Breath & Imagination

STUDY GUIDE

Hartford Stage Education Programs are supported by: MAJOR SPONSORS Allied World Assurance Company Anonymous Beatrice Fox Auerbach Foundation Fund at the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, as recommended by Linda & David Glickstein J. Walton Bissell Foundation Ensworth Charitable Foundation Greater Hartford Arts Council Lincoln Financial Foundation National Corporate Theare Fund - Impact Creativity SBM Charitable Foundation, Inc. Travelers Foundation

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PRINCIPAL SPONSOR:

PRODUCTION SPONSOR:

Breath and Imagination is generously supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.

ASSISTING PRODUCTION SPONSORS:

The Seedlings Foundation

Breath and Imagination is a recipient of an Edgerton Foundation New American Plays Award.

SUPPORTING SPONSORS Barnes Foundation, Inc. Enterprise Holdings Foundation Mr. & Mrs. William Foulds Family Foundation The Ellen Jeanne Goldfarb Memorial Charitable Trust Fisher Foundation The George A. Grace & Grace L. Long Foundation Greater Harford Automobile Dealers Association Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection & Insurance Company Aaron Hollander and Simon Hollander Funds NewAlliance Foundation TD Charitable Foundation Wells Fargo

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Study Guide Objectives This study guide serves as a classroom tool for teachers and students, and addresses the following Common Core Standards and Connecticut State Arts Standards: • Reading Literature: Key Ideas and Details o Analyze how particular lines of dialogue or incidents in a story or drama propel the action, reveal aspects of a character, or provoke a decision (Grade 8). o Analyze how complex characters (e.g. those with multiple or conflicting motivations) develop over the course of a text, interact with other characters, and advance the plot or develop the themes (Grades 9-10).

• Reading Literature: Craft and Structure o Analyze how an author develops and contrasts the points of view of different characters or narrators in a text (Grade 7). o Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including analogies or allusions to other texts (Grade 8). o Analyze how an author’s choices concerning how to structure a text, order events within it (e.g., parallel plots), and manipulate time (e.g., pacing, flashbacks) create such effects as mystery, tension, or surprise (Grades 9-10). o Analyze how an author’s choices concerning how to structure specific parts of a text (e.g., the choice of where to begin or end a story, the choice to provide a comedic or tragic resolution) contribute to its overall structure and meaning as well as its aesthetic impact (Grades 11-12).

• Theatre o 5: Researching and Interpreting. Students will research, evaluate and apply cultural and historical information to make artistic choices. o 6: Connections. Students will make connections between theatre, other disciplines and daily life. o 7: Analysis, Criticism and Meaning. Students will analyze, critique, and construct meanings from works of theatre. o 8: History and Culture. Students will demonstrate an understanding of context by analyzing and comparing theatre in various cultures and historical periods.

• Music o 8: Connections: Students will make connections to music, other disciplines and daily life. o 9: History and Cultures: Students will understand music in relation to history and culture.

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Guidelines for Attending the Theatre Attending live theatre is a unique experience with many valuable educational and social benefits. To ensure that all audience members are able to enjoy the performance, please take a few minutes to discuss the following audience etiquette topics with your students before you come to Hartford Stage.

• How is attending the theatre similar to and different from going to the movies? What behaviors are and are not appropriate when seeing a play? Why? o Remind students that because the performance is live, the audience can affect what kind of performance the actors give. No two audiences are exactly the same and no two performances are exactly the same—this is part of what makes theatre so special! Students’ behavior should reflect the level of performance they wish to see.

• Theatre should be an enjoyable experience for the audience. It is absolutely all right to applaud when appropriate and laugh at the funny moments. Talking and calling out during the performance, however, are not allowed. Why might this be? o Be sure to mention that not only would the people seated around them be able to hear their conversation, but the actors on stage could hear them, too. Theatres are constructed to carry sound efficiently!

• Any noise or light can be a distraction, so please remind students to make sure their cell phones are turned off (or better yet, left at home or at school!). Texting, photography, and video recording are prohibited. Food and gum should not be taken into the theatre.

• Students should sit with their group as seated by the Front of House staff and should not leave their seats once the performance has begun. If possible, restrooms should be used only during intermission.

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Interview with the Playwright: Daniel Beaty Carlyn Aquiline, Literary Manager at City Theatre Company in Pittsburgh, PA, and dramaturg of Breath & Imagination asked playwright Daniel Beaty some questions about the play, his experience as a writer and performer, and the artist’s work.

Carlyn Aquiline: How did Roland Hayes first come to your attention and what inspired you to write a stage piece about his life and career?

Daniel Beaty: I first learned about Roland Hayes while I was a student of classical voice at Yale University. I have always had a love of the spirituals and I found a recording of Roland Hayes in the music library at Yale. I was deeply moved by the sheer beauty of his voice and the tremendous emotion in his singing. I was also shocked that I had never heard of this remarkable pioneer.

DB: Angel Mo’ was a fighter and a person of tremendous faith. With her words, and most importantly with her life, she taught Roland that he could not give up no matter how difficult the challenges. She instilled within him a faith in a high power, a higher calling that could strengthen him when he felt weak.

CA: Do you see anything of yourself in Angel Mo’? How about Roland Hayes: how do you relate to him as an artist and a person?

Playwright Daniel Beaty. Photo by Nathan Yungerberg

DB: As a writer, I endeavor to find an entry into my characters that I believe to represent some of the complexity of what it means to be human. In Angel Mo’, I explore the love of a mother and her desire to keep her child safe in a world full of so much danger for a black man in that time. In Roland Hayes, I examine the journey of an artist to find his voice and to have the courage to believe in the voice despite the myriad of obstacles and rejection that can take place.

CA: Angel Mo’ was Hayes’s pillar for her entire life. Though she was born a slave, had no experience of classical art, and took some time to understand Hayes’s aspirations, how did her unique influence motivate or inspire him to rise from the son of slaves to classical artist?

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CA: The spirituals have survived generations. In slavery times, spirituals helped to spread the gospel and were messages of hope and the promise of deliverance. A century later, they were adapted into the freedom songs of the civil rights movement. How/why do they speak to us today, in our current context? What is the power of these songs to continue to touch hearts whenever they are heard, and to inspire people all over the world?

DB: This history of the spirituals are evident not only in the words, but in the melodies. They have survived the ages because these are songs of suffering and hope that are the heartbeat of a people. Though the forms of bondage may have changed, there is still much suffering and much need for hope. Though members of the African American community have achieved extraordinary success, there is still a significant portion of our population who is disenfranchised and without hope. Moreover, these songs tell the story of our history and our overcoming. They are, in my opinion, as important a part of the musical canon as the songs of any great European composer, from Mozart to Verdi, who also endeavored to speak to their times with their music.

CA: Hayes set his sights as a young man on being an artist, and searched long and far for what it means to be an artist. What do you think it means to be an artist? What is your role and purpose as an artist?

DB: My primary purpose as a writer/performer is to inspire audiences to transform pain into power.

I specifically create through the lens of the African American experience since that is what I know best.

I love being a theater artist because I believe words have the power to transform our world and save lives.

As a boy growing up with a father addicted to heroin and an older brother addicted to crack cocaine, it was an escape into words – the poetry of [Langston] Hughes and [Paul Laurence] Dunbar, the speeches of Dr. King – that healed me and opened my eyes to another word of possibility.

My purpose is to create stories that inspire and heal by creating characters who are fighters. No matter how challenging the situation the character might be facing, I am passionate about sharing the fight and the hope in the character’s journey with audiences.

I start my process by identifying how the story I am telling speaks to the larger issues that are urgent in our present day society.

CA: Roland Hayes encountered his share of discrimination. His manner of fighting was apolitical and noncombative--he claimed his music was his cause. How do you think art can be effective in the struggle against social injustice?

DB: I believe the greatest way to control the possibility of a people is to influence the way they see themselves. It is invaluable to tell the story of dynamic pioneers in the African American community both for members of that community and the nation/world at large to bear witness to the sacrifice and bravery of so many who have gone before.

When art is at its best, I believe it has the possibility to reach people in a manner that politics, even logic, cannot alone. The arts hold the possibility of mind, heart, and soul integration. The space of truth and inspiration created by art can open people to new possibilities around social justice.

“When art is at its best, I believe it has the possibility to reach people in a manner that politics, even logic, cannot alone. The arts hold the possibility of mind, heart, and soul integration. The space of truth and inspiration created by art can open people to new possibilities around social justice.”

-Daniel Beaty

DB: I have had so many mentors like Ruby Dee, Ossie Davis, Sidney Poitier, Bill Cosby, and Lynn Nottage, who have guided me along this journey. I agree with the adage, “Why reinvent the wheel?”

Ultimately, every artist’s journey is individual. I believe the responsibility of more established artists is to point young people towards the path of purpose, which helps clarify the specificity of the artist’s voice.

By purpose I mean, “What do I have to give, say, contribute that is greater than my own ego?”

CA: What excited you about Jubilant Sykes and his background, experience, and craft as the ideal performer to play Hayes?

DB: Jubilant Sykes sings with tremendous sensitivity and heart. His uniqueness of voice and interpretation is remarkable. He has a humility of spirit and an abundance of talent which for me makes him an ideal performer to play Roland Hayes.

CA: You have been workshopping Breath & Imagination for a couple of years. How does it feel to hand off the work to a production team?

DB: I am thrilled with the dynamic team of director, actors, and designers who are gathered together to tell this story. I feel absolutely confident that we will create something special.

