Albany singers, choirs join together to ‘lift every voice’ at Black History Month concert

ALBANY – The 2024 “Lift Every Voice” Black History Month concert wowed audiences Thursday night with more than 10 performances of music, spoken word poetry, dance and a re-enactment of a 1963 John Lewis speech.

People filled the Albany Municipal Auditorium – some clad in colorful cultural African attire, some with children or helping seniors – to watch the show, which was presented at no cost.

The concert is organized each year by Frank Wilson, a local activist and former director of the Albany Civil Rights Institute. It began as a way to unite and ease tensions between local high schools, but as seen Thursday, has grown into a community celebration during which local talents across southwest Georgia are on display.

It was special for Wilson to even be at the event, which is the ninth concert held since 2014. He recently had been suffering from illness.

“For those of you who don’t know, Thursday night three weeks ago, I flatlined twice in the hospital,” Wilson said to the crowd. “But God wasn’t ready for me, and the devil didn’t want me. So, Albany and south Georgia, you have to put up with me just a little bit longer.”

The concert featured multiple musical performances from Shiloh Youth Voices, the Hawkins Family Singers, the Albany Chorale, Rutha Harris and the Freedom Singers, the Saints of God House of Worship, Twila McKeever, Charlene Duncan, Mt. Pilgrim and Antioch churches, the Gethsemane Worship Center, Eritrea King and Cornelius Mullins.

The combined high school choir finale featured students from Dougherty, Monroe, Westover, Lee County and Cairo high schools.

Cathy Johnson performed a spoken poetry piece written especially for the concert.

Through her poetry, Johnson described the origin of the concert and the conflict that existed between local high schools. She talked about how Wilson felt moved to brainstorm change.

“As they lifted their voices and sang, they were not shy,” she said. “They were no longer at odds … and they found that they were really not that different from each other; in fact they were really quite the same. It no longer mattered where they were from when music played and they began to hum, all the issues ceased and at that moment, there was peace.”

Dante Reed, a 16-year-old Monroe High student, performed a re-enactment of the 1963 John Lewis speech at the March on Washington, in which Lewis mentioned Albany, GA.

The SWGA Regional Performing Arts Academy put on a lyrical dance performance.

Sherrell Byrd, co-founder and co-chair of SOWEGA Rising, a local nonprofit, co-hosted the show with Demetrice Drake. Byrd encouraged the audience to stand up, dance, clap their hands and be a part of the show.

And they did.

They sang along to the Negro National Anthem. They cheered as Reed gave his speech. They swayed and clapped their hands to the soulful church group performances.

Kenneth Cutts, a representative for the office of U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop, told the crowd that throughout the history of African Americans, music has been there for them, even through the most difficult of times.

“Music has been the bridge that has brought African Americans over,” he said to the audience.

He said the concert is a celebration of black history.

“Tonight we celebrate the greatness of African Americans, but we also celebrate the greatness of America, because you cannot have American history without African American history,” Cutts said.

Andrew Wulf, the Albany Museum of Art’s executive director, announced the addition of Sidney Pettice to the AMA as the curator of African Collections and African American art.

“Over the last few years, we realized we were missing a very important role at the AMA,” he said. “But we found the right person to be the inaugural curator.”

Pettice said she was excited to join the team. She pointed out the large projector at the back of the stage, which presented a slideshow of the AMA’s African collection behind the performers.

“These works really highlight our history and culture, and these works will continue to be on view now that I’m at the AMA,” she said.

Michael Harper, SOWEGA Rising’s treasurer, urged the audience to reflect on the importance of history.

“We cannot have our history unless we know it and unless we share it,” he said.

He highlighted the work Wilson does to preserve that history.

“We all stand on someone’s shoulders,” Harper said. “And that’s one man whose shoulders I stand on to motivate me to do what I do.”

The show was live-streamed for the first time and can be found at https://www.youtube.com/@LiftEveryVoiceAlbany.

Staff Photo: lucille Lannigan

Staff Photo: Lucille Lannigan

Staff Photo: Lucille Lannigan

Staff Photo: Lucille Lannigan