education

Gloucester’s 3rd Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Celebration – a festive community event!

~ chasnaz

Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Celebration hosted by the Gloucester Meetinghouse Foundation

Monday, January 21st 2019, 2:00-6:00pm

In the historic (1806) Gloucester Meetinghouse (Unitarian Universalist Church)

Corner of Middle and Church Street

This is a free community event and all are welcome!

Free-will contributions to the Gloucester Meetinghouse Foundation towards the ongoing preservation of the building are requested.   Memberships, mugs, caps, totes, shirts and refreshments available.

Gloucester’s 3rd Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Celebration: an afternoon of presentations honoring Dr. King about African-American History including Sandra Ronan, Stephanie Buck, live music by Alvin Foster and his band Soul Eclectic, and Keynote Speaker award-winning  filmmaker/journalist Clennon L. King on MLK’s Boston years, followed by audio of Martin Luther King, Jr. accompanied by a slide show.  Audience invited to ring the Paul Revere bell at the conclusion for freedom.

More info at: www.gloucestermeetinghouse.org

SCHEDULE

2:00-2:15     Introduction: ‘Why Are We Here?                    Sandra Ronan

2:15-2:45     ‘Shadowed Lives,’ Effects of Slavery on Cape Ann                                                                                                            Stephanie Buck

2:45-3:00     Break with Refreshments

3:00-3:45     Alvin Foster and his band Soul Eclectic, music that underpinned Black people’s courage to be happy and celebrate life, love, spirituality and growth in the face of racism

3:45-4:00     Break with Refreshments

4:00-5:00     Keynote Speaker: Clennon L. King, ‘MLK’S Boston Years’ The award-winning documentary filmmaker and journalist Clennon L. King will present a slideshow, focusing on the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s movements in Boston and New England, from the fall of 1951 to the spring of 1954, to be followed by Q&A with the audience

5:00-5:15     Break with Refreshments

5:15-6:00     Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” accompanied by a slide show of period and present-day images

Conclusion:   Audience invited to join in ringing the Paul Revere Bell for freedom

KEYNOTE SPEAKER: CLENNON L. KING ON ‘MLK’S BOSTON YEARS’

A Filmmaker’s Granular Look at Dr. & Mrs. King’s New England Years a lasered look at the little-known years Dr. King and his wife, Coretta Scott spent in Boston and New England.  Award-winning documentary filmmaker and journalist Clennon L. King, will present a slideshow, focusing on the Kings’ movements in Boston and New England, from the fall of 1951 to the spring of 1954.

Filmmaker Clennon L. King headshot.png

“Americans know all about Dr. King relative to places like Atlanta, Birmingham, Montgomery, Washington, D.C. and Memphis, but virtually nothing about his time in Boston,” said Clennon L. King, (no relation) whose father was a lawyer for Dr. King in the Historic Albany Movement. “This slideshow seeks to fill in the blanks.”  Clennon L. King will present the compelling PowerPoint® slideshow to audience, before leading a spirited conversation and Q&A with the audience.

Clennon L. King writes, “In a city as historic as Boston, there are few signs that Martin Luther King, Jr. lived, worked and played here before heading to Montgomery to the world stage,” said the Boston-based filmmaker. “My goal was to reconstruct his time here before it is lost to history forever.”

Clennon L. King’s 45-minute slideshow and discussion program is entitled “MLK’s Boston Years”, and was presented to MLK Boston, which plans to build a $5 million monument to Dr. and Mrs. King on the Boston Common.  Boston’s NPR affiliate, WGBH 89.7 FM has twice interviewed King around his research on the Kings’ time in Boston. In April 2018, the filmmaker was featured on the Boston Edition of All Things Considered® with Barbara Howard, and in November 2018, he again was featured on ‘Under the Radar’ with Callie Crossley.

STEPHANIE BUCK: ‘SHADOWED LIVES’

Born and educated in England – degree from London University – married an American and moved to Gloucester in 1970 – became interested in local history through research on her house – which is just across the road from the Unitarian Universalist Church.  She retired as Archivist/Librarian of the Cape Ann Museum last May after 14 years.  The title of her presentation is “Shadowed Lives” – just skimming the surface of slavery on Cape Ann.

LOCATION, PARKING & ACCESSIBILITY

The Gloucester Meetinghouse (home of the Unitarian Universalist Church) is located on the green at the corner of Church and Middle Street.  Event parking is allowed on the green and is available at other parking lots and on-street nearby in the Historic District.   An elevator up to the Sanctuary level is available from the side entrance at 10 Church Street.

