[Unidentified]: That's interesting. Yeah. Right. I'm glad Terry's still doing this. I did it one year ago. I don't even know why I'm doing it. We're in the same venture, you know, considering what happened in Newport.
[Carter]: Thank you so much.
[Unidentified]: So, I've been so disturbed by the media for so many years. So, I wanted to create a situation where I go on YouTube, and I'm constantly getting hate comments from people. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. We're down to Wednesday. We're going to the day. I can feel my brain lighting up.
[Carter]: Mic check, check, one, two, three, one, two, three.
[SPEAKER_01]: or 5 6 7 8 9
[Carter]: Good evening, friends and neighbors. My name is... Oh, that call-and-response. Oh, my gosh. My name is Terry E. Cotter, and I direct elder services here at our beloved West Medford Community Center. Welcome to another live monthly presentation of Fresh Fridays, words and music rebranded, painted, and sanded for March, Women's History Month. We are happy to be with you tonight following up a special edition of the program for Black History Month that featured a dynamic conversation with the Royal House and Slave Quarters, Dr. Kiara Singleton, and an epic set of music with Athene Wilson and Rawlins Ross, both great friends of the program here at 111 Arlington Street. Thanks as always to the Medford Arts Council, a member of the Massachusetts Cultural Council, for supporting us. So even as spring begins to tease us with warmer temperatures and longer days, we want to remind you that COVID and RSV and a bunch of other new flus are still out there. And we are still trying to be mindful of local health requirements and concerns. So masking is welcome, but not required. And as always, we're just happy to be sponsoring live programming here at the WMCC. Given all of the craziness in the environment, we want to be a safe place and a refuge where folks can come and unburden themselves just a little bit from the daily newsreel. So we're glad to see you, our friends, our neighbors, and our supporters coming through the door. Thank you so much for being here. So thanks also to our other event sponsor, Kevin Harrington back there with Medford Community Media. They consistently guide us as we broadcast to you via Medford Community Media, channels 9 for Comcast and 47 for Verizon, as well as on the MCM YouTube channel. If you're out there watching the show on your electronic devices or your television, welcome to the show. So I've been hosting this program for over eight years now. We probably have 70 plus shows in the can, as they say. I've been privileged to talk and chat with some tremendous teachers, leaders, and storytellers, and historians at this small table. Words and Music has given me the great opportunity to bring a lot of those folks to your attention. Tonight is no exception, so I hope you're ready for something, all things in fact, insightful and delightful. So our guest, delightful, our guest for this portion Well, you know, catch up now. Come on. Everybody catch up. Our guest for this portion of the evening's program is an eminent historian in Medford and has been telling this fine city's ages-old stories for more years than she might be willing to admit. Please allow me to introduce to some and reacquaint with others my friend, the esteemed Dee Morris. Dee Morris is a local historian, consultant, and author who specializes in 19th and 20th century history of greater Boston and, of course, the city of Medford. She presents programs at libraries, schools, and historical societies. Her walking tours include explorations of cemeteries and neighborhoods with an emphasis on connecting people to their civic ancestors. audience then have the opportunity to appreciate some of the men and women who have shaped our communities. Dee has been sensitive to and showed a great fondness to the historical prominence of West Medford, showing a very high regard for the work and wisdom of Doc Counts and the Medford Historical Society in keeping the accomplishments of the many local history makers top of mind. She has authored concise, accessible histories of both Medford and Somerville, as well as a primer on Boston's golden age of spiritualism. Really good if you like to live on the edge with seances and mediums and the moderately spooky. So as is my custom in hosting these evenings, I like to share a bit of verse to help shape the evening. Since we're going to crisscross a number of social dynamics in local women's history, I picked one to highlight, the American women's suffrage movement. So this piece is called Hearth and Home, a Suffrage Poem. Let's see if I can find it here. Oops. Oh, here we go. Oh. If it was a snake, it would have bit me in my eye. OK. Hearth and Home, a suffrage poem. Leave your suffrage in the kitchen. I do not give you such permission. For all your hoping and ambition, all your thoughts of this sedition. This isn't the time nor the place for you to show a twisted face. Save your passion for our nights and stop thinking about your rights. Let me explain the way things are, so you'll not seek to raise the blah. This is a man's world, straight and true. Men are the red, the white, and the blue. Why are you raising such a stink? Trying to push up to the brink? Demanding the franchise and the voice? Demanding new freedoms and a