The message of Martin Luther King Jr. is alive and well on Cape Ann, which will celebrate the Nobel Prize-winning civil rights leader on Monday, Jan. 15, with events in Gloucester and Rockport.
‘Letter from Birmingham Jail’
Before he was a filmmaker, before he took his uncle Vincent’s little cottage on East Main Street and transformed it into the Gloucester Writers Center, Henry Ferrini was a Berklee College of Music-trained musician.
Music, he says, especially the African-American music of jazz, spirituals, and Duke Ellington, were the soundtrack of his youth during America’s civil rights era. The music, he says, was what “drew me in” to the movement.
Next Monday evening, Ferrini will honor what would be the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s 95th birthday with what he calls an “improvisational oratorio” at the Gloucester Stage Company, using the evocative power of music to animate the words of King’s 1963 “Letter from Birmingham Jail.”
Though not as famous as King’s “I have a dream” speech written later the same year, King’s Birmingham letter is considered one of the most important documents in contemporary American history: a pivotal statement of intent in the civil rights movement.
King may have been a pacifist, but he was motivated by righteous anger, and in April 1963 the preacher from Atlanta was very angry indeed to find himself jailed in Birmingham, Alabama, where he’d gone to participate with local “negroes” in anti-segregation protests.
With no paper available in his cell, he started scribbling words in the margins of a local newspaper which had just published a letter criticizing the civil rights movement in general and King in particular. This letter-to-the-editor, written by eight “moderate” white Christian clergymen wanted King to moderate his actions, to slow the momentum of the movement. In short, to be patient.
But King’s patience had reached a limit, and his reply — which, as spoken by him, is an epic one hour long — resonates to this day with concerned American citizens.
Eleven such citizens — all local writers, poets, artists and activists — will next Monday, Jan. 15, be joined by a quintet of locally based seasoned musicians to perform together, in a spoken oratorio at the Gloucester Stage Company.
Readers include Willie Alexander, Jennifer Bartlett, Charles Coe, the Rev. Wendy Fitting, Tracie Gordon, Dan Graham, Matthew Henry, Hilary Robinson, Nicole Richon-Schoel, Heidi Wakeman among others, with musical accompaniment by Henley Douglas, Steve Lacey, Philip Swanson and others.
Organized by the Gloucester Writers Center, Ferrini says he can’t really tell the audience exactly what to expect, as there has been no time to audition or rehearse. He just “got an idea and ran with it” so it will be totally spontaneous — the instruments responding to the words as they are spoken and vice versa, as in jazz improv.
Strictly speaking, an oratorio is a joint performance such a Handel’s “Messiah,” which is sung by a chorus, but Monday night’s vocals will be read, passage by passage in what Ferrini hopes will deliver a more “evocative” impact, in tandem with the music.
Although free, the event which begins at 7 p.m., is expected to draw a full house. To ensure a seat, Ferrini suggests visiting the website at www.gloucesterwriters.org; and use the QR code to make a reservation. Walk-ins are welcome, only as space allows.
Meetinghouse celebrates MLK Jr.
The Gloucester Meetinghouse Foundation’s annual celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day is a free community event on Monday at 2 p.m. featuring Boston Globe associate editor and columnist Renée Graham. The event will take place at the Gloucester Meetinghouse at the corner of Middle and Church streets in Gloucester. This is the eighth year of the event.
After an opening address by Mayor Greg Verga, Graham will give her keynote address, “The racial reckoning that wasn’t, isn’t, but could still be.” There will be time for questions followed by an intermission with light refreshments.
In the second segment, Graham will have a one-on-one conversation with Michea McCaffery, chair of the Gloucester Racial Justice Team. They will discuss the findings from a recent survey of residents that are Black, Indigenous and Persons of Color. After the conversation, there will be time for questions, followed again by an intermission with light refreshments.
In the third segment, Boston vocalist Gordon Michaels, joined by a small ensemble, will round out the celebration with music based on the Black experience and in honor of King, according to the foundation.
The celebration will end with lights dimming in the Meetinghouse to listen to the words of King in his own voice via audio recording, an annual tradition.
“When leaving the event, audience members will be invited to ring the Meetinghouse tower’s Paul Revere bell in celebration of Dr. King’s birthday, to renew hope for his vision for racial equality and freedom, and to fulfill the promise of the United States Constitution,” according to the program statement.
To view details of the afternoon schedule and for more information, visit www.gloucestermeetinghouse.org.
MLK March in Rockport
In Rockport, the Social Justice Committee of the Unitarian Universalist Society of Rockport hosts a marches, speeches and a church service in commemoration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday, Jan. 15.
Those attending are asked to arrive at 9:30 a.m. at the church, 4 Cleaves St., to help make signs for a MLK March at 10 a.m. The march will be followed by an interfaith service interfaith service of songs, readings and prayers. This free family-friendly event will include a guest musician and a performance by the band Rhythm Plus Soul.