Performance: Black Manhattan
Presented by The Penn State Players and Essence of Joy
Adaptation of Black Manhattan by Charles Dumas
Musical arrangement: Anthony Leach

Award Presentations:
Lillias White from Dinah Was

The cast of Smokey Joe's Cafe:
Adrian Bailey, James Beeks, Brenda Braxton, Victor Cook,
B.J. Crosby, Ken Hanson, D'Atra Kicks, DeLeeLively,
Frederick B. Owens, Jerry Tellier

Ann Duquesnay from Bring in Da Noise, Bring Da Funk

The Bucket Drummers from Bring in Da Noise, Bring Da Funk:
Jared Crawford and Raymond King

The South African cast from the Lion King:
Lindiwe E. Dlamini, Ntomb Khona Dlamini, Lindwe C. Hlengwa,
Bonginkosi Faca Khulum, Ron Kunene, Tsidii Le Loka,
Nandi Morake, Nnlanhla Ngema

Honorable Keith L.T. Wright
The Girls Choir of Harlem

Proclamations, Presentations & Remarks from Public Officials

The Program:
Prelude: Blood on the Fields
Innovation and Greetings: Dr. Alvin Durant, Pastor,
Mother A.M.E. Zion Church
Statement of the Occasion: Howard Dodson, Director,
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
Anthems: ARC Gospel Choir

Prelude Readings:
Vinie Burrows: Poems
Ralph Carter: Slave Notices
Vinie Burrows: Excerpts from The Declaration of Independence
and The Constitution of the United States of America
Musical Performance: ARC Gospel Choir
Introduction: Wanda Lundy

Readings: Part I, 1863 - 1869
Narrator: Vinie Burrows
Ossie Davis:
-The good time is at hand by Robert Purvis
Jessica Care More
-Sister lost-mother's escape by Mattie J. Jackson
Rev. Calvin Butts
- Speech to Citizens of Georgia by Bishop Henry M. Turner
Pastor Alvin Durant
-Speech at Charleston Mass Meeting by Rev. E.J. Adams
Dr. Adelaide Sanford
-Convention of American Equal Rights Association by Sojourner Truth
Jessica Care More
-Deliverance by Frances E.W. Harper
Rev. Calvin Butts
-Representative Henry M. Turner of Georgia

Songs of Freedom: ARC Gospel Choir

Readings: Part II
Narrator: Woodie King, Jr.
Pastor Alvin Durant
-Petition from Kentucky Negroes; [and] Speech to Congress by John Lynch
Ralph Carter
-P.B.S. Pinchback, Washington, D.C., 1873
Ossie Davis
-Oration in Memory of Abraham Lincoln by Frederick Douglass, 1876
Rev. Herbert Daughtry
-Reasons to go Africa by John E. Bruce, 1877
Dr. Adelaide Sanford
-Colored teachers for colored schools, Colored Citizen, 1878

Songs of Freedom: ARC Gospel Choir

Readings: Part III
Narrator: Utrice Leid, Host, Producer, Talk Back, WBAI-FM
Vinie Burrows
-Blood, Brand or Liberty, The Chicago Conservator, 1880
Rev. Calvin Butts
-The Kansas Herald, Topeka [on racial unity], 1880
Utrice Leid
-Atlanta Streetcar Boycott by Ida. B. Wells, 1873
Woodie King Jr.
-The Peoples Advocate, letter from Isaac Myers, 1881
-force under wise and direct leaders by John E. Bruce, 1889
-Jack Trice resists lynchers, 1896
Jessica Care More
-Voice from South by Black woman by Anna J. Cooper, 1892
Ossie Davis
-I denounce the so-called Emancipation by Frederick Douglass, 1888
Closing Reflections: Howard Dodson
Benediction: Rev. Alvin Durant

The Program:
Statement of the Occasion: Howard Dodson, Director, Schomburg Center
Statement from Women in Islam: Aisha H.L. al Adawiya, Founder&
Director, Women in Islam and long-time family friend
Ecumenical Prayer: Bishop Norman Quick, Pastor, Childs Memorial
Temple Church of God in Christ
Qur'anic Recitation: Shalik Ahmed Dewidar, Imam, Islamic Society
of Mid-Manhattan
Video Clip

Family Remembrances: Malik Shabazz, grandson of Dr. Betty Shabazz and
Ilyasah Shabazz, daughter of Dr. Betty Shabazz