CA: Throughout his life, Hayes passed on his training to many up-and-coming African American singers. Is it part of the responsibility of the artist to mentor those who follow?

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Biography of Roland Hayes

a plan that the three boys would trade off a year of schooling with a year of working to support the family. Roland found work transporting molten metal in a window sash factory and made eighty cents a day.

Roland was bright and a hard worker. He liked to sing and kept the workers’ morale up by singing throughout the workday. He was promoted to foreman, which meant a pay raise to $3.00 a day. When his brothers could not keep their jobs, Roland had to work full time to support his family. Roland made it to the sixth grade when he had to abandon the family plan and continue working.

In Chattanooga, Roland started singing in church. Many black churches would request he sing solos at their services. After one particular service, he met Arthur Calhoun, a black man who had a degree in music from Oberlin College. Calhoun took Hayes under his wing and started giving him vocal lessons. One evening Calhoun brought Hayes to a white acquaintance’s house to listen to recordings of tenor Enrico Caruso and soprano Nellie Melba. Hayes claimed that hearing this music changed his entire life. He said, it was as though “a bell rang in my heart!” From that moment, Hayes decided to pursue a career as a vocalist. He continued studying music with Calhoun and singing in churches. He even organized a quartet that Roland Hayes in 1954. Photo by Carl Van Vechten. sang for change in train stations and public streets in white neighborhoods. He set Oberlin College as his goal, where he would continue studying music. Un On June 3, 1887, Roland Hayes was born to fortunately, he could not save enough to get there and Fannie and William Hayes near Little Row (now Cur- after two years, he convinced his family to move with him to Nashville, Tennessee so he could study at Fisk ryville), Georgia. Both his parents had been slaves University. prior to emancipation, and when Roland was young, At age 19, Hayes enrolled in Fisk University, the family sharecropped, or grew crops on rented land.

One of seven children, Roland prized the time he spent even though he only had a sixth grade education. At Fisk, he studied with Jennie Robinson, a white music with his father. His father taught him to listen to and professor who also had her degree from Oberlin. Promimic bird calls. Hayes would later recall “I believed fessor Robinson took a risk with Hayes; he later found there was no sound in nature that he could not imiout she paid for much of his schooling. Throughout his tate.” Hayes’s renowned vocal artistry can be attribtime at Fisk, Hayes worked for a family in Nashville uted to this early study of sound and music in nature. and sang on the side to make extra money. He also got “I learned from my father how the body follows the involved with the Fisk Jubilee Singers, an extracurimagination. If singing is to be a really imaginative ricular group that had found recent fame singing clasart it must give off, on each occasion the effect of a sical music and African American spirituals. However, fresh creation in which mind and body act together.” in 1910, Hayes was asked by the administration to Roland was also influenced by his early experiences in the church. His mother, whom he called Angel Mo’, leave the university. He never found out why he was expelled. was an active church member at Mount Zion Baptist

His dreams dashed, Hayes moved to LouisChurch. She encouraged him to get involved and had ville, Kentucky, where he worked as a waiter, and hopes for him to become a preacher, yet Roland was eventually singer, in the Pendennis Men’s Club. He most influenced by the music. also worked at a movie theater where he sang arias

Everything changed when Roland was 11. His father died and the family was left to farm the land and behind the screen to accompany silent films. He was readmitted to Fisk in 1911, and was offered the opporsupport themselves. His mother decided the best way tunity to travel to Boston with the Fisk Jubilee Singto offer her three young boys promising lives was by encouraging education, but opportunities in Little Row ers to sing in an event called “The World in Boston.”

He went, and decided to stay in Boston to continue were limited. The family worked for two years to pay his training. However, many vocal teachers refused to off debts and save for a move. In 1900, Fanny Hayes packed up the family and moved them to Chattanooga, take Hayes as a student because of his race. No one Tennessee. The boys walked the sixty miles to Chatta- believed whites would listen to a black man sing classical music. Finally, Arthur J. Hubbard agreed to teach nooga barefoot, to save their shoes. Fannie developed 6

him at night; that way Hayes could work during the continued his musical studies and studied the musical day and Hubbard’s white students would not encountraditions of Africa and African culture. He met many ter Hayes. Hubbard, too, was appalled and frustrated African and West Indian immigrants living in Britain by the discrimination Hayes faced. After scheduling and was heavily influenced by the strong black culture Hayes to sing at an Easter service, a white church he encountered. cancelled when they found out he was black. On the

Hayes made his London debut in May 1920 at phone, within earshot of his student, Hubbard yelled, Aeolian Hall. At first, audiences were baffled by an “You may tell your church people verbatim that they African American tenor singing European art songs, may be followers of the meek and lowly Jesus, but at but Hayes won crowds over time and time again. It a hell of a long ways off.” Years later, Hayes did sing took nearly a year for Hayes to gain traction in Engthe Easter service at that church. land, but by spring of 1921, he was giving recitals at

Still, Roland Hayes could not find a white Wigmore Hall in London and gaining a lot of press in manager to take him on as a client. While other proboth black and mainstream papers. He was invited by fessional singers had managers to schedule their tour Dr. Hugh Chapman to sing in the Chapel Royal of Sadates and negotiate their contracts, Hayes had to man- voy, becoming the first non-clergyman to stand at the age his own career. Beginning in 1912, he worked as altar. In April 1921, Hayes was commanded to sing for a messenger for John Hancock Insurance Company the King George V and Queen Mary at Buckingham where he was allowed to sing on the job. There, he Palace. He sang classical works including “Le Reve” could practice his music and make a living. On Noby Massanet and spirituals including “Peter, go ringvember 11 he gave a-dem his first professionbells,” al recital at Jordan “I learned from my father how the body follows arranged Hall in Boston. He the imagination. If singing is to be a really imagiby Harry native art it must give off, on each occasion the continued seekT. Bureffect of a fresh creation in which mind and body leigh. ing opportuniact together.” ties to perform.

After his

-Roland Hayes In 1913 he sang perforwith the famous mance African American for the composer Harry T. Burleigh. The two became friends king and queen of England, Hayes’ career skyrocketand Hayes would later perform Burleigh’s art songs ed. He got to sing for Nellie Melba, the soprano whose and spiritual arrangements around the world. Hayes voice had inspired him so many years before. She emand Burleigh joined forces again in 1914 when they braced him and supported his work. Hayes continued were invited to open for Booker T. Washington on his performing in London to outstanding press. national lecture tour. Hayes created the Hayes Trio and Between 1921 and 1924, Hayes toured Eusang with tenor/pianist William Lawrence and barirope and sang in major cities including Paris, Vienna, tone William Richardson throughout the Boston area.

Prague, Munich, Copenhagen, and Madrid. At one Between 1916 and 1920, Hayes organized his own national concert tours, singing for integrated audiences Berlin concert in 1924, he stood before a hissing in the Northeast and West. He knew that an important crowd for twenty minutes. After World War I, Gerstep for a classical singer was to perform at Boston’s many was occupied by French African troops and Symphony Hall. In 1917, he organized his own concert at Symphony Hall. He rented the hall with his the audience was incensed to see a black man on the own money, mailed personal invitations, and printed stage of Beethoven Hall ready to sing. Hayes waited. tickets and concert programs himself. Hayes sang for When they quieted down, he signaled to his accompaa sold out audience. The concert made a $2,000 profit and reportedly 700 people were turned away. nist to play “Du Bist die Ruh” by Schubert, a German

At a concert in Santa Monica, California, favorite. By the end of the song, the audience was apHayes experienced another defining moment in his career. When someone in the audience remarked about plauding. By the end of the concert, they cheered and an indescribable quality in Hayes’ voice, it gave him carried Hayes out on their shoulders. pause. He had worked so hard to develop his voice

Roland Hayes returned to America in 1924 to sound like the European vocalists he admired, but with a firm international reputation. William Brennan, wondered if something was lost in this approach. the premier manager of the day who had turned Hayes Hayes would ask of himself, “...if I can help my race away once because of his race, agreed to represent the to give this, its special little contribution, to the sum of tenor. Hayes sang 30 recitals in their first contract year all human contributions, is that why I am here?...to put and 125 in their second. As detailed in his contract, into my singing some echo of that which belongs to Hayes refused to sing for segregated audiences. He my race.” Hayes would crystalize his personal mission toured often in the Northeast and West, but not in the to become a beacon of excellence, representing black South where venues refused to integrate audiences. achievement through his artistry. This new mission led Later he would sing in Birmingham, Alabama, and him to balance his formal training with the depth and elsewhere in the south, to integrated audiences. beauty of the sound so important to singing spirituals.

Throughout the 1920s and 30s, Hayes would To achieve this, Hayes traveled to England in 1920 tour the United States and Europe. In 1925, he sang with his accompanist Lawrence Brown. There he for the Spanish Queen Mother, Maria Christina. In 7

Religious Folk Songs. In 1950, he joined the music faculty at Boston University and recorded throughout the 1950s. Hayes occasionally toured as his age advanced. He performed in England, Holland and Denmark in 1954, and in 1962, sang in a benefit concert for black colleges at Carnegie Hall. He would also give concerts with his daughter Afrika, a soprano. On June 3, 1962, Hayes gave a diamond anniversary recital, marking his 75th birthday and 50th year performing.

The event was sponsored by many white and black professionals who admired his work. He received well wishes from around the globe.

At the age of 85, Roland Hayes gave his final concert in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Hayes passed away in Boston on January 1, 1977.

Notice printed in the June 5, 1920 issue of the Cleveland Advocate.

