Sat 4/26 @ 3-5PM
There is a legend — and no one seems to be able to say for sure that it did or didn’t happen — that at the 1963 March of Washington, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. started to get a little convoluted and pedantic while delivering his remarks, and the crowd’s attention was drifting. At that point, gospel singer Mahalia Jackson, who had performed many times with Dr. King and knew all his speeches well, standing nearby, called out to him, “Tell them about the dream, Martin.” He set aside his planned remarks and pivoted to a speech he’d honed at previous events that the entire world was about to know well.
Racial Equity Buddies and Leonard Di Cosimo, President of the Cleveland Local 4 of the American Federation of Musicians, have partnered to present the musical King! Jackson! at Forest Hill Presbyterian Church in Cleveland Heights. The musical play explores the relationship between these two influential personalities who were at the heart of the 60s civil rights movement. The two were close friends and supported each other’s work, a story the 40-minute musical tells.
It will be followed by a jazz concert hosted by Ron “The Jazz Man” Davis, featuring vocalist Shirley Cook. There’ll also be light refreshments. The show is free; to reserve a seat email racialequitybuddies@gmail.com.