told me,
a long time ago,
And don't fight for your freedom.
Be a slave forever more.
That's why I'm fighting for my rights.
Fighting for my rights.
That all this only done to me, oh, she was very brave.
Said before she'd be a slave, she'd be buried
in her grave.
That's why I'm fighting for my rights.
Fighting for my rights.
Fighting, fighting, fighting,
fighting for my rights.
Fighting for my rights.
I'm fighting for my rights Fighting for my rights
I said I'm fighting for my rights Fighting for
my rights
I said I'm watching and screaming, voting for
my rights
Oh we gotta fight for my rights Fight for my rights
Your mamma for your rights And your daddy for
your rights
I'll fight for you, right.
Fight for you, right, fight for my right.
I know someday my people will rise, so smile a
star up and dry your eyes.
Someday soon my people will rise, someday soon
my people will rise.
We're gonna rise, my people will rise, I know
someday my people will rise, so smile a star up
and dry your eyes.
Someday soon my people will rise, someday soon
my people will rise.
You may write me down in history with your
bitter twisted lies. You may trod me in the
very dirt, but still, like dust, I'll rise.
Does my sassiness upset you? Why are you beset
with gloom?
Because I walk like I've got oil wells pumping
in my living room. Just like moons and like
suns, with the certainty of tides, just like
folks springing high, still I rise.
Did you want to see me broken, bowed head and
lowered eyes, shoulders falling down like
teardrops, weakened by my soulful cries?
Does my haughtiness offend you? Don't take it
awful hard, because I laugh like I've got gold
mines digging in my own backyard.
You may shoot me with your word, you may cut me
with your eyes, you may kill me with your
hatefulness, but still, like air, I rise.
Out of the huts of history's shame, I rise. Up
from a past that's rooted in pain, I rise.
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide, welling
and swelling. I bear the tide, leaving behind
nights of terror and fear. I rise into a
daybreak that's wondrously clear.
I rise, bringing the gifts that my ancestors
gave. I am the dream and the hope of every slave.
People, I rise. I rise! I rise!
I'm gonna view that holy city, yes I am. I'm
gonna view that holy city. Hallelujah, I'm
gonna view that holy city.
View that holy city. Oh, I'm gonna sing and
never get tired, yes I am. Hallelujah, I'm
gonna view that holy city, sing and never get tired.
View that holy city. Oh, I'm gonna feast at
that welcome table, yes I am. Hallelujah, I'm
gonna view that holy city, sing and never get tired.
Feast at that welcome table, view that holy
city. Well, I'm gonna feast on milk and honey,
yes I am.
Hallelujah, I'm gonna view that holy city, sing
and never get tired. Feast at that welcome
table, feast on milk and honey, view that holy city.
I'm gonna shout and tell my story, yes I will.
I'm gonna shout and tell my story, yeah, I'm
gonna view that holy city, sing and never get tired.
Feast at that welcome table, feast on milk and
honey, shout my troubles over, view that holy city.
One of these days, one of these other days, one
of these old days, hey I'm gonna view that
holy, hey I'm gonna sing and feast at that
welcome table, feast on milk and honey, shout
my troubles over, view that holy city.
One more time, one of these days, one of these
other days, yeah, one of these days, I'm gonna
view that holy city, sing and never get tired.
Feast at that welcome table, feast on milk and
honey, shout my troubles over.
Hallelujah, hallelujah. One of these mornings,
it won't be long, you're gonna look for me and
I'll be gone, one of the heavens, gonna sing
and shout, nobody there, gonna put me out,
shout my troubles over.
Shout my troubles over, Hallelujah, hallelujah.
Shout my troubles over, shout my troubles over.
What are these old days?
And it won't be long
You're gonna look for me
And I'll be good Hallelujah
Shabbat shalom YAHYAHYAHYEAHYEAHYEAHYEAHYAHYEAHYEAHYEAHYEAHYEAH
Is she a gift from God or what?
And she's about what we're talking about tonight.
Be proud of yourself, because God had a reason
for making us.
Yes, he did.
As the black experience in America became more
complex, so did the music.
Our music has provided a powerful lens through
which we may view the history of black Americans
in a new and revealing way.