1927, he sang in Italy for the first time. In 1928, he had ten concert dates in communist Russia. While Russians would see African American singer Paul Robeson identify with Soviet beliefs, Hayes was disinterested in politicizing his role and refused to become a poster child for overcoming Western oppression. Hayes was presented with awards and honorary degrees from various organizations and institutions.

By 1932, Hayes entered “semi-retirement” and cut down his touring schedule. In September, he married Helen Alzada, who gave birth to their daughter, Afrika, in 1934. Hayes had purchased a 600 acre farm near Rome, Georgia, in 1926 in memory of his mother.

The farm was part of the plantation his mother worked on when she was a slave. He renamed it Angel Mo’ Farm and moved there in 1932 to open an integrated school for young voice students. This was met with opposition from white neighbors who were against white students living on the property.

Living in a segregated United States after such a celebrated career still provided a shock for Hayes.

In 1942, his wife was arrested when she refused to leave the “whites only” section of a Rome, Georgia shoe store. When Hayes went to meet her, he, too was assaulted by police and arrested. The incident sparked outrage among African Americans, but Hayes did not use the event as a platform for civil rights protest.

Hayes later responded to criticisms in a 1962 Ebony article: “I am a militant person...My militancy is much more intense than the other type which angers people.

My kind of militance disturbs.”

Hayes’ later life reflected his dedication to his art. In 1948, he published a book of his own arrangements of spirituals entitled My Songs: AfroAmerican 8

Questions: • What have been defining moments in your life so far?

• Have you ever made a significant geographical move? If you could move anywhere, where would you relocate and why? What preparations would you need to make? What opportunities would a move across town or across the country offer?

What would you have to give up?

• Who have been your mentors? What impact have they had on your life?

Meet our Roland Hayes...

Jubilant Sykes is a professional concert singer who has performed all over the world. He joins Hartford Stage to play Roland Hayes. A classically trained baritone, Sykes sang early in life, but once his voice changed, he found a love of classical music. After studying in Paris and Austria, Jubilant Sykes built a large following in the 1990s. He has performed at the Metropolitan Opera and Deusche Oper Berlin as well as with famed orchestras including the Boston Pops, London Symphony Orchestra, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. In 1998, Sykes released his debut album, Jubilant on Sony Classical. He collaborated with classical guitarist Christopher Parkening on Jubilation and with trumpet player Terence Blanchard on his sophomore album Wait for Me. While trained as a classical vocalist, Sykes performs a variety of genres including Broadway, gospel, and pop favorites.

Jubilant Sykes playes Roland Hayes in Hartford Stage’s production of

Breath & Imagination.

Jubilant Sykes on Artistry “In life there is an extraordinary pain, and I don’t believe that you can sing without having a little bit of pain in life.”

“…when everyone else is skateboarding outside, I’m sitting at the piano, grinding away at this madness. So I can be, not successful, but excellent. I want to be excellent. Technique is foremost.”

“My singing is like breathing — it’s an extension of me.

I don’t think of it is extraordinary. It’s my passion.”

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TIMELINE: ROLAND HAYES’ LIFE IN CONTEXT

Themes for Discussion

1865 – American Civil War ends

Overcoming Obstacles

As Breath and Imagination opens, Roland Hayes faces the harsh reality of racism in the American South. He is left reeling from an encounter with Georgia police in which his wife and daughter are arrested after refusing to leave the “whites only” section of a shoe store. Hayes is left powerless, unable to complain about their unfair treatment and is assaulted by a police officer uninterested in this worldly black man’s defense.

1865 –The Ku Klux Klan is organized and uses violence to terrorize and antagonize freed African Americans and white egalitarians.

1868 – 14th Amendment is passed. This amendment grants citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States regardless of race.

OFFICER: They in jail.

ROLAND: On what charge?

OFFICER: Sitting in a whites only section of the shoe store.

ROLAND: My wife was simply buying my daughter shoes. They are not from here.

OFFICER: Signs posted clear as day.

(Act I)

1870 – 15th Amendment passed. This amendment allows land-owning men over the age of 21 to vote regardless of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

Hayes is accustomed to struggle and perseverance at this point in his life. His early career is fraught with roadblocks such as poverty, lack of education, and exclusion based on race. He even fights the skepticism of those closest to him.

When Roland is eleven years old, his father dies in a factory accident and Roland must help support the family, which means leaving school.

1876 – Jim Crow Laws first enacted allowing for “separate but equal” facilities for white and African American citizens.

ANGEL MO’: You ain’t but eleven years old, but you the man of this family now.

It’s gone take at least two years of hard work from both us To pay off our debt and start to make it without yo’ Pa. You gone have to leave school and start to workin’.

(Act I)

June 3, 1887 – Roland Hayes is born near Little Row, now Curryville, Georgia, to Fannie and William Hayes.

While they move to Chattanooga, Tennessee, so Roland can pursue an education, the first order of business is still finding employment. His mother dislikes the idea of Roland working in a factory like his father did before him, but at eighty cents a day, Roland’s contribution to the household finances is critical.

Still, he finds he is drawn to something higher.

1896 – The Supreme Court case Plessy v. Ferguson preserves states’ abilities to create “separate but equal” laws that segregate facilities for African American and white citizens.

1898 – Roland Hayes’ father dies.

1900 – Hayes’ mother moves family to Chattanooga, 2

ROLAND: Lift the iron – place in the machine Pull the lever – make it flat.

Do this time and time again Eighty cents is where it’s at— I hear music high and low Like a song I want to know…

Keep yo’ focus.

(Act I)

Roland and his mother, Angel Mo’, eventually accept that Roland has a calling beyond factory work. Yet, Angel Mo’ believes her son is called to be a preacher and does not understand his desire to sing. She worries he is wasting

his time pursuing a career closed to African Americans. When Roland asks for her blessing, she refuses it, mystified as to how he thinks he can succeed.

Angel Mo’ puts her foot down. “ You ain’t wasting our money to go study singing,” she says. “Say something.

I dare you” (Act I).

Other skeptics follow Angel Mo’.

Roland takes an enormous risk barging in Roland Hayes (Jubilant Sykes) hears Enrico Caruso’s voice for the first time. on Jennie Robinson, head of the music department at Fisk University, to sing for her. His audacity pays off and she helps finance his education at Fisk. Still, Roland is dismissed from the university and must pursue his career without a degree. When he moves to Boston, he finds no manager will represent him because he is AfricanAmerican. He takes on the role of manager and talent and sponsors a concert at Symphony Hall himself.

Roland methodically presses on through each of these challenges to achieve his goal of becoming an artist. However, nothing stings quite so much as the blatant racism he faces in Georgia. Though heads of state applaud his work and admire his talent, he cannot walk down any street he chooses in the American South. He cannot eat in restaurants or shop in stores where he pleases.

He lives with the reality that police, sworn to protect citizens, are free to harass or assault him and his family. While he blazed a trail and built a career for himself, he meets opposition when trying to offer opportunities to students, both black and white, who follow in his footsteps. At the start of Breath & Imagination, Roland must decide whether to press on and build a school in the South, or back down in the face of ignorance and hatred for the sake of his family.

Questions: • Roland Hayes blazed a trail for African-American vocalists. Yet, even those who followed him would have to fight similar battles against racism.

Research Roland Hayes’ 1932 concert at Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C. and Marian Anderson’s 1939 concert on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. How are the two connected? Why did the Daughters of the American Revolution ban black artists from singing at Constitution Hall after 1932? Who supported Marian Anderson’s Washington, D.C. concert?

Did Marian Anderson ever sing at Constitution Hall?

• In Breath and Imagination, Roland Hayes takes an enormous risk when he asks to sing for Jennie Robinson, uninvited. He makes a financially risky move when he rents Symphony Hall with his own money. What other personal risks might someone take in pursuit of a career or goal? Should there be limitations to what one risks, or should a person risk everything to achieve his or her goals?

TN, so her sons can attend school.

1906 - Hayes seeks admittance to Fisk University, a Historically Black College with an excellent reputation in music education. He begins completing his grammar school grades at Fisk.

1909 – The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), an organization working to eliminate racial discrimination in political, social, educational, and economic sectors, is established.

1910 – Hayes is expelled from Fisk University for unknown reasons.

1911- Hayes accepts John Work II’s invitation and sings with Fisk Jubilee Singers at The World In Boston event.

December 1911 – Hayes joins John Work II in a male quartet that records spirituals with Edison Phonograph Company in New York City.

1912 – Hayes begins work as a messenger at John Hancock Insurance Company.

November 11, 1912 – Hayes gives his first professional recital at Jordan Hall in Boston.

1914 – WWI begins.

1916 – WWI and a labor shortage in the North spur “the great migration,” in 3

which 500,000 blacks move to northern cities by 1919.

1919 – Following WWI, extreme racial violence over jobs, housing, and territory sweeps New York City during “The Red Summer.”

1916-1920 – When white managers refuse to represent him as a black classical artist, Hayes organizes his own cross-country concert tours.

1917-1918 – When no record company would sign him, Hayes utilizes the Personal Record Department at Columbia Records to record independently and at his own expense. He records eight or nine discs and sells copies independently by mail or at his concerts. These were “the first recordings of concert music by an African-American.”

1918 – WWI ends.

1919 – At a concert in Santa Monica, California, Hayes realizes his personal mission to be a beacon of excellence representing black achievement through his artistry.

“What it Means to Be an Artist…”

ROLAND: What is that Mr. Calhoun?