Panel Discussions of Colleagues and Friends:
Moderator, Utrice Leid, Host, Executive Producer, Talk Back, WBAI-FM
Panel 1
Hamida Khan, Founder, Madrasah of Islamic Learning
Percy Sutton, Chairman Ereritus, Inner City Broadcasting,
long-time family friend
Amir Al-Islam, secretary General, World Council of Religious Peace, USA
Ruby Dee, actress, writer, long-time family friend
Poem: Majidah Abdul Karim

Panel 2
The Honorable Geraldine Daniels, Former New York State Assemblywoman
The Honorable Roger Green, New York State Assemblyman
Imran Hosein, Director of Islamic Studies for the Joint Committee
of Muslim Organizations of Greater New York
A'aliya Abdul Karim, Educator, former Colleague, Medgar Evers
College, Brooklyn, New York

Family Remembrance: Attallah Shabazz, daughter of Dr. Betty Shabazz
Closing Remarks: Howard Dodson, Director, Schomburg Center
Closing Prayer: Asna Husin, United Campus Ministries, Columbia
University

Rod Rodgers' uplifting dance theatre tribute
inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King,Jr. and other
urgent voices from that turbulent time.

The performance, on this 30th anniversary of King's
assasination features original music by noted composer
Coleridge Taylor Perkinson and Bernice Johnson Reagon.
The Legacy is one of the original multi-arts
productions
in the Rodgers company's acclaimed Poets & Peacemakers
series honoring Black heroes. This celebrative event is
offered in the spirit of those who now wish to demonstrate
that King's urgent messages are still alive and very much
with us today.

Jazzberry Jam
Bertha Hope, piano; Carline Ray, bass;
Paula Hampton, drums; Gwen Cleveland, vocals

Act II
Terry Waldo [author], From Ragtime to Blues
Musical Selections:
Memphis Blues, composed by W.C. Handy
Castle House Rag, composed by James Reese Europe
Dallas Blues, composed by L. Garrett & H.A. Rolland
Ole Miss (Rag) composed by W.C. Handy
Charleston Rag, composed by Eubie Blake
Yellow Dog (Rag) Blues, composed by W.C. Handy,
performed by Ruth Brisbane
Memories of You, composed by Eubie Blake,
performed by Ruth Brisbane
Narration: Portraits W.C. Handy - excerpt from
Autobiography

Act III
The United States Marine Corps Marching Band
Portraits: Lt. James Reese Europe & The 369th
Infantry Band, 369th Infantry March, Handy
Brothers Music Co.

Act IV
Narration: Portraits W.C. Handy. After the Death of
James Reese Europe: Harlem, Legends, The Influence of
the Music
Narration: Portraits W.C. Handy - excerpt from
Autobiography
Pianist: Professor Richard Alston
Musical Selections:
We Are Americans Too, composed by A. Razaf,
Eubie Blake and C.L. Cook
A Colored Soldier's Prayer, lyrics by Wadleigh
High School student, Cecelia V. Violenus,
music by Clarence M. Jones
Yamekraw, performed by Richard Alston, piano
Composed by James P. Johnson, arranged by
William Grant Still

Act V
Emme Kemp and Cast:
Belden Bullock, Robert Coverton, Carla Hargrove
and Eve Zanni
Musical Selections:
Atlanta Blues, composed by W.C. Handy
Someone to Sing To, composed by Emme Kemp
Home Spun Sundays, composed by Emme Kemp
Harlem Makes You Feel, composed by Emme Kemp

Part II
Act I
Narration: Benny Waters, 96 year old jazz legend
and the oldest active jazz player
Film clip: The Historical Influence of W.C. Handy's Music
The Band Legends:
Eugene Osborne Smith, Arvel Shaw, Ray Rivera,
Jimmy Owens, Frank Derrick and Melvin Butler
Musical Selections:
Birth of the Blues and St. Louis Blues
Genovis Albright, piano; Sandra Reeves Phillips, vocals
Musical Selection:
Beale Street Blues, Genovis Albright, piano

Act II
The Band Legends and Genovis Albright, under the
direction of Sarah Dash
Musical Selections: composed and/or arranged by
W.C. Handy
Shine Like a Morning Star, Steal Away to Jesus
Careless Love (folk song) and Harlem Blues
Narration: Portraits: W.C. Handy - excerpt from
Autobiography
Finale: The Cast

The yearlong celebration of W.C. Handy's 125th
birthday commences on the weekend of the
anniversary of his death, March 28, 1958.
W.C. Handy was acclaimed the Father of the
blues, honored as an Ambassador of goodwill, an
American immortal, maker of history and builder
of interracial goodwill. He penned compositions
like St. Louis Blues and had a profound impact on
the legacy of American music. W.C. Handy broke
through racial barriers when he founded his own
music publishing company and went on to contract
singers such as Viola McCoy and Mamie Smith. This
was the groundwork for the first black owned record
company, Black Swan Records, setting standards
for those that followed. Handy's music company still
exists as Handy Music Company, in New York City,
celebrating their 80th year as publishers of genuine
American music.