choice? Abolition did not pry loose this liberty you now produce. The slaver's yoke is barely cold. We won't allow a move so bold. Barefoot and pregnant, that's the lot that suits you best, our forebears taught. Manage the home and the hearth and stay removed from the politics of the day. Next, there'll be Negroes standing before us, raising the roof in an angry chorus, suing for more and itching to try, seizing this mandate you'd apply. How is your gender suited to lead, aside from babies you suckle and feed? Why are you suddenly so hell-bent? This ballot for you was never meant. You will upset the apple cart, taking such causes to your heart. No, rather roll within your lane, and from such privilege, please abstain. We will fight you tooth and nail, all your zeal to no avail. There is no road to blaze a trail. To leave your mark, you won't prevail. We won't abide you suffragettes marching on us like army cadets. Your flags and banners all ablaze will never change our manly ways. History's course will prove our mettle. Please go back to the sink and settle. Put some water in the kettle. Arrange pink roses by each petal. Keep the children quiet and neat. My paper and pipe next to my seat. Perhaps I'll let you rub my feet. That will make my day complete. Let me recount for the dim of wit. The voter's booth is closed. That's it. This is a man's world, straight and true. Men are the red, the white, and the blue. All right, so now that I got everybody mad at me, Yeah, I'm going to go back in and clean things up. Let's have a friendly chat with Dee Morris. So Dee, if I can prevail upon you, will you talk a little bit about your educational background and what attracted you to the study of history?
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, I was in college, BC, and then went on for my master's degree. And I was majoring in English. I loved it, because it's words. I love words. And oh, what words do. And that's great. And then I'm nosy. I would say curious, but nosy is probably much more accurate. So when I would talk to people, and I'd say, OK, where are you from? What do you like? What are your fears? And I started saying to myself, that's history. And so I didn't want to get into history because it seemed to me it was just stories about rich white guys. And I was really, ugh, enough with money. Well, we have a lot of that today, I think. So there's so much of, you know, and this one did that, and then he invented this, and he made a zillion dollars and lived sort of happily ever after. Did he really? And what about women in his life and kids and other things? And there would never be much written about that. And so I said, OK, I'm nosy. And I went to Mount Auburn. I was trying to save a community garden. And I knew the guy whose land it was on was a Cambridge horticulturist, and he was buried at Mount Auburn, so I said, cool. And I went over, no monument, zip, an empty lot. And I went back to the office and said, so what's going on here? And they said, he went bankrupt. Oh. He lost his money, and nobody knows who he is today. They were just starting out the Friends of Mount Auburn, so I approached them and said, I would like to do a walking tour about Charles Mason Hovey. And they said, who the hell is he? And I said, because you don't know about him. He was huge, not only in Cambridge, but across the United States. Well, OK. And I got 25 people, and off we went. And we got to learn about his family, his friends, his triumphs, his tragedies, the fact his son helped found the Rose Parade in California. And I'm thinking, whoa, I love this. So that started me off.
[Carter]: Okay, it's a great story, it's a great story. So, why these days in particular do you feel so compelled to research and talk about the local history?
[SPEAKER_01]: Because we've got some damn great people in Medford and surrounding towns. And a lot of these people, maybe in their day they were known, maybe not. But now, it's just, oh yeah, they're a footnote, if that. And I'm convinced, I talk about civic ancestors a lot. Like when you reach back in history, I don't care if you were born, you went to high school, you know, that whole speech that you get. The people who came before us, they're related to us. And they'll help. And we can learn from their triumphs, their mistakes, what they thought of, what they were afraid of. And that's a comfort to me. And I think it becomes a comfort to others. And also we, dare I say, get inspired to go forward and maybe do something cool. And it's because of them.
[Carter]: Yeah, it was my sense in deciding that I wanted to have this conversation with you that you would touch on that whole notion of we'll sink or swim together and if we're not, cognizant of what's going on with each other, it's going to be really hard for us to... We're not going to make it.
[SPEAKER_01]: So we all have to be not only connected to the past, but then connected with each other, because that's the only way we're going to do it.
[Carter]: Absolutely, absolutely. Now, you know, some of it's easy, you know, and obviously... Says you. Well, I'm... See, if I knew you were going to be trouble, you know... But that's all right, that's all right. I'm up for the challenge. I'm up for the challenge. And what I wanted to ask you about is what challenges you may have come up against in doing historical research.