MR. CALHOUN: A phonograph— ROLAND: No, the sound…it’s so beautiful…who is it?

MR. CALHOUN: The glorious Italian Tenor Caruso—he is a remarkable Artist.

ROLAND: An Artist, you call him?

(Act I)

Once Roland hears a record of Italian tenor Enrico Caruso, he sets his sights on learning the art of singing. It takes time for him to understand that his own artistry is linked to his individuality. Being an artist does not mean sounding just like the next singer; rather it requires using one’s own instrument and experience to bring individual insight to a work. Roland’s personal experiences with his father in nature, singing spirituals with his mother in church, listening to classical works with Mr. Calhoun, as well as taking in the world around him, all provide musical influences.

While hunting for the first time, Pa teaches a young Roland to listen.

Pa shows Roland that keys to repeating sounds in nature are deep listening and expression from within oneself.

PA: Listen closely – hear the ups and downs – sing ‘em back.

Mr. Calhoun (Tom Frey) listens to Enrico Caruso. Photo by T. Charles Erickson.

(Pa repeats the exact melody) Use yo’ breath and imagination…call the birds to you – ROLAND: It’s beautiful, Pa. PA: Every bird has a true song – listen closely, now – repeat it…

(Act I)

1920s – Ku Klux Klan membership spikes with almost 9,000,000 members.

Roland’s formal lessons with Mr. Calhoun reinforce the importance of deep listening.

April 23, 1920 – Hayes leaves for England (with

Yet, after hours of arduously studying music, practicing vocal exercises, and working with Mr. Calhoun to develop his gift, Roland is frustrated with

MR. CALHOUN: ….Becoming an Artist is hard work.

You are charting a course no Negro has traveled before.

1920s – Black artists and intellectuals infuse American We must develop your ear, culture with Black arts during And the best way to accomplish that is to listen to quality singing.

(Act I) the Harlem Renaissance.

4

what he finds. He feels he cannot accomplish the sound he finds so striking in Caruso’s voice. His own voice carries something different. As much as Roland tries to sound like Caruso and others, he cannot escape what makes him unique.

He asks his teacher, “How will I ever have a career if I don’t sound like everyone else? / That’s the only way they will ever give me a chance” (Act I). Mr. Calhoun disagrees. He insists that Roland’s voice possesses a unique quality.

As for sounding like white singers, Mr. Calhoun says, “Then make the songs fit your voice. Own your right to sing these songs” (Act I). Calhoun encourages Roland to use the additional knowledge he has gained from singing spirituals in church to cultivate his own sound. He encourages Roland to develop that which makes him exceptional, rather than try to erase it.

(Jubilant Sykes) and Angel Mo’ (Kecia

Roland presses on. He continues Roland Lewis) in Hartford Stage’s Production of Breath & his study at Fisk University, impressing Imagination. Photo by T. Charles Erickson.

Jennie Robinson and others while singing solos on tour with the Fisk Jubilee Singers. Yet even after Roland is successful with this method, he is still sensitive about his distinctive sound. He encounters a French accompanist who appreciates Roland’s artistry: “Yes, I have played for many singers and your sound is unlike any other. / I am deeply curious as to how you have achieved such a unique sound. /It’s Negro, yet…classique!” (Act II). Roland only hears that he is different and takes offense, asking “Why can’t I just be an excellent singer like all the other white vocalists you play for? Why must you point out the color of my sound?” (Act II). Angel Mo’ reinforces Calhoun’s lesson from years earlier, “Sounds to me like he was just tryin’ to pay you a compliment” (Act II). Even as an adult, Roland’s insecurity about his deep, rich sound haunts him. Angel Mo’ tells Roland stories about his great-grandfather, Aba Ogui, a slave and community leader who used song to inform fellow slaves about secret meetings.

Angel Mo’ fills in gaps of Roland’s family history and impresses upon him the validity of his own cultural and musical background. This encouragement from his mother convinces Roland that his uniqueness is to be celebrated and developed along with his formal training.

Questions: • What does it take to dedicate oneself to one’s purpose? How does one discover one’s purpose?

• Identify a favorite visual artist—perhaps Vincent Van Gogh or Jacob Lawrence. What about your favorite visual artist’s work moves you? Do you think that element was born of technique, individual insight, or both? Why? • It took Roland Hayes years to accept the unique qualities in his voice and develop those rather than trying to erase them. What arguments would you make to convince Roland to trust his sound?

accompanist Lawrence Brown) to study music and African music and culture.

Hayes meets many African and West Indian immigrants and is heavily influenced by the strong Black culture he encounters in Britain. He remains in Britain for 3 years.

May 1920 – Hayes gives his first European concert given in Aeolian Hall in London.

April 23, 1921 – Hayes sings a command performance for King George V and Queen Mary at Buckingham Palace, including “Le Reve” by Massanet, Fourdrain’s Cossack song, and arrangements of spirituals “Go down, Moses,” “Peter, go ring-a dem bells,” by Harry T. Burleigh.

He also sings Roger Quilter’s arrangement of “Over the Mountains” and Burleigh’s “Didn’t it Rain” at the Queen’s and Princess Mary’s requests.

May 1921 – Hayes meets his early influence, Soprano Nellie Melba. Her enthusiasm and support for his work provides opportunities to tour Europe.

1921-1924 – Hayes tours Europe, singing at opera houses and concert halls in Austria, Hungary, France, Spain, Czechoslovakia and elsewhere.

Winter 1923 – Hayes returns briefly to US to visit Angel Mo’, who dies that winter.

November 1923 – Hayes 5

• Research your own family history. Do you find ancestors who had similar gives concert with Boston interests or pursuits as you? Do you notice any patterns that run in your famSymphony Orchestra, conily history (multiple artists, singers, doctors, etc)? ducted by Pierre Monteux, which is possibly the first performance of a black singer Honoring Self and Family

Roland and Angel Mo’ rarely see eye to eye about his future, yet their with a major orchestra. relationship endures. The two often have conflicting ideas about how to support each other, but their mutual respect and love for each other strengthen their 1924 - During a European bond. tour, Hayes sings a concert

At times, Roland disappoints or flat-out disobeys his mother in order to at Beethoven Hall in Berlin follow his own dreams. He uses his father’s watch to pay for formal voice lesbefore a hissing crowd. The audience, incensed to see an sons, after Angel Mo’ expressly asked him to promise to care for it. Roland quits his job to pursue an education at Fisk University. These choices infuriate Angel African American vocalist, falls silent at the sound of his Mo’. They also affect her life in a very real way. Angel Mo’ is semi-dependent on Roland for income, so for him to quit his job initially puts a profound strain voice and celebrates him by on their household. Roland sees how much his choices hurt Angel Mo’, but he the concert’s end. makes them anyway. In both instances, he chooses himself over the family.

Though Roland sells his father’s watch, he honors Angel Mo’ and his 1924 – Hayes returns to tour family legacy in other ways. In Act II, Roland attempts to patch things up with America again.

Angel Mo’. He sings, “I need you.” It is as though Roland cannot move forward without the enormous faith-presence of his mother. As soon as he is stable in 1924 – Hayes is presented the NAACP Spingarn Medal Boston, Roland moves his mother up to live with him. He professes that he does not want her to be lonely in Chattanooga. He encourages her to rest and put off

by New York Symphony the temptation to take in washing as work. He cannot offer much, but neverorchestra conductor Walter theless fulfills his filial obligation. Roland is eager to care for his mother. He Damrosch. disagrees with his mother’s wish for him to become a preacher, but the two still 1925 – Hayes sings for Span- remain close throughout the remainder of her life.

Roland works to balance pursuing his goals and caring for Angel Mo’. ish Queen Mother Maria When he leaves for Europe, he gives his mother a checkbook with $1,500 in an Christina. account. While he does not sacrifice his career to stay with her, he cares for her 1927 – Hayes makes his first financially when he cannot stay in Boston. Roland draws a fine line between caring for Angel Mo’ and protecting his own passion for singing. concert appearance in Italy.

1926 – Hayes buys a 600 acre farm near Rome, Georgia, and meets and reconciles with his mother’s former master Joseph Mann and his wife.

1928 – Hayes tours Russia with ten concerts. While on a Russian tour, Communists try to make him a poster child for overcoming Western oppression, but Hayes is disinterested in politicizing his role. This response shows his conservative nature, in contrast with Paul Robeson’s 6

Kecia Lewis as Angel Mo’ and Jubilant Sykes as Roland Hayes in Hartford Stage’s production of Breath & Imagination. Photo by T. Charles Erickson.

Angel Mo’ also balances her respect for Roland with her own beliefs. It takes a long time to be persuaded, but after his Symphony Hall concert, she finally supports Roland’s singing career. However, she does put her foot down when it comes to how she sees the world. Angel Mo’ is a very religious woman who refuses to get caught up in the trappings of concert culture, even if it is a part of Roland’s job. She balks at the women who straighten their hair, dress up in elegant clothes, and go to parties. When Roland asks her to accompany him to Europe, she is very clear, “…you can’t expect me to stray too far from what I know and what I believe./You need to keep yo’ eye single, Roland. I’m staying right here in Boston” (Act II). She will move to Jubilant Sykes and Kecia Lewis in Breath & Imaginasupport her son, go to his concerts, oftion at Hartford Stage. Photo by T. Charles Erickson. fer advice and love, but nothing comes between Angel Mo’ and her faith, not even her son.

Roland and Angel Mo’ navigate a delicate mother-son relationship. Each finds ways to support the other without abandoning their own principles.

