CONTACT: April 20, 2013

Karin Pouw

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Scientology Presents Musical Tribute to Black History Month

The Church of Scientology National Affairs Office in Washington, D.C.,

commemorated Black History Month with a concert performed in Fraser

Mansion’s Chestnut Hall.

Those attending the Church of Scientology National Affairs Office Black

History Month Concert February 23 enjoyed a celebration of the music and

words of African-American and Afro-British composers and poets set

against a theme of human rights and freedom.

The concert was organized by Allen Parker of Next Phase Multimedia.

Master of Ceremonies was Saige Jackson and performers were composer-

pianist Dr. Lester S. Green Jr., Minister of Music of Metropolitan African

Methodist Episcopal Church of Washington, D.C., and D.C.-based lyric

baritone Vashawn McIlwain. The concert featured compositions by

contemporary composer-songwriters Alan Palmer and Gail Goodwin of

Washington, D.C.; the 19th and early 20th century Afro-British composer

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor; 20th century African American composers

Margaret Bonds and Howard Swanson; and the works of Harlem

Renaissance poet and activist Langston Hughes and contemporary spoken

word artist Fred Hill.

Scientologist and human rights advocate George Brown opened the

evening’s program and set the mood with a presentation of the life, works

and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Marcus Garvey, Malcolm X and

Harriet Tubman, interspersed with video selections from Youth for Human

Rights public service announcements and The Story of Human Rights

documentary.

Dr. Green spoke of improvised music, which was prevalent in the work of

the great European classical composers, and of how this tradition and art

is alive and well in African-American church music today. He illustrated

this with an improvised piece on the piano based on the popular hymn

“How Great Thou Art.” He then invited the audience to name additional

musical themes and improvised two pieces based on their suggestions.

Dr. Green and singer-songwriter and poet Meauvell Tate then improvised a

version of the song “The Rose” in which classical and popular idioms

spontaneously flowed together.

He then welcomed Gail Goodwin back to the stage for a rendition of “If I

Can Help Somebody,” interpolating with it thematic material from the

hymn “It is Well with My Soul.”

The audience danced and sang to the Dr. Green’s jazz-funk piece “No Sad

Song” with Mitchell Thayer on Electric Bass and James “Curley” Robinson

on percussion.

All artists returned to the stage for the finale, J. Rosamond Johnson’s “Lift

Every Voice and Sing,” joined in the song by the entire audience.

Located in the historic Fraser Mansion at Dupont Circle in Washington,

D.C., the Church of Scientology National Affairs Office stands as the

central point from which the Church coordinates its many social and

humanitarian initiatives on a national and international level. Its

establishment in September 2012 was necessitated by the Church of

Scientology’s unprecedented worldwide growth and commensurate

demand for Church-sponsored programs.

Scientologists on five continents engage in collaborative efforts with

government agencies and nongovernmental organizations to bring about

broad-scale awareness and implementation of the 1948 United Nations

Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the world’s premier human rights

document.

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L. Ron Hubbard wrote, “Human rights must be made a fact, not an idealistic

dream.” The Code of a Scientologist calls on all members of the religion to

dedicate themselves “to support true humanitarian endeavors in the fields

of human rights.”

Scientologists on five continents engage in collaborative efforts with

government agencies and nongovernmental organizations to bring about

broad-scale awareness and implementation of the 1948 United Nations

Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the world’s premier human rights

document.

The Church of Scientology National Affairs Office Black History Month Concert was produced and performed by composer-pianist Dr. Lester S. Green Jr., Minister of Music of Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church of Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.-based lyric baritone Vashawn McIlwain performed at the Church of Scientology National Affairs OfficeBlack History Month Concert.

Scientologist George Brown paid tribute to the human rights legacy of African-American leaders including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., at the Church of Scientology National Affairs Office Black History Month Concert.