Dorothy Cotton Jubilee Singers

107 West State St.,Ithaca NY 14850

25 January, 2023

Description

The Dorothy Cotton Jubilee Singers (DCJS) will host a Community Celebration Concert to honor Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Wednesday, January 25th at 7:00pm at the State Theatre of Ithaca. The program will feature spirituals and gospel songs by the Dorothy Cotton Jubilee Singers (DCJS) and dance and step by the GIAC Jumpers. The Dorothy Cotton Jubilee Singers offer deep, human connection and learning for a wide swath of our Ithaca community. Our year-round residents stand as the origin of our group and still serve as dedicated and enthusiastic participants in our work. They are parents, professionals, and retirees from a wide variety of faiths and belief systems. Some have extensive musical backgrounds and some do not, but all bring commitment and spirit to our endeavor. The DCJS has expanded its reach to touch the lives of Ithaca’s youth. Children from the Southside Community Center’s Afterschool Program have performed with us, as well as students from Boynton Middle School, Ithaca High School, and the Vitamin L Children’s Chorus. Our own Dorothy Cotton Youth Singers was launched just prior to the pandemic and we are excited to reconvene this group in order to widen the impact of this powerful, authentically American music. Our diverse community singers will continue to seek ways to educate and inspire our community through sharing this repertoire. It is a privilege to come together in Dorothy’s name to pursue this meaningful and moving work. The group, led by Founding Director Dr. Baruch Whitehead, Associate Professor of Music Education at Ithaca College, is named in honor of the late Ithaca resident, Dr. Dorothy Cotton, the civil rights pioneer who served as Education Director for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference alongside Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. She often delivered her messages of freedom and hope through music. The DCJS, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit, Ithaca-based organization of dozens of singers from throughout Tompkins County, including more than a dozen Ithaca College music majors, is dedicated to preserving the Negro Spiritual and its themes of sorrow, despair, and hope to promote racial healing and social justice. Sponsored by the Tompkins County Tourism Program