Questions: • Was Roland right to leave his job to pursue singing? What responsibility does one have to support one’s family? What responsibility does a child have to take care of a parent?

• What are strategies one can use to protect his or her path from the input of well-meaning friends and/or family?

affiliation with Soviet beliefs.

1932 – Hayes receives an honorary doctorate in music from Fisk University.

Professor Jennie Robinson is present.

1932 – Hayes takes residence at Angel Mo’ farm and decides to open an integrated school for young voice students. White neighbors oppose his school since white students would live on the property.

September 1932 – Hayes marries his wife, Alzada.

1934 – Hayes’ daughter Afrika is born.

January 1940 –Hayes releases A Song Recital by Roland Hayes with Columbia Masterworks. This was an album of ten songs including art songs and two spirituals.

January 1942 – Hayes records “Xango” an “African religious chant” and “Micheu Banjo” (Mister Banjo), a Creole folksong from Louisana.

1942 – Angel Mo’ and Her Son, Roland Hayes, Hayes’ biography, written by MacKinley Helm, is published. The book is written in first person as though it was an autobiography.

July 1942 – Hayes is assaulted by police and arrested with his wife when 7

she and their daughter refuse to leave the “whites only” section of a Rome, Georgia, shoe store.

1948 – Hayes publishes My Songs: AfroAmerican Religious Folk Songs, a book of his own arrangements of spirituals.

1950 – Hayes joins the music faculty of Boston University.

1953 –Hayes records A Roland Hayes Recital with Telavix on what would later be named the Heritage label.

1954 – The Supreme Court case Brown v. The Board of Education rules segregation of public schools unconstitutional and overturns Plessy v.

Ferguson.

1955 – The African American Civil Rights Movement is sparked by the murder of Emmitt Till on August 15, and by Rosa Parks’ refusal to sit at the back of a Montgomery, AL, bus on December 1.

1955 – Hayes collaborates with Stephen Fassett, an audio engineer and record collector, who would record many of the concerts he gave over the next twelve years.

1960s – Hayes gives concerts with his daughter Afrika, a soprano.

June 3, 1962 – Hayes is presented with the American Missionary Association’s first Amistad Award at his diamond anniversary recital.

8

Glossary (selected terms from the play and history) Aria – an elaborate melody sung solo with accompaniment, as in an opera or oratorio.

Art Song – a song intended primarily to be sung in recital, typically set to a poem, and having subtly interdependent vocal and piano parts.

Bel Canto – a style of singing that originated as courtly singing during the late 16th century and developed further in the Italian opera in the 17th, 18th, and early 19th centuries. Bel Canto is characterized by beauty of tone rather than dramatic power.

Black Codes – Codes enacted by individual states after the Civil War. These replaced “slave codes” and limited the mobility and civil rights of African Americans to ensure that each state maintained a steady supply of inexpensive labor.

Buckingham Palace – palace and London residence of the British sovereign, located in Westminster, London, England.

Enrico Caruso – 1873-1921, an outstanding Italian operatic tenor.

Dissonance – discordant combination of sounds or a lack of agreement or consistency.

Gaetano Donizetti – 1797-848, Italian operatic composer whose works include Lucia di Lammermoor (1835), La Fille du régiment (1840), and Don Pasquale (1843).

Gabriel Faure – 1845-1924, a French composer who wrote Les Berceaux (“The Cradles”).

Freedmen – Former black slaves.

Freedmen’s Bureau – A federal agency designed to help black men and women transition out of slavery by providing education, food, supplies, and other assistance.

Minstrel Show –a popular stage entertainment featuring comic dialogue, song, and dance performed by a troupe of actors, traditionally comprising two lead men and a chorus in blackface and an interlocutor; developed in the U.S. in the early and mid19th century.

Negro – a term for African Americans used in the mid 19th though mid 20th century.

Radical Republicans – Republican congressmen who, after the Civil War, worked to ensure African Americans equal rights under the law.

Segregation – the practice or policy of creating separate facilities within the same society for use by different racial groups.

Spiritual – a spiritual or religious song.

Symphony Hall – A concert hall built in Boston in 1900 to house the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Madame C.J. Walker – 1867-1919, (born Sarah Breedlove) an African-American female entrepreneur turned millionaire who developed hair care products for African-American women.

Booker T. Washington – 1856-1915, U.S. reformer, educator, author, and lecturer.

The recital, honoring his 75th birthday and 50th year perorming, is given at Carnegie Hall in New York. Hayes is recognized by professionals

The American Civil War ended in April 1965, 22 years before Roland and ambassadors from around Hayes was born, and yet his life was shaped in a very real way by the realities of the world. slavery, racism, and injustice towards African Americans. The 14th Amendment to the constitution was passed in 1868, allowing citizenship to all persons born 1965 – Jim Crow Laws end. or naturalized in the United States, regardless of race. The 15th Amendment was passed in 1870, extending the right to vote to men over the age of 21 regardless 1973 – Hayes gives his final of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. These amendments, while well concert in Cambridge, MA, intended, were not as effective at improving the lives of African American men at the Longly School of Muand women as one may hope. In many cases, African Americans were still seen sic at age 85. by whites as greatly inferior. While the federal government and “The Radical Republicans” in congress tried to provide equal political rights for black men, January 1, 1977 – Hayes dies President Andrew Johnson staunchly opposed them. Long after the Civil War, in Boston. the nation remained torn.

In an effort to start anew, some previously enslaved African American men and women tried to distance themselves from their former agricultural lives. Often times, the prospect of moving away from agrarian business was daunting. For many former slaves, field work was all they knew. For black farmers, options were often limited. It was expensive to own land; many former slaves were forced to rent their farmland. This left their livelihood in the hands of someone else. Often, black farmers had little control over their own crops, money, tools, and materials, further limiting their opportunities. In other instances, black men owned their own farmland and worked tireless hours. African Americans were not able to easily find new jobs. Many were seen as less efficient and less intelligent than other races and were forced into menial labor. Black workers were paid less and denied workers’ rights by white employers. Freed African American slaves worked against the A sharecropper plows a field with a mule. notion that the American dream of upward mobility was an accomplishment reserved only for white citizens. Blacks had to work twice as hard to earn a living and overcome more obstacles than their white counterparts. We see a clear example of this in Breath & Imagination.

Roland and his parents had to maintain their farmland while his father also worked in a factory. The factory work was dangerous, and the large machines were unfamiliar to Roland’s father. In addition, Roland was forced to drop out of school to help his family. In this scene, we learn that 10-year-old Roland is not granted the luxury of feeling tired:

For Further Exploration: History in Context

ANGEL MO’: If I hear “tired” one more time, I’m gone truly wear you out—I’ll show you tired. With yo’ Pa having to work part of the day in that factory. We behind in some of this field work—you big enough now, After you make sure Molly [the horse] got something to eat, You take her out and help yo’ Pa plow the left side of the field. (Act 1)

While many black Americans attempted to leave the rural south for bigger cities, it was a difficult process. Many African Americans who managed to get out of the rural areas found themselves treated poorly 9

in cities. In cities too, African Americans were “given rights,” but had to jump through more hoops, work harder, and overcome more obstacles than many whites because of the color of their skin.

Segregation was a part of day-to-day life for African Americans both in the North and South after the Civil War and well into the 20th century. Public areas were separated into designated sections for white and black patrons and citizens. This separation crossed public and private sectors and influenced nearly every aspect of life. Some establishments refused to provide services for African Americans altogether. “Jim Crow” laws were first established in 1876 and until 1965 allowed legal justification of this segregation. The notion that buildings and areas designated for blacks were “separate but equal” was a fallacy. Often, the facilities were poorly maintained, underfunded, smaller, and anything but equal to the areas and establishments for whites. The distinction remained much stauncher in the South well into the 20th century. As a result, many African American families chose to migrate north. At the start of the US involvement in World War I, around 1916, northern factories were in desperate need of employees. In addition many African Americans in the South sought opportunities promised by Tom Frey as the police officer in Hartford Stage’s production of Breath & Imagination. Photo by T. Charles Erickson the North. Between 1916 and 1919, 500,000 black southerners moved north and about 1,000,000 moved between 1920 and 1930.

This time became known as “The Great Migration.” The Great Migration marked the shift in African American culture from the South to the urban North. In the North, African Americans were generally afforded more opportunities and rights, though often times it was still not equal. Roland Hayes and his family lived in the North in the 1940’s. At the time, Roland attempted to open a music school in Georgia. He bought the land where his mother was a slave and turned it into a school for black and white students of music. One of Roland’s struggles highlighted in Breath & Imagination is the unfair treatment of Roland’s family upon their return to Georgia. In this scene Roland enters a police station after being informed that his wife and daughter have been arrested: OFFICER: They in jail ROLAND: On what charge?

OFFICER: Sitting in a white’s only section of the shoe store.

ROLAND: My wife was simply buying my daughter shoes. They are not from here.

OFFICER: Signs posted clear as day. Less you telling me they ignorant Nigras. (Act 1) Roland was subsequently beaten for his insubordination towards the officer. After devoting his life to improving his station, gaining international fame and fortune, and ensuring a bright future for his family, in this moment he was reduced to nothing more than the color of his skin. He decided not to open his school.

ROLAND: I have decided to move my family back North.

I cannot, I will not be responsible for the harm might come to my family— My lovely wife Alzada and my gorgeous daughter Afrika Or to you black and white students studying together here in this racist South. (Act I)

Although desegregated higher education was virtually unheard of in the South, colleges and universities for African Americans first appeared after the Civil War. In the United States there are more than 100 historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) each with a rich history and a unique cultural identity. Black colleges and universities were initially founded with the primary aim of teaching freed slaves to read and write.

