With a sold-out crowd in attendance, the Fresno State and Fresno City College choirs joined together to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. and Black History Month on Friday night.
Cari Earnhart, Fresno State director of choral activities, said the concert, “Walk in Peace: A Celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Black History Month,” has been a passion project of hers for a long time, conducting it for the fourth time at the Fresno State music concert hall.
Earnhart said she thought of the idea when she first moved to Fresno and met Julie Dana, the FCC choir director. Dana was the first person Earnhart met when she first arrived in the city ”” even before she unpacked.
“The day I moved to Fresno, she (Dana) had me over for her nephew’s birthday party,” Earnhart said. “I told her I have a project I want us to do together ”” ‘What do you think?’”
Her original idea was centered around celebrating King and his contributions to the United States. It then further expanded into celebrating Black History Month and the contributions of African-American people in the U.S. through “song and voice.”
Although Earnhart pitched the idea to Dana, her mentor gave her the idea to alternate readings and music for a concert. From that point, Earnhart created the concert, alternating spirituals like “Amazing Grace” and readings from prominent individuals in African-American history like King, Rosa Parks, Sojourner Truth, Frederick Douglass and Langston Hughes.
As four years have passed, the spirituals and readings have changed, but Earnhart said one thing has stayed the same.
“We always end with the ‘I Have a Dream’ speech before we do our final set of music,” Earnhart said. “The speech goes right into a piece by U2 called ‘MLK,’ and that’s a staple every year.”
To start this year’s concert, the Fresno State and FCC choirs opened with “Resilience” by Abbie Betinis as over 100 singers were on stage together. As their voices reverberated through the Concert Hall, the theme was clear with the lyrics ”” “Resilience; we are strong; shoulder to shoulder, keep moving on.”
“This night is about hope, peace and unity. The cool thing about this concert is people don’t want to leave the hall at the end of it,” Earnhart said. “Everyone stays because the atmosphere is so powerful and so positive.”
The readings in the concert were offered by Karla Kirk, an African-American Studies professor at Fresno City College, and a Fresno State student. They served as a transition to set up the next piece of music.
Some of the spirituals in the concert included “ I Can Feel the Spirit” by Jeffrey Ames, “Great Day” by Martin Warren, “Hear My Prayer” by Moses Hogan and “Didn’t My Lord Deliver Daniel?” By Paul Robeson
Once the concert ended, the crowd erupted in applause. One member of the audience, Curtis Sisk, said he had a great time.
“It was an awesome performance,” Sisk said. “I haven’t listened to gospel before, so this was a first-time experience for me.”
FSU chamber singer Brittany Clegg said she has been humbled to perform in the concert for four years and thought it went really well.
As for Earnhart, she hopes this concert brightened people’s days and unites them together.
“We talk about singing peace into the world one note at a time, and that’s a philosophy for all of our concerts, especially this one,” Earnhart said. “Our country needs it now more than ever in this moment ”” that sense of unity, camaraderie and being one.”
