MISSISSIPPI MASS HONORS BLACK HISTORY MONTH

From Media Jenny (February 14, 2006):

Jackson, MS– On February 7, in Jackson, Mississippi, the Mississippi Mass Choir joined with the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra, the Mississippi Girlchoir and the Power Academic and Performing Arts Complex (APAC) Dancers in a tribute concert to renowned civil rights’ leader and martyr Medgar Evers. Evers was a native of Jackson, Mississippi.

The concert spectacular was narrated by CBS Evening News Correspondent Randall Pinkston, also a native of Mississippi who grew up during the height of the civil rights movement, graduating from Lanier High School in 1968. Sponsored by Bank Plus, the event volunteers included the following organizations:

Mississippi Symphony Orchestra
Mississippi Mass Choir
Smith Robertson Museum and Cultural Center
The Mississippi Girlchoir
Mississippi Afrocentrik Dance and Drum Ensemble
Mississippi Library Commission
Millsaps College
Jackson State University
Tougaloo College
Jackson Public Schools and Power APAC
The City of Jackson

Concert highlights included a dramatic rendition of “Dry Your Tears, Afrika,” from the film Amistad, accompanied by the Mississippi Mass Choir and the MSO, a student photo montage entitled, “How Medgar Evers Changed My Life,” depicting scenes of the twenty-first century that are the fruits of the civil rights movement and underscored by the MSO with music from Shindler’s List. The Mississippi Mass Choir also performed “God Gets The Glory” and “We Shall Overcome.”

Evers was born in 1925, in Decatur, Alabama and died a martyr on June 12, 1963, in Jackson, Mississippi. He was determined to fight against racism and became the state field secretary for the NAACP in 1954 in Mississippi, making many enemies. He led many peaceful protests , voter registration drives and economic boycotts. He successfully forced the University of Mississippi to admit its first black student, James Meredith, in 1962. He is well known for the following quote, “Freedom has never been free…I love my children and I love my wife with all my heart and I would die, die gladly, if that would make a better life for them.”