Our music has been used as a passport to escape
from slavery to freedom, escape from the deepest
dungeons of the deep south to a so-called
liberated north.
It has been used to send messages and connect
our physical being with the human spirit.
It has been used to inspire those who have been
saddened by racial struggles and to uplift
even the downtrodden.
Of our music, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once
said, our songs play a strong and vital role
in our struggle.
They give our people new courage and a sense of unity.
And they keep alive a faith, a radiance of hope
in the future in our most trying hours.
We must continue to sing of this new courage,
because it has cost the lives of many warriors.
We must.
Because they are warriors who became martyrs
while advancing the black liberation struggle.
We must sing the praises of these martyrs, for
they are a part of who we are and what
we will become.
If we do not sing their praises, Lord have
mercy, who will?
Even though many of us do not like to be
reminded of our gruesome and bloody past, we
must nevertheless
need to be cognizant of the fact that if it
were not for our Reverend George W. Lee, shot.
Lamar D. Smith, shot.
Reverend Emmett Till, shot, all in 1955.
And Corporal Roman Duckworth, shot in 1959.
Medgar Evers, who was shot in 1963.
Malcolm X, shot in 1965.
And the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
shot in 1968.
Our labors and efforts would literally go
unnoticed, but as James Weldon Johnson puts
it, we will sing a song full of the faith that
the dark past has taught us.
We will sing a song full of the hope that the
present has brought us.
We will sing a song remembering you, Nat
Turner, Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth.
We will sing a song remembering you, Denise
McNair, Carol Robertson, Addie Mae Collins,
and Cynthia Wesley when you all were killed as
a bomb one day exploded in the 16th Street
Baptist Church's Sunday School class.
We will sing.
We will sing a song for the millions of African
mothers, fathers and their children who died
in the brutal Middle Passage.
Sing for all the individuals whose names have
never been recorded in history.
And for those whom we do not even remember, we
will sing your praises with this special
song that Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
requested before his assassination. Sing.
Precious Lord.
Take my hand.
Lead me on.
Let me stand.
I'm tired.
I get so weak.
I am worn through the storm.
I am thrown through the mud.
Lead me on to the right thing.
Take my hand.
Precious Lord.
Lead me on.
When my way grows drear.
Precious Lord.
Lead me on.
Hear my, hear my cry.
Hear my cry.
God my feet.
Lest I fall.
Take, take my hand.
Precious Lord.
Take my hand and lead.
I need you to lead me.
I need you to guide me.
I need you to hold me.
Late in the midnight hour when it's all alone.
I need you to lead me.
I need you to hold me.
As we depart from this hollow building tonight,
we must pause and reflect on what we have said
and what we have done here.
We must continue to pay homage and respect to
the many great men and women who fought
and are still fighting for our humanity and our freedom.
We must remember those who have given their
lives and are risking their lives on a daily basis.
As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said,
a man who won't die for something is not fit to
live for anything.
So let us march on till victory is won.
And so, as this concert comes to a close,
in the words of the late Dr. Mary McLeod Methune,
We leave you love.
We leave you hope.
We leave you the challenge of developing
confidence in one another.
We leave you a thirst for education.
We leave you a respect for the use of power.
We leave you faith.
We leave you racial dignity.
And we leave you a desire to live harmoniously
with your fellow men and women.
And we finally leave you responsibility to our
young people.
And know that our history is important to the
whole world.
For if it were not, why is it that so many
people go to such great lengths to suppress?
To distort and ignore it.
So continue to sing a song full of the faith
that the dark past has taught us
and full of the hope that the present has
brought us.
Sing. Sing a song.
Sing a song.
Sing a song till victory is won.
(music playing)
Brothers and sisters, thank you all for coming
here this evening
and supporting this effort.
Hopefully this will be an annual event here in
our city.
We want to thank the choir.
Let's thank the choir.
Of course, we want to thank our wonderful musicians.
Let's hear it for our musicians.
Come on now.
And certainly we want to give a very special
thanks to DC's own conductor and director Par Excellence,
Mr. Richard Smallwood.
And let us thank with the warmest hand from the heart,
our gentleman narrator for the evening, the
honorable Congressman Walter Tucker.