[SPEAKER_01]: A lot of the people I get interested in, They don't have much written about them. So you can't call them up and say, by the way, can I come over? We'll have coffee and we'll talk. No, that's not going to happen. So I have to be very creative. And thank God for the internet in a lot of ways. Many times I curse it. But in this case, like Ancestry.com, and that's a start. But there are little obscure things or sentences that will come up. And you go, OK, OK, it's a lead. It's a lead. Now, does it give you the whole story? No. But it gives enough. So the folks then, they're flesh and blood. And I want to then talk about them because I think we can benefit.
[Carter]: Absolutely, absolutely. So there is more than a little bit of the detective in you.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, yes. I want one of the hats.
[Carter]: All right, all right. So it's the elephant in the room, obviously, and we can't get around it easily. What does the current state of racial upheaval and a growing retreat from a healthy dialogue about diversity, equity, and inclusion mean for the study of history both in our community and beyond?
[SPEAKER_01]: I cry every night when I look at the news because I think all of this work that has been so zealously and painfully put together, are we going to lose it? It's a challenge. And I don't even like that word challenge. I'm going to stop. I won't swear. I won't swear. But finding out, again, it's more important than ever to see who our civic ancestors were. And to take, well, the troubles, the conflicts they faced, and go, you know what? I can do this. I can do it with the help of everybody around me. And I'll help other people too. And maybe that's just being too rosy, but I do think that's a partial way out of this.
[Carter]: I'm convinced, as are you, that the big institutions, at least for a little while, may lose their grip on a lot of this.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes.
[Carter]: So it's going to be incumbent upon the smaller institutions, and I number us as individuals as institutions of preservation of culture and history and so forth. It's going to be incumbent upon us to do some of the things that the bigger institutions are, in some instances, afraid to do.
[SPEAKER_01]: Exactly. Or they have no resources. Everybody has either quit and pushed out or whatever. They just don't have the ability in many ways right now. So it's very, very important for us to keep our heads on and figure out what to do.
[Carter]: Yeah, I mean, Tip O'Neill said it best, I think. He said, all politics is local. So it's really, really important as local societies, local cities and towns and so forth, to maintain a strong grip on our own histories so that they can't be erased by the larger powers that be.
[SPEAKER_01]: And telling kids about the stories, too. Yes, yes. That becomes incredibly important.
[Carter]: Absolutely, absolutely. Telling them and getting them interested once they figure out, well, this is about me too. Exactly, exactly. Absolutely. Very good. You kind of answered the question, you said you cry sometimes in watching the news, but I want to ask it again so that you can go exactly where you want to go. There's been a seeming retreat from the truth and retention of black, Native American, and immigrant history. How do you feel like that's impacted you personally as a writer, a researcher, and a historian?
[SPEAKER_01]: Sometimes now people are afraid to talk. They're afraid of conversation, like, what are you going to do with that? If I tell you something, how are you going to cheat me? You're going to do something bad. And that has to be overcome. There's enough deception out there, so sometimes you're just not sure what to say or how to say it or to whom to say it. That's right. But that can't stop us. And that's another, I get a grip on some of these women from the past, and I go, how did you do it? But they're there for us to learn and to appreciate.
[Carter]: Absolutely, absolutely. And we're going to get into that. So you and I, in preparing for this evening, have talked about several prominent women that we wanted to highlight from Medford's history. I'm going to name each, and I'd really like for you to extemporize, for you to just share a brief synopsis of the history that they made.
[SPEAKER_01]: Just don't interrupt.
[Carter]: No, no, no. I wouldn't dare, I wouldn't dare.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, okay.
[Carter]: Unless I feel like I have something to say.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, I'll fit you in. I know you will.
[Carter]: Very good. All right, so let's start with, and I hope I'm gonna pronounce her name right, Keziah Revellion. I would make book that she's the name that for most of us, including me, is the least familiar.
