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The FiskJubilee Singers celebrate "the dignity of man. "

Quartet, along with Marian Anderson's great teacher, tenor Roland Hayes. Mrs. Lee became the first Black pro­ fe ssional musician at the New York Metropolitan Opera, as vocal coach in 1954-56, hired just before Marian Anderson's 1955 debut, and was profes­ sor at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia fo r over twenty years. She is known as the teacher and inspiration fo r dozens of singers, including Kathleen Battle and Jessye Norman. Baritone Robert McFerrin studied at EIRNS/Dianne Sare Fisk University himself; there, after see­ ing Marian Anderson perform, he Fisk University Concert decided on the spot, with little knowl­ edge of European music, that he wanted to become a singer of German lieder and 'Let Freedom Sin ' Italian opera. After fu rther studies at g Chicago Musical College, he won the etropolitan Opera baritone The musical program began with New York Metropolitan Opera's MRobert McFerrin and musical the Nashville Boys' Choir performing "Auditions of the Air" in 1953. After Civil Rights leader Sylvia Olden Lee led "Come Bow Down and Worship Him." Anderson's ground-breaking debut as a tribute to the dignity of man at Fisk They were fo llowed by the Fisk Jubilee the firstBlack artist at the Metropolitan, University Memorial Chapel in Singers, directed by Delisse Hall, McFerrin became the fi rst African­ Nashville, Tenn. on Nov. 10, on the singing "Oh, Freedom," "Precious American male artist at the Met the fo urth anniversary of the fa ll of the Lord," and "Wasn't That a Mighty same year (1955), singing Amonasro in Wall, and in celebration of the D ay.?" Verdi's Aida, and starring in Rigaletta birthday of , the Poet and other roles. of Freedom. McFerrin, Olden Lee Perform Featured in the program were the Then Robert McFerrin and Slyvia Nashville Boys' Choir and the Fisk Olden Lee took the stage to perform Jubilee Singers. Dr. Reavis Mitchell, of from Schumann's Dichterliebe, Amelia Bo nton the office of the President of Fisk, "Cortegiani" from Verdi's Rigaletta, and y opened the concert by noting that Fisk a selection of Hall Johnson spirituals. ivil Rights heroine Amelia was the first university fo unded after Both McFerrin and Olden Lee have C Boynton Robinson was honored in the Civil War to make the best Classical ties to Fisk's Classical tradition. Mrs. Selma, Ala. on Nov. 14, at a ceremony education available to African­ Lee's great-grandfather, Nelson Merry, held at the National Voting Rights Americans: "The program presented was the only Black fo under of Fisk, Museum and Institute, which opened a here tonight, is in that tradition of the which was set up by the American month-long Living History Exhibit to Fisk Jubilee singers, and of those who Missionary Society in 1866. A slave who celebrate her commitment to Civil had fo unded our University." gained his freedom, Merry also founded Rights. Mrs. Robinson, who is now the The Fisk Singers are named after the the Spruce Street Baptist Church in vice-chairman of the Schiller Institute, Old Testament Jubilee, the fiftieth year, 1855, the major Black church in was surrounded by seventy-five fa mily in which all slaves were to be freed and Nashville until the 1960's. Liz Merry, members, friends, and associates during all debts fo rgiven; in the , Mrs. Lee's grandmother, was one of the the afternoon program, which fe atured 1864 was known as the "Yea r of the original Jubilee Singers. Mrs. Lee's an exhibit organized around the theme Jubilee." By 1874, after traversing the mother, Sylvia Olden, was a piano stu­ "Footprints to Freedom." u.s. and Europe, the group of eleven dent at Fisk and one of the finest sopra­ The event recalled the nearly fifty singers, eight of them ex-slaves, had nos of her day. Her fa ther, J. Clarence, years of fighting fo r justice fo r all raised the money to build the school. was a singer in the fa mous Fisk Americans, which began in the 1930's,

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© 1994 Schiller Institute, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission strictly prohibited. Political prisoners (leftto right) Laurence Hecht, Pa ul Gallagher, Anita Gallagher, and Donald Phau.

had written to the judge to advise him that the sentences were excessive. Judge Weckstein is infamous for his correspondence, during the period the defendants faced trial in his courtroom, with the leadership of the Anti­ Defamation League of B'nai B'rith (ADL). Judge Weckstein allowed prose­ cutor John Russell to introduce only three items of evidence at the hearing, including the introduction to a book published by Executive Intelligence LaRouche Associates Jailed Review, The Ug ly Truth About the ADL, and a press release written by defendant n Nov. 4, 1993, Judge Cliffo rd campaign ran ads identifying a "public Paul Gallagher, to argue that no mercy OWeckstein of the Roanoke (Va.) enemies" list that was headed by should be shown because the fo ur defen­ Circuit Court sent fo ur associates of LaRouche and his associates. dants were members of a "cult." Lyndon LaRouche to prison for sen­ The fo ur political organizers had Instead of rejecting Russell's tences of between 25 and 39 years: been tried and sentenced in Judge improper tactic, Judge Weckstein Donald Phau (25 years), Laurence Weckstein's court in 1990 and 1991 on rewarded him with the comment that Hecht (33 years), Paul Gallagher (34 charges of "securities fraud," after the he, Weckstein, was very fa miliar with years), and Anita Gallagher (39 years). state of Virginia determined retroac­ the views of the defendants' organiza­ Weckstein acted only two days after tively that political loans were "securi­ tion on the ADL, having recently read Virginia voters had resoundingly reject­ ties," making it a fe lony to solicit such two of their books on the subject cover ed fo rmer Virginia Attorney General loans without a broker's license. to cover-The Ug ly Truth and Travesty. Mary Sue Terry's gubernatorial bid. As After a three-hour sentence reduction The latter is the story of the 1992 kid­ Attorney General, Terry had indicted, hearing, Judge Week stein ordered the nap conspiracy plot against LaRouche arrested, and prosecuted a number of Gallaghers, Hecht, and Phau to jail fo r associate and du Pont heir Lewis du associates of Lyndon LaRouche, includ­ decades-despite the fact that thirteen Pont Smith, in which plot the ADL ing the above fo ur. Her gubernatorial members of Virginia's General Assembly played a role.

Robinson Honored in Selma

when Mrs. Robinson and her first hus­ Robinson enacted by the Selma City band, Samuel W. Boynton, organized Council, the majority of whose mem­ sharecroppers to fightfor fu ndamental bers are white, named Nov. 14 Amelia human rights in poverty-stricken rural Boynton Robinson Day and was read Alabama, a commitment which grew by Bruce Boynton. Helga Zepp­ into her battle in the 1950's and 1960's, LaRouche, fo under of the Schiller alongside Dr. Martin Luther King, J r. Institute internationally, sent a procla­ and the Rev. , for voting mation which was read at the event, rights for African-Americans. announcing that the Schiller Institute The program was moderated by Mrs. will celebrate Nov. 14 every year as Robinson's grand-daughter, Carver Day, in Boynton, who is named after Dr. George combination with annual events to Washington Carver of the Tuskegee honor Friedrich Schiller's birthday on Institute, a close fr iend of the Boynton Nov. 10. Zepp-LaRouche noted, "I fa m ily. Sam Walker, the museum's know Schiller would be happy to hear director, welcomed the crowd. that, given that Amelia is the perfect A declaration to honor Mrs. beautiful soul he was writing about." Amelia Boynton Robinson

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