We'd like to also thank our very special
performers, soloist,
the great legendary artist, will it go round in
circles, Mr. Billy Preston.
And of course, you've already shown your
kindness and your gratitude and appreciation
for her.
But let us just put our hands together one more
time for the dream girl herself.
And that great artist, none other than Mr.
Jennifer Holliday.
And while Jennifer is standing out there, we'd
like Lola Filana to join her also with a
commemoratory roses.
There we go. Lola Filana.
And lastly, this concert is presented by the
Dallas, Texas based Junior Black Academy of
Arts and Letters,
which was founded by tonight's concert director
and producer.
This young man has worked tirelessly. He has
taken this show on the road all over this nation.
And we must support his efforts. We must pray
for him.
We must work for and with him. And we must come
out to support him.
None other than Curtis King, our producer,
writer, director tonight.
Just before we go, we want to say thank God for
all the things that he has done.
And truly, without God, this would not have
been possible.
And before we leave, we want everybody to join
in with these artists.
The choir, you've done an absolutely incredible job.
And we're going to just take it on out of here
with my country, tears of thee, sweet land of
liberty of thee,
I sing land where my fathers died, land of the
pilgrim cry from every mountainside.
Let freedom ring. Just join in with us as we
leave here tonight.
And please remember, black history is not one
week, 28 days, it's 365 days a year.
And the reality is, we have, we should never
ever be ashamed of who we are, where we have
come from,
and how we're going to get to where we're going.
Because truly, God is amazing. Because we're
going to get to that promised land of freedom.
My country, tears of thee, let's sing it.
My country, tears of thee, sweet land of
liberty of thee I sing.
Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim
cry from every mountainside.
Let freedom ring.
My country, tears of thee, sweet land of
liberty of thee I sing.
Oh, land where my fathers died, land of the
pilgrim cry from every mountainside.
Let freedom ring.
Come on, everybody.
Land where my fathers died.
Let freedom ring.
Oh, land where my fathers died, land of the
pilgrim cry from every mountainside.
Let freedom ring.
Everybody, land where my fathers died, help me
sing it.
Oh, land where my fathers died, land of the
pilgrim cry from every mountainside.
Let freedom ring.
Let freedom ring, oh.
Let freedom ring.
Let freedom ring, yeah!
Let freedom ring.
Let it ring.
Come on.
Let it ring. Yeah.
Come on.
I have this singing.
Land of my father.
My father's land.
Land of my mother's pie.
Hey, from every mountainside. Hey.
Let freedom ring.
Let freedom. Freedom.
Oh, freedom. Freedom.
Oh, let it ring.
And I church.
And I tax.
And I home.
And I job.
And I school.
And I hope.
Let it ring.
Bring out justice.
Let it ring.
Bring out equality.
Bring out humanity.
Let freedom ring.
Let freedom.
Let it ring. Freedom.
I want that freedom! Freedom!
No more war! Freedom!
No more crime!
No more oppression!
No more segregation! Freedom!
Oh, that's freedom! Yeah!
Freedom can ring
Love is rising
Oh, hey.
God bless you. Yeah.
My love, yeah. Hey.
Oh, come on.
Come on, let's bring the rain.
Let freedom ring.
You want to let it ring.
Let it ring.
Sweet land of liberty of thee.
I want to sing.
I need to sing it.
Let freedom ring.
Let it ring.
Yeah, oh.
Let it ring.
Let freedom ring.
From the mountain tops.
Down in the valley low.
Let it ring.
Let freedom ring.
Let freedom.
Let it ring, yeah.
And I hoes.
And I churches.
And I jobs.
On my schoolyard.
Let freedom ring.
Let it ring out equality.
Let it ring out peace.
Bring out love.
Love everybody.
Love your neighbor.
Love your brother.
Love your sister.
And love everybody.
Let it ring. Yeah.
Let freedom ring.
We're gonna walk together.
We're gonna talk together.
We're gonna love together.
We're gonna sing together.
We're gonna learn together.
And we're all gonna go to Heaven together.
Let it ring.
Let freedom, freedom.
Let it ring.
I'm trying to stay on myself.
I can't even find the first area.