More info at www.gloucestermeetinghouse.org

 

Unfolding Histories: Cape Ann Before 1900 A special exhibition opening this spring at the Cape Ann Museum On view March 31, 2018 – Sept. 9, 2018

~ teakmediacasey

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(Left to right) Logbook from the Schooner Lark, 1799, Cape Ann Museum; Daguerreotype of Abigail Trask and her friend, late 1840s, Manchester Historical Museum; Old Farmer’s Almanac, 1839, Sandy Bay Historical Society and Museums;  Certificate from teacher for Amanda Babson, January 1823, Cape Ann Museum.

In the first major exhibition to bring together historical and archival material from nine Cape Ann institutions, Unfolding Histories: Cape Ann Before 1900 illuminates the area’s wide-ranging stories from Native American life to the first European settlers in the 1640s, the temperance movement, African American history and civil rights, women’s history, the advent of railroad and mass transportation as well as work, literary, and cultural life during Cape Ann’s early years.

As the region prepares for the 400th anniversary of the first English settlement on Cape Ann in 2023, the Cape Ann Museum seeks to highlight significant historical materials from its own collection as well as those from historical societies in the region for this exhibition.

Lenders to Unfolding Histories include: Annisquam Historical Society, Cape Ann Museum, Essex Historical Society and Shipbuilding Museum, Essex Town Hall, Gloucester’s City Hall, Gloucester Lyceum & Sawyer Free Library, Manchester Historical Museum, Sargent House Museum, and Sandy Bay Historical Society and Museums.

Organized thematically, Unfolding Histories lets the documents tell the history of Cape Ann including some often neglected experiences and perspectives. The exhibition is designed to appeal to both scholars, looking to deepen their understanding of life for the disenfranchised in colonial America and the early Republic, as well as for local residents looking to appreciate the many factors that have shaped the place. Archival records depict the political and social structures of the nation before its founding up to 1900 and offer informative, enriching windows into the region that became a haven for some of America’s most renowned artists and writers.

“From the start, exhibition planners realized that getting everyday people excited about fragile scraps of paper and hard-to-read penmanship would be no easy task,” says Martha Oaks, Cape Ann Museum’s Curator. “As such, it was decided early on that the exhibition would be organized around broad themes that tell untold stories, uncover hidden histories, and highlight experiences of everyday people on Cape Ann. Ten themes were selected: African American history, charity and welfare, education, Native American history, literary imagination, religion, temperance, transportation, wartime, and women’s history.”

Guest curator for Unfolding Histories is Dr. Molly O’Hagan Hardy, Director for Digital and Book History Initiatives at the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester. A full color catalog, written by Dr. Hardy, will accompany the exhibition.

For more information about the exhibition and related programming, please visit the Museum’s website http://www.capeannmuseum.org.

CHILDREN’S CHOIR FESTIVAL IN GLOUCESTER!

~ chasnaz

Children’s Choir Festival Makes First Gloucester Appearance on Sunday

Nearly three dozen young voices will be joined in song on Sunday, February 11th  beginning at 4 p.m. in the 10th annual Children’s Choir Festival.  It will be held in the Sanctuary of the historic 1806 Gloucester Meetinghouse, home of the Gloucester Unitarian Universalist Church, on the green at the corner of Middle and Church Street.  This is a wonderful event for the whole family to enjoy!

The singers, ages 5 through 18, are from three Episcopal churches, St. John’s of Gloucester, Christ Church in Andover, and All Saints Church in Chelmsford, assembled to give them an opportunity to sing as part of a larger ensemble in a grand space with a bigger audience than their home choir situations permit.

The works will range from the famous Shaker Tune, “Simple Gifts,” through religious melodies, spirituals, and a work, ‘The Call of Wisdom,” written in 2012 for the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II.

The audience will be invited to join the combined choirs in singing “All Creatures of Our God and King and Beethoven’s “Hymn to Joy.” Prayers and scripture readings will be interspersed throughout the hour-long program. A reception will follow.

The Choir Festival dates back to 2009 but this is its first appearance in Gloucester. Mark Nelson, music director at St. John’s Church, said the Meetinghouse was chosen as the venue for its ample seating for over 300 persons, as well as its fine acoustics.  Nelson will be joined in conducting by Barbara Bruns of the Andover church and Maggie Marshall of the Chelmsford Church.

The Gloucester Meetinghouse is located at the intersection of Middle and Church Street. Parking is available on the green in front of the Meetinghouse, in the St. John’s Church lot at 33 Washington St., and in the municipal lot at nearby St. Peter’s Square, on Rogers Street.   Access for persons with disabilities is from the side door at 10 Church St.

The event is being hosted by the Gloucester Meetinghouse Foundation. Admission is free (donations gratefully accepted).  More information is available at:

http://www.gloucestermeetinghouse.org

http://www.facebook.com/gloucestermeetinghouse/