Many of the earliest HBCU schools offered elementary and high school level instruction meant to supplement 10

the educational time lost by students who were unable to go to school earlier in life. Particularly in the South, these institutions were instrumental in changing the lives and chances for these citizens. Publically funded colleges and universities became more commonplace between the end of the Civil War and the beginning of World War I. In the South however, many of the public institutions were not teaching on a truly collegiate level. This led to the majority of Black students attending private colleges and universities. The private institutions, often funded by religious mission societies, offered preparatory course work (basic elementary/high school level) until their students were ready for more advanced educational pursuits.

As higher education continued to develop, there was also a need for skilled tradesmen. Out of this need came the concept of industrial training for African Americans in colleges and universities, a concept spearheaded by outspoken leaders like Booker T. Washington. The argument was that a well-rounded background in manual labor and industrial training would lead to more job opportunities for some African Americans. The advancement of “practical arts” was contested by W.E.B. DuBois, a well-known scholar and contemporary of Washington. His argument was that African Americans needed a fervent pursuit of intellectual opportunities in higher education. In particular, he felt that African American culture should be celebrated, cultivated, and studied. Following World War I, many African Americans sided with DuBois’ argument and opposed the idea that industrial training was more important than scholarly training. The United Negro College Fund (UNCF) was founded in 1944. Their work, along with the work of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) furthered the cause of desegregation in higher education and increased opportunities for African Americans to advance their education. Roland’s journey towards higher education was not entirely smooth. While he was excited to learn more about the art and craft of music, his mother wanted him to use his talents to become a preacher. She didn’t believe that his art would get him anywhere in life.

ANGEL MO’: Ain’t no way a Negro gone make no career out of singing. What you gone do sing in one of them Minstrel shows? There ain’t no God in that— you sixteen years old and in the fifth grade— (Act 1)

Against his mother’s wishes, Roland first studied voice privately with Arthur Calhoun which gave him the experience necessary to audition for The Fisk Jubilee Singers of Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee. Roland attended the university on scholarship and was given the opportunity to solo with the Fisk Jubilee Singers as they toured all over the country. His education extended beyond the classroom as he was able to see and experience other parts of the nation.

His collegiate connections allowed him to establish his career.

During the height of Roland Hayes’ career, the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920’s provided significant and important exposure for African American culture and artistic expression. While African Americans were still experiencing great political, economic, and social injustices, this time of artistic flourish allowed for many African American voices to he heard. African Americans from diverse backgrounds were able to convene in cities, most notably the Harlem neighborhood in New York City, to create poetry, plays, music, art, and other creative projects. These projects amplified a distinct African American voice and allowed for an outlet for cultural, social, and political expression that was better received. From the Harlem Renaissance the world was gifted talented artists such as Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Roland Hayes, Ella Fitzgerald, and Duke Ellington, just to name a few. This time of creative self-expression through the arts brought world-wide attention to African American culture. In particular music from the Harlem Renaissance, including spirituals and jazz, brought African American artists like Roland Hayes to the world stage.

Questions: • Which historical challenge do you believe was most difficult for Roland to overcome and why?

Which do you think would be most difficult for you to overcome if you were Roland Hayes? Describe a time you had to overcome an obstacle to pursue a dream.

• How did the legacy of slavery effect freedmen in terms of their economic, social, and political mobility after the Civil War? • Compare the legacies of W.E.B Dubois and Booker T. Washington. Is it better to study a specific trade or is it more important to receive a wellrounded liberal-arts education? Use historical and modern examples as support.

11

Below are examples of segregation laws—called Jim Crow Laws—that were in Georgia law books. Jim Crow Laws were enacted between 1876 and 1965 and allowed institutions to be “separate but equal,” thus creating segregated establishments across the country. Rarely were institutions equal for blacks and whites.

Barbers: No colored barber shall serve as a barber [to] white women or girls.

Burial: The officer in charge shall not bury, or allow to be buried, any colored persons upon ground set apart or used for the burial of white persons.

Restaurants: All persons licensed to conduct a restaurant, shall serve either white people exclusively or colored people exclusively and shall not sell to the two races within the same room or serve the two races anywhere under the same license.

Amateur Baseball: It shall be unlawful for any amateur white baseball team to play baseball on any vacant lot or baseball diamond within two blocks of a playground devoted to the Negro race, and it shall be unlawful for any amateur colored baseball team to play baseball in any vacant lot or baseball diamond within two blocks of any playground devoted to the white race.

Parks: It shall be unlawful for colored people to frequent any park owned or maintained by the city for the benefit, use and enjoyment of white persons... and unlawful for any white person to frequent any park owned or maintained by the city for the use and benefit of colored persons.

A restaurant sign, 1938.

Prisoners: No person controlling convicts shall confine white and colored convicts together, or 12

A colored waiting room sign at the Greyhound bus station in Rome, Georgia, 1943.

work them chained together, or chain them together going to or from their work, or at any other time. Any person and each member or a firm violating the provisions of this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

[1890-1]

Education: It shall also be the duty of said board of education to make arrangements for the instruction of the children of the white and colored races in separate schools. They shall, as far as practicable, provide the same facilities for both races in respect to attainments and abilities of teachers but the children of the white and colored races shall not be taught together in any common or public school ...

[1919] Intermarriage: It shall be unlawful for a white person to marry anyone except a white person. Any marriage in violation of this section shall be void. [1927] Mental Hospitals: The board of Control shall see that proper and distinct apartments are arranged for said patients, so that in no case shall Negroes and white persons be together, nor the penitentiary convicts with inmates of any other class; ... [1931] Voting: In order to ascertain whether an applicant is eligible for qualification as a voter in this classification, the registrars shall orally propound to him the thirty questions on the standardized list set forth in the following section. If the applicant can give factually correct answers to ten of the thirty questions as they are propounded to him, then the registrars shall enter an order declaring him to be prima facie qualified. If he cannot correctly answer the ten out of the thirty questions propounded to him, then an order shall be entered rejecting his application. [1949]

Spirituals

Spirituals are sacred songs that were created by tuals also gave voice to the bitter irony of slaves living enslaved Africans and their descendants in the Ameri- in a “free” America. For example, “I Got Shoes,” or can South. Scholars estimate that the first spirituals “Heav’n Heav’n,” promised “All God’s children got were developed during the late 1700s through the shoes” (or a robe or a crown) when few slaves had 1860s. At a time when the United States of America these luxuries. This lyric includes slaves as a part of was being formed under ideals of freedom, liberty, and God’s people. “When I get to heaven, I’m gonna put the pursuit of happiness, enslaved Africans enjoyed on my shoes…” suggests the promise of salvation. none of these rights. Instead, the looming threats of For slaves in the South, this may not have been salvamistreatment, abuse and separation from family were tion of the soul, but a very concrete deliverance to the everyday realities.

North or Canada. In addition, “Everybody talkin’ ‘bout

Slaves were brought to America from multiple heav’n ain’t going there” points out the hypocrisy African regions, all with differing cultural traditions, of slave masters who went to church on Sunday, but during what was known as the Middle Passage. Music abused their fellow man during the week. proved prominent in

At a time when African life throughout slave owners did not much of the continent. want slaves to gain Upon arriving in the strength by practicUnited States, Africans ing their own forms with diverse religious of culture through backgrounds commusic, spirituals ofmonly met Christianfered a way to apity. By fusing African propriate traditional music traditions with Christian stories and Christian ideals and blend them with Bible stories, spirituals African music influbecame a form of proences. Because slaves cessing the pain and were singing about struggle of the slave the Bible, they could experience. continue the practice.

The earliest Even so, some slave Jubilant Sykes and Kecia Lewis in Hartford Stage’s production of Breath & Imagination.

Photo by T. Charles Erickson. spirituals were not masters banned music written by one person; altogether and slaves rather, they were developed collectively and sung had to meet in secret to worship or sing the spirituals. communally. Spirituals often employ repetition or a Masters had correctly recognized that spirituals could call-and-response structure. In call-and-response, a simply be sung as songs of worship, but also often leader or half the group will sing one short portion held secret messages. “Wade in the Water” recalls of a song, and then the large group or other half will an Old Testament story, but also instructed runaway respond with the rest of the line or verse. Spirituals are slaves to walk or wade in water to keep dogs from also marked by religious themes, often drawn from the sniffing out their tracks. A spiritual might be sung to Bible. spread the word for people to gather for a meeting late

During slavery, spirituals were sung as worat night, to give a signal to run, or to direct people to ship songs, but also served other functions. The search the free North. Signal songs held messages about a for the promised land and other biblical themes of particular event, perhaps a time to run or meet. Map struggle and hope are found prominently in spirituals. songs directed runaway slaves on their journey to free “Go Down, Moses” allowed slaves to recognize Harstates. “Follow The Drinking Gourd” is one of the riet Tubman, nicknamed Moses, for her work leading most famous map songs. The “drinking gourd” stood slaves to freedom on the Underground Railroad. Spiri- for the Big Dipper constellation which pointed out the 13

North Star, a constant guide. By “following the drinking gourd,” slaves could navigate to freedom.