The W.C. Handy Foundation - production notes:
Producers: Edwina Da Costa & Minnie Handy Hanson
Assistant: Nichelle Da Costa- Bowman
Co-Producer: Bruce Hopewell
Music Director: Genovis Albright
Video: Doal W. Hanson
Music Resource Consultant: Emme Kemp
Band Coordinator: Don Eaton

Regina Carter
Regina Carter, violin; Werner Casales, keyboards;
Tracey Wormworth, bass; Rocky Bryant, drums;
Myra Casales, percussion

Lenora Zensalai Helm and the Zenzalai Project
Lenora Zenzalai Helm, vocals; Orrin Evans, piano;
Miriam Sullivan, bass; Nasheet Waits, drums
Special appearance by Sepia featuring Marlon Saunders,
Arif St. Michaels and Rosa Russ

Vanessa Rubin
Vanessa Rubin, vocals; Xavier Davis, piano;
Richie Goods, bass; Dwayne Broadnax, drums

Special Guests: Benny Powell, trombone;
Kenanyah Rogers, baritone saxophone; Don Sickler,
trumpet

The Elders Speak!
Moderator: Utrice Leid, program host, WBAI FM Radio
Cluster 1:
Shaykh Abd'Allah Latif Ali, Bill Epton, Yuri Kochiyama,
James Shabazz and Eddie Ellis
Cluster 2:
Omar Ahmed, Hesham Jaabei, M.T. Mendi and
Asha Samuel-Maras
Cluster 3:
Babatunde Olatunji, Carl Nesfield, Jim Haughton,
Walter Bowe
Cluster 4:
Gwen Patton, John Hatcher, Jean Reynolds,
Bill Strickland, Charsee McIntyre and Selma Sparks
Cluster 5:
Jeannette Walton, Jean Reynolds and Butch Alexander
Closing remarks: Gil Noble, host, Like It Is

Honorees:
Lifetime Achievement Awardees: Nate "Tiny" Archibald, Basketball Hall of Fame
Connie "The Hawk" Hawkins, Basketball Hall of Fame
Thomas "Satch" Sanders, Vice President, NBA
William "Pop" Gates, Member, Basketball Hall of Fame, New York
Renaissance 1939-40 World Championship Basketballl Team

Pioneer Awardees:
Howie Evans, sports writer, Amsterdam News/Syndicated Columnist
Clarence "Big House" Gaines, Legendary Baskeetball & Football Coach
Hal Jackson, radio legend & owner, Washington Bears, 1943-44 Pro
World Championship
John "Butch" Purcell, Professional Sports Health Therapist
William C. Rhoden, Sports writer
Peter Vecsey., sports writer, New York Times/TV commentator
Edward Warner, Sr.,City College of New York; New York Knicks

Cast:
Ty Stephens, Brandice McKenzie, Jeree Wade
Featuring:
Harlem Renaissance Dancers: Carol Bristol, Chernise Spruell,
Jaysane Wright, Erika Vaughn
Renaissance Ladies: Juanita Boisseau, Tina Pratt, Alice Wilke

The Shades of Harlem Band: Frank Owens, piano
Wilbur Bascomb, bass; Frank Derrick, drums

Presentation of The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Living the Dream Award Recipients:
Betty Adams, President, Jackie Robinson Foundation
Rocky H. Aoki, President, Rocky H. Aoki
Luther R. Gatling, President, One Hundred Black Men
Elba Montalvo, Executive Director, Committee for
Hispanic Children and Families
Rev. Dr. Floyd Flake, Pastor, Allen A.M.E. Church
C. Adrienne Rhodes, Director of Communications &
Media Relations, New York Daily News
Rabbi Marc Schneier, President, The Foundation for
Ethnic Understanding
Musical Selection: The Girls Choir of Harlem
Acknowledgments: James H. Harding, Jr.
Benediction: Rev. Dr. V. Simpson Turner