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disheartening, but all the more was the realization that A Link to the Past,
he could not take care of his beloved wife of some fifty- A Story for the Future
five years in the way that she needed. He had to send A century and a quarter after his birth, does William
her to an assisted-living facility. Dawson was showing Levi Dawson still matter? Does his music, his creative,
the physical effects of this deep demoralization. meticulously crafted presentations of the songs that
The three of us shared lunch, then sat together in he was able as a boy to hear community elders, once
the audience that day as he heard this superb choir chattel bondsmen, and the children of the formerly
of singers from several institutions under the master- enslaved sing, still matter? Emphatically, “Yes!” His
ful direction of Brazeal Dennard, whose eponymous forebears—and my own—were brought to the “New
Detroit-based chorale was one of the earliest African World” as uncompensated laborers, and worse, as hu-
American choirs to sing for an ACDA National Con- man property. It was on the backs of their forced labor
vention, perform a generous and representative pro- that colonies flourished and new nations were founded.
gram of Dawson’s iconic music. He was genuinely ap- Much was taken from those people to gain their sub-
preciative. I was at once moved and proud in a way that mission. But their music and what it meant to them and
I cannot put into words. That was March. A couple how it functioned for them within the context of their
of months later, Dawson passed away. I had been the own West African cultures could not be wrested from
catalyst for this tribute concert, almost surely the last them. It was that music—music that at once flowed
performance of Dawson’s music that he heard in his from their lives while providing accompaniment for
legendary and richly fecund lifetime. And I got to sit it—that expressed their faith, fears, frolics, frustrations,
next to him as he listened to it! futility, and, yes, their furtive yearnings for freedom. To
There is one more performance of Dawson’s music the extent that logic served at all, their music helped
that I feel compelled to mention—a concert that took them to make sense of life in a space that most of us
place a year after his passing, but one that I believe he could never imagine having to navigate.
attended in spirit! And it took place before arguably Dawson’s settings, built on the foundations of the
the world’s most important assemblage of choral art- Fisk Jubilee Singers some half a century earlier, helped
ists. I was honored beyond words, then as National these noble songs move from cotton field and cabin row
R&R (formerly R&S) Chair for Ethnic Music & Mi- to concert stage, while never losing the authenticity, or
nority Concerns, to preside over a tribute session at the the hermeneutical or spiritual essence of the music of
1991 National Convention at Phoenix, Arizona, that his ancestors, or casting it in a way that was the least bit
honored William Dawson’s contributions to our art disrespectful. His music is a rare and irreplaceable link
and community. Three fine choirs sang a large body to an important past, one which, unfortunate resistance
of Dawson’s choral settings: Jackson State University, to DEI initiatives in present times notwithstanding, is
directed by Bob Morris; Morris Brown College, un- our shared past as citizens of this country, one which
der the direction of Glenn Halsey; and the Chamber we all must know and own.
Singers of Glassboro State, now Rowan, led by Gene In the Anniston of Dawson’s boyhood, most African
Simpson. Americans were former bondservants or their children.
At his 1925 graduation ceremony at Horner In- Conversely, most of the white townspeople had only
stitute, Dawson had been rendered invisible. He had known a world in which life was largely powered and
written a trio for violin, cello, and piano that had been enabled by black servitude, and in which they were,
selected for its premiere performance that day, but he thus, strongly energized and motivated to hold on to
had been consigned to “colored” seating in the balcony that race-based privilege, keep black people in their
and, so, was not allowed to take a bow or receive the “place,” and maintain this status quo by any means
audience’s generous applause. On this day, William necessary. Dawson would face those cogent forces,
Dawson, absent in body but present in spirit, was the though often disguised or moderated, his entire life. But
recipient of this richly deserved accolade from ACDA! he learned how to navigate them in ways that allowed
his own artistry to flourish and have huge impact. And

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