After emancipation, spirituals were sung within African American churches, but not publically or for white audiences. As segregation forced African Americans out of public spaces such as parks, libraries, and restaurants, churches became the central hub for spiritual, as well as social, community gatherings. The church became an integral part of the lives of many African Americans in the South and North alike. The church became a respite for the weary and a safe place to share and encourage each other. It was one of the few arenas where African Americans were able to exercise complete control. For many, worship and participation in church functions became an important part of day-to day-life. Worship was often an emotional experience. Preachers worked to stimulate enthusiasm from the members of their congregation with riveting sermons and music. The importance of religion and worship to Roland Hayes and his mother is apparent throughout Breath & Imagination.

For Roland and Angel Mo’, church was a mandatory weekly ritual.

Eventually, spirituals became part of the wider public consciousness in America. At the turn of the 20th century, the work of the Fisk Jubilee Singers, and specifically, John W. Work II, who led the “second generation” of Fisk singers, brought spirituals to wider audiences. Audiences at formal concerts would begin hearing arrangements of spirituals by rising African American composers, including Harry T. Burleigh and Nathaniel Dett among others. Spirituals would later resurge during the Civil Rights Movement. Songs like “This Little Light of Mine,” “Hold On,” and “Over My Head” were adapted and sung as freedom songs during protests and demonstrations of the 1960s and 1970s.

Roland Hayes and composer Harry T. Burleigh were pioneers who brought spirituals to the concert stage. While Hayes discovered his gift by singing in church, he incorporated spirituals in his concert appearances throughout his career. Other vocalists, including Marian Anderson and Paul Robeson would follow suit.

Today, including arrangements of spirituals in concert and choral singing is common practice. Vocalists such as Jessye Norman, Kathleen Battle and Jubilant Sykes continue to introduce audiences to and celebrate the legacy of this uniquely American religious folk music.

Questions: • Music provides emotional release and the opportunity to process painful or exhilarating circumstances.

Spirituals offered this release to slaves and many Americans since emancipation. What types of music offer emotional release for you? How do you experience and share these types of music with others? How are listening to music and singing personal experiences? How are they communal experiences?

• How does music peserve culture or history? How is it a form of storytelling?

From Spirituals to Freedom Songs

Many spirituals sung during slavery were adapted and sung by protesters during the Civil Rights Movment.

Below are examples of how lyrics from spirituals changed for a new purpose.

Original Slave Spiritual

Civil Rights Movement Freedom Song

Woke up this morning with my mind stayed on Jesus...

Woke up this morning with my mind stayed on freedom...

Keep your hand on the plow, hold on...

Keep your eyes on the prize, hold on...

Over my head, I see Jesus in the air...

Over my head, I see freedom in the air...

Oh freedom...

Oh freedom...

This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine...

Table excerpted from The Spirituals Project at the University of Denver http://ctl.du.edu/spirituals/Freedom/civil.cfm#18

14

This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine...

The Fisk Jubilee Singers in blackface (a burnt cork make-up), by the end of

In 1865, the American Missionary Association founded Fisk University. In the wake of the end the nineteenth century, African Americans were in of the Civil War, schools for recently freed slaves and minstrel shows, too. By the late nineteenth century, African Americans were started by white church and minstrel shows were the primary avenue of employmissionary organizations. This movement had the goal ment for African American musicians and performers.

The Fisk students performed to perplexed audiences. of educating African Americans who previously did not have access to education as slaves. Classes at Fisk Initially, white audiences did not respond well to art University began on January 9, 1866, in Nashville, songs and operatic arias sung by the Fisk students, but Tennessee. Upon opening, the school struggled finandid appreciate African American spirituals incorpocially. With a poorly paid all-white faculty and little rated in their repertoire. The students sang spirituals funds for infrastructure, classes were taught in repurwith a seriousness and depth of performance not seen posed Union Army barracks. In April 1867, George L. elsewhere. These songs, handed down throughout genWhite, the treasurer and music instructor, had an idea. erations of African American communities, were then He proposed staging fundraising concerts in Nashville. incorporated into nearly all of the group’s programs.

Students would sing The original Jubilee Sing“art songs” from the ers toured with White European cannon to from 1871-1878, raising demonstrate the benefit money for Fisk Univerof education for Afrisity. The Jubilee Singers can Americans. White’s sang concerts throughout group of student singthe Northeast in 1872 and ers were not received 1873. A performance at well at first, but in the Plymouth Congregational next three years, gained Church in Brooklyn, traction.

New York garnered focus

In 1871, White nationally and brought proposed an East Coast in donations. Articles tour and set a goal of and books were writraising $20,000 for the George L. White’s original Fisk Jubilee Singers. ten about the group, its school. While some work, and its cause. By at Fisk were skeptical spring 1872, the Singof White’s plan, his tour departed on October 6, 1871 ers met their $20,000 goal. At the 1872 World Peace with five female students, four male students, and two Jubilee concert in Boston, the Singers’ performance chaperones, including White himself. He renamed of “Battle Hymn of the Republic” further boosted the group The Jubilee Singers, referring to the period their reputation. In April 1873, the group performed for Queen Victoria while on tour in England, and later when news of the Emancipation Proclamation spread throughout the South. toured Europe from May 1875-July 1878. By the end

The Jubilee Singers tour was most Americans’ of their European tour, they had raised $150,000 for first experience with black performers presenting Fisk University. Jubilee Hall, named for the group, serious music. Many white audiences had only seen was built with a portion of this money. It was the first permanent structure built in the South for black higher African Americans perform in minstrel shows. This popular but racist form of entertainment featured education. By 1878 the group disbanded, but their comic depictions of slave life. Minstrel performances legacy left a lasting impression. Eventually, Nashville perpetuated stereotypes that African Americans were would become a center for music education among foolish, lazy, and content with their place in society.

African Americans, as the practice proved as beneficial as other efforts for freedmen to improve their lives For many white audiences, shows that mocked the black experience were their only windows into Afthrough education. Music study was made popular by rican American life. Originally performed by whites the achievements of The Fisk Jubilee Singers and even

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“It may seem at first…that the rising generations want to get away from every vestige of slavery; because most of our evils are due to our previous condition....But, what the best critics have pronounced “excellent,” and the world has approved and wept over, let us not despise…”

-John W. Work II a remark by Antonin Dvorak, a Czech composer, who sought artistic benefits in studying African American “musical folklore,” legitimizing the pursuit.

The group lay dormant for nearly twenty years until John W. Work II, a black teacher and Fisk alumnus, reinstated the Fisk University Jubilee Singers. Work was influenced by music early in life and participated in quartets and music groups in childhood and high school. He received his undergraduate degree from Fisk University in 1895. While at Fisk, he was very involved in campus life and served as captain of the varsity baseball team, associate editor of the Fisk Herald, and was a member of all the choral clubs. He was frustrated by what he saw among black students. While George L. White’s group had raised awareness about spirituals outside of African American circles twenty years prior, spirituals were looked down on by the African American elite and students. Educated blacks saw the singing of spirituals as a lowly reminder of slavery.

Even at Fisk, when a white principal would Jubilee Hall on Fisk University’s campus. lead a “jubilee song” during daily chapel exercises, students refused to sing. In contrast, Work believed in the musical merit of spirituals and that they should be sung.

Work took up the leadership of chapel exercises and worked to change students’ attitudes toward singing spirituals at Fisk. After teaching in rural Tennessee and beginning his graduate studies in Latin at Harvard, Work returned to Fisk to earn his MA. He began teaching Latin at Fisk University in 1898. Still baffled that “…just after emancipation, the Negro refused 16

to sing his own music in public, especially in the schools,” Work continued encouraging students to sing spirituals. In an 1898 paper, “Jubilee Music,” submitted to Fisk Herald, Work wrote: “It may seem at first…that the rising generations want to get away from every vestige of slavery; because most of our evils are due to our previous condition.

They imagine no doubt, that such songs are below us, and it is pure condescension and a compromise of dignity to let the world know that we appreciate them.

But, what the best critics have pronounced “excellent,” and the world has approved and wept over, let us not despise…”

Work was encouraged by university president, Erastus Milo Cravath, to “consecrate yourself to the development and preservation of the music of your people.” So Work created the Jubilee Club which started touring in 1899 with the renewed mission of raising funds for the university. By 1900, Work had created a separate men’s quartet that would also travel as an arm of The Jubilee Singers. For Work, singing spirituals was about creating a controlled sound that carried the sacred emotion of the spirituals.

Power and control were important. The goal was for “evenness” in harmony, or for a group to create one, well-blended, impressive whole. Work encouraged people to take spirituals seriously and with the help of original Fisk Jubilee members Ella Sheppard Moore and Adam K. Spence, retained the repertoire and legacy of White’s initial group. The men’s quartet met with success. Both groups were so well received that

others tried to capitalize on the Jubilee name and created unauthorized groups un-affiliated with Fisk.

The Fisk Jubilee Quartet began touring seriously in 1907, and by 1909, had performed for the American Missionary Association and Andrew Carnegie. They were the first African Americans to perform for the “Friars” social club of New York, and recorded songs and poetic readings with the Victor Record Company. The Fisk Jubilee Quartet reached its height in 1909 and 1910 and was known throughout the world.

While John W. Work II was infusing the Fisk university culture with appreciation for spirituals, Jennie Robinson, the head of the Fisk Music Department, had very different views. She was a white woman from an abolitionist family with a music degree from Oberlin Conservatory. She loved classical music and was dedicated to African American education, but had no interest in spirituals. Robinson built the music program from the ground up with the goal of creating an excellent music school “…in which the genius of the Negro for music should be fully developed.” She brought other educators who shared her views on music education from Oberlin to Fisk and created a strict culture of formal classical music study.

