musical excerpts, fyi. randye
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Date: Mon, 9 Jul 2001 08:23:35 -0400
From: Munirah Chronicle <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
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Subject: 0709 - Today in Black History - July 09
1901 - Jester Hairston is born in Belew's Creek, North Carolina, and will
move at a very early age to the Homestead section of Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania, where he will grow up. He will attend the Massachusetts
Agriculture College (now University of Massachusetts), dropping out in
the 1920s due to lack of money. After impressing a benefactor with his
singing, he will be sponsored at Tufts University, graduating in 1929.
He will move to New York and will meet Hall Johnson, who will teach him
to respect Negro spirituals. He will begin his Hollywood career in 1935
when Warner Brothers purchases the show, "Green Pastures." His early
acting roles, will include long-running parts on the radio and television
versions of "Amos 'n' Andy" as well as bit parts in Tarzan films.
Although many of his early acting jobs will portray less than flattering
images of Blacks, he will never apologize for playing racial stereotypes.
"We had a hard time then fighting for dignity," he will say years later.
"We had no power. We had to take it, and because we took it the young
people today have opportunities." In addition to his roles in
television's "Amos 'n' Andy" and "Amen," Hairston will excel as a
musician, first with the Eva Jessye Choir and later as assistant
conductor of the Hall Johnson Choir. He will also arrange choral
music for more than 40 film soundtracks. He will also become the
first African American to direct The Mormon Tabernacle Choir. His films
credits will include "The Alamo," "To Kill a Mockingbird," "In the Heat
of the Night," "Lady Sings the Blues," "The Last Tycoon" and "Lilies of
the Valley," for which he will compose the song "Amen." That song,
which he dubbed for Sidney Poitier in the movie, will reflect Hairston's
lifelong dedication to preserving old Negro spirituals. He will be a
sought-after choral director who will organize Hollywood's first
integrated choir and compose more than 300 spirituals. In his later
years, when working with students at college workshops, Hairston will
tell them, "You can't sing legato when the master's beatin' you across
your back." He will join the ancestors in Los Angeles, California on
January 18, 2000.
1987 - Percy E. Sutton, former New York State legislator, president of the
Borough of Manhattan, founder of Inner City Broadcasting and owner of
the Apollo Theatre, receives the NAACP's Spingarn Medal.
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Munirah Chronicle is edited by Brother Mosi Hoj
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. | * Randye Jones |
. |) . aka the singin' one | Hate
. /| . [EMAIL PROTECTED] | IS NOT
. ( | ) . Listowner, [EMAIL PROTECTED] | a family value
. . | . http://www.afrovoice.com |