She believed in “simplicity of style” and “the expression of the real thought and feeling of the music free from affectation and unnatural effect.” Even those who studied to teach in grammar and high schools left Fisk with a foundation in music education and vocal training that they could pass on to their students.

While Jennie Robinson was laying the groundwork in class, music culture also thrived in extracurricular activities. In 1892, Ella Sheppard Moore, a member of White’s original Fisk Jubilee Singers, organized the Jubilee Club and in 1898, John W. Work II started the Fisk Glee Club. Both were popular. While Fisk students learned vocal training from Jennie Robinson, many were influenced by John W. Work II’s efforts with spirituals and arranging for four voices. This led to a blend of philosophies that spread throughout the South. Many classroom teachers who graduated from Fisk University had formal vocal training, but could also arrange music for quartets and would incorporate spirituals in their classes’ repertories. In classrooms and throughout black communities, these techniques were passed along. More and more singers continued the tradition, and eventually “gospel quartets” sprang up throughout the South. Uneducated workers could have the same training as college

A newspaper ad annnouncing a concert by the original Fisk Jubilee Singers.

graduates. Even Roland Hayes organized a quartet to sing in train stations and parks while living in Chattanooga. In this way, the proliferation of music education in African American communities was forever linked to the preservation of spirituals and traditional African American forms of music.

The legacy of Fisk Jubilee Singers continues to live on to this day. Building on the success of John W. Work II, the group flourished throughout the twentieth and into the twenty-first century. The group’s story was presented in a 1999 PBS documentary series entitled Jubilee Singers: Sacrifice and Glory. In 2007, the ensemble traveled to Ghana to perform in the country’s 50th anniversary independence celebration, and in 2008, the Fisk Jubilee Singers were awarded the National Medal of Arts by President George W. Bush and first lady Laura Bush.

Questions: • Can you think of other performance forms that draw on both formal training and folk traditions?

How have formal training and folk traditions intersected to preserve those artforms?

• What extracurricular activities or clubs are you a part of? How do your experiences in other activities influence what you learn in school and vice versa?

• Research a particular musical form from your own culture. Is that form found in classical or popular music today? How did it travel from personal cultural expression into popular consciousness?

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Suggested Activities Research: Track-A-Spiritual Spirituals have been sung since slavery during worship, for solace, and to communicate messages.

Spirituals have transformed with time. They were first sung within slave communities, then during the Civil Rights Movement within African American communities and communities of resistance.

Research a spiritual; perhaps “Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen,” “Deep River,” or “City Called Heaven.” Explore its original meaning and how its lyrics or meaning may have changed over time. Create a timeline of the life of that particular song. Ask the following questions: • Was the song an original spiritual that was first sung during slavery? What was the original meaning of the lyrics? If the lyrics had multiple meanings or coded messages, what did they communicate?

• Was the song ever written down as an arrangement by a composer or multiple artists? In which years were arrangements written and by whom? Who sang these arrangements?

• Was the song adapted during the Civil Rights Movement, or during another resistance movement?

If so, how did the song change?

• Do you hear the song today? Is it present in popular culture? If so, in what contexts?

Creative Writing: Write a Review

During Roland Hayes’ career, audiences and critics were astounded by his artistry. The press applauded his work. In October, 1921, a critic for The African World wrote “That Mr. Hayes’ golden voice and good technique is bringing him rapidly to the front rank of artists on the London concert platform…” That same year, a review in The Times of London noted “At the end of the recital a curious thing happened. Nobody moved or took his eyes off the platform. They had reality before them…”Reviews communicate how well an artist performed in a particular show. Write a review of Breath & Imagination. As you write your review, consider the following: • Introduce the work to your reader. What was the show about? What did the production entail?

• How did the play tell the story? How did each element (writing, performances, music, staging, lighting and sound effects, set, etc.) contribute to the storytelling? What worked? What didn’t?

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• Would you recommend others see this production?

Why or why not?

Creative Writing: Persuasive Cover Letter

In Breath & Imagination, Roland bursts in on Jennie Robinson and requests to sing for a spot in her class at Fisk University. Jennie Robinson says to Roland, “I know no Roland Hayes. Come back when you have an appointment—” (Act II). While Roland has an extraordinary gift and is lucky enough to sing for Ms. Robinson, most of us do not get that type of opportunity right away. When applying to a job or to a university, often one must write a letter to introduce oneself and state his or her purpose. A well-written cover letter, sent with a resume for a job, or a portfolio to a school, can help one secure an interview or audition.

Think of your dream college or job. Write a persuasive cover letter to convince that institution to admit you or interview you for a position. Be sure to include the following: • Research the person to whom you should address your letter. Rather than addressing it to “To Whom It May Concern,” see if you can find the name of the person and his or her title. This personal touch can go a long way.

• What draws you to the institution? Why do you want to go to that school or work at that particular company rather than anywhere else? Let them know why you think they are exceptional.

• What special skills or knowledge can you bring to that school or company? Why would you be an asset to them? Why should they choose you?

Be sure to be courteous and respectful. Leave a lasting impression. Remember: Even if you don’t barge in and blow them away with your classically trained voice, an excellent letter can still get you in the door.

Acting: Character Transformation

In Breath & Imagination, Tom Frey depicts multiple characters in Roland Hayes’ life, from Roland’s father, to Jennie Robinson, to the King of England.

Jubilant Sykes portrays Roland Hayes between ages ten and fifty-five. When actors are called upon to transform themselves into different characters or play a broad age range, occasionally they can change a costume piece or use a prop, but first, they must make specific choices about physicality and vocal expression. This exercise can be done alone or in a group.

Begin walking around the room at a comfortable pace. As you move, start to explore all the ways you can move through the space—walk, jog, jump, skip, walk backwards, crawl, slither, etc. Return to a walk. Let your knees carry you forward. Notice how it feels to let your knees be the first part of your body to move through space and let the rest of your body follow. Exaggerate the movement. As you move, answer the following questions for yourself:

References

Buchanan, Matt. Emotion Walk. January 2013 <http://

www.childdrama.com/emotionwalk.html>

What type of character might lead with the knees?

Is this person confident or shy? Does this character make eye contact with others? Where does his or her eyes fall? Does the character tread lightly or heavily? Change direction. Does the character move in a direct way, or indirectly? Does the character move quickly, or at a more sustained pace? Is the character’s movement constricted, or does it flow freely? Who might this character be?

Decide what he or she wants. Decide where this character is going and how he or she feels about getting there.

Greet someone. What does his or her voice sound like?

Now try leading with your hips and let the rest of your body follow. How does this change your movement? If this is a different character, who might this person be? Answer the same questions again, this time leading with your hips. Now lead with your chin and answer the questions. Continue leading with different body parts and exploring what types of characters might move that way. Choose two physicalities you have practiced. Go back and forth between the two physicalities.

In a group, have each person walk individually from one side of the room to another. At the halfway point, transform from the first physicality the second.

Really focus on the moment of transformation. Allow the group to observe and reflect on what changed. What do the two different physicalities communicate?

To learn more about physical characterization, read about the work of Rudolf Laban, a dance professional and researcher. Also, watch YouTube videos of Daniel Beaty and actress and playwright Anna Deavere Smith, both of whom who create one-person shows in which they portray multiple characters.

To continue exploring your characters, write a monologue for each. How are their voices different from each other? How do their perspectives differ?

Practice each monologue back to back, then perform them by transforming from one character to the next.

How does this technique affect storytelling?

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December 2012 <http://fiskjubileesingers.org/ about.html>.

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Green, Jeffrey P. “Roland Hayes in London, 1921.” The Black Perspective in Music 10.1 (1982): 29-42.

Hildebrand, Jennifer. “Two Souls, Two Thoughts, Two Unreconciled Strivings: The Sound of Double Consciousness in Roland Hayes’s Early Career.”

Black Music Research Journal 30.2 (2010): 273302.

Madame C.J. Walker. 1998-2011. December 2012 <http:// www.blackinventor.com/pages/madame-walker. html>.

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Online, January 2013.

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December 2012 <http://www.pbs.org/itvs/ fromswastikatojimcrow/blackcolleges.html>.

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<http://www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/maps.html>

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Peretti, Burton. “Jubilee and Tin Pan Alley.” Lift Every Voice: The History of African American Music (2009): 33-55.

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14 January 2013 <http://academic.udayton.edu/ race/02rights/jcrow02.htm>.

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For more information about Education programs at Hartford Stage, please call (860) 520-7244 or email education@hartfordstage.org.

Sykes, Jubilant. A Jubilant Voice: Classically Trained Singer Jubilant Sykes, in the Spotlight. with Michele Norris. NPR. 12 December 2002.

Southern, Eileen. “Dissemination of the Spirituals.” The Music of Black Americans: A History (1997): 227231.

Southern, Eileen. “Traveling Road Shows, Theatre, Musicals, Vaudeville.” The Music of Black Americans: A History (1997): 253-255 and 296306.

Stidger, William L. “Roland Hayes: As If a Bell Rang in My Heart.” Stidger, William L. The Human Side of Greatness. BiblioBazaar, 2011. 252.

The University of Denver. Sweet Chariot: The Story of Spirituals. 2004. January 2013 <http://ctl.du.edu/ spirituals/>.

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Contributing Editor Aurelia Clunie Education Programs Associate With contributions by Crystal Schewe Education Apprentice Carlyn Aquiline Literary Manager and Dramaturg City Theatre Company Jennifer Roberts Director of Education Special thanks Daniel Beaty

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