[SPEAKER_01]: OK. Well, I say, because you can say, because that sounds like a song. I came across her by accident. I like to snoop around cemeteries, and especially, I'm a cemetery trustee, which is great. That's sort of official. So I'm not out of place. Okay, Cross Street Cemetery, which was on Cross Street, right near City Hall. In fact, that delightful 93 overpass thing, and rotary thing, that's where the cemetery was. Aha, no longer there? And fortunately, in the late 1950s, the city, in its wisdom, decided that that's where that whole mess had to go. Well, what do you do with the cemetery? So the DPW people and others, pretty carefully, I would have to say, removed the people from Cross Street and brought them over to their own special section at Oak Grove. So there is now, like, it's surrounded by stone wall not far from the Brooks Estate. There is the Cross Street Cemetery, thank God. Because otherwise, like, you figure. Because who's going to say? Because it's bones. It's bones. Well, here and there. They were careful. They were pretty careful. And so I was wandering around in there one time. And I was struck by a row of tombstones that had a beautiful weeping willow on them. And I said, wow, that is really well done. And in fact, some poor guy walking his dog. He's not supposed to do that. But he was there. And I said, come on over here. I want to show you something. And I showed him the tombstones. And then I was very struck by this one Keziah Revalian. I said, have you ever heard that name? He said, no. So I said, I'd better find out. I'd better find out. So fortunately, there's a great textbook of 20 families of color. And one whole chapter is on the Revalians of Medford. Like, how did? My god. So I found out, OK, Thomas Revalian, a free black, had been born, maybe France, they're not sure, they don't know. But he came to the United States. He was a barber. Now, holy horses, a barber in that day was not just clip, clip, clip. A barber, a tonsorial artist.
[Carter]: Tonsorial, yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: Tonsorial. Now, did he do women? No. But he was very gifted. He and his wife, and they had some kids growing up, of course, they settled around the shipbuilding area. And then he ended up with a shop right on Main Street, 14 Main. And today, if you go by that shop, there's a black barber there. Whoa, that's deep. All right. So he had his tonsorial parlor attracted all the high guys of Medford, because here you go. You go in. It's like what women, you know what you do when you go in. You sit and talk and compare and you strike deals and you ask for things and you converse. And that's what they did in the shop. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. So a very different type of guy and very artistic. That's why the stones of his family are gorgeous. He had a son named Robert who wanted sort of to follow in daddy's footsteps. Robert was born in the 1820s. He ended up meeting, marrying Kezia Hill Gould, a Native American woman who was living in Boston. She had been married to a very ancient guy who had actually been a soldier in the Revolutionary War.
[Unidentified]: Like, whoa.
[SPEAKER_01]: So he's like decades older. And they got married. He did not last that long. And then in came Robert. And I want to call it the love story, because I think they weren't married terribly long. But she moved then, of course, to Medford, and they had a couple of kids. And the second child, three months after he was born, she passed away. She was only 25. But before I got all, you know, upset about that, I said, you know what? How cool. Here she is in Medford. And she's a Native American woman. She was a descendant of Massasoit, you know, really up there. So she'd go shopping Medford Square. maybe drop into her father-in-law's shop. She got to know people. And who knew she was Native American? Anybody she told knew. And how was she received? Well, oh, you're a Rebellion. Oh, Thomas's shop, yes. And she and Robert had a wonderful relationship. Do I know that for sure? No. I want it to be. And why wouldn't they? They had two kids in a very short period of time. They married about 1842. She died 1845. But when you go see their stones in Oak Grove at the Cross Street section, wow. You're not supposed to touch, but touch. They're beautiful. They're artistic. And here, I'm very proud to say, was a happily married Native American woman living in Medford Square. Yippee. I thought that was great. And it said something about our community.
[Carter]: Well, thank you for that education, because that's all new information. Cross Street and so forth, I had no idea. My folks are in, but they're Cherry Lane, so they probably know nothing about it.
[SPEAKER_01]: You're in the major park. Cross Street, it's set off with a fieldstone wall. And it's quite attractive. And just go in there and walk around.
[Carter]: We need to have you walking around with us.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, sure, sure.
[Carter]: All right, so Sarah Bradley Fulton is certainly a name that resonates with a lot of Medfordites. Her buzz is definitely kept alive by the reenactment of another friend of the program. She's here with us tonight, Laura Dugan. So thank you for that. But talk a little bit about Sarah Bradley Fulton.
[SPEAKER_01]: OK. Very different type of woman from Kezia. Her dates are 1740 to 1835. But she's so back a ways. She got very much involved with her husband in the Revolution. And a woman in the Revolution, well, from your poem. But she had married John Fulton, 1760. She became a member of the Daughters of Liberty. Well, you know, that's not proactive towards Britain. OK. 1773. the Boston Tea Party. When I was managing a store in Boston, I had every British tourist you could think of come into the store and say, I'd like to get a cup and saucer like they used at the Boston Tea Party. And I had to illuminate what this real, it wasn't a sit down.
[Unidentified]: By no means.
[SPEAKER_01]: I said, we sort of pitched the tea into the harbor. OK. What she did, she and some friends, they helped disguise the guys who were going to do the pitching and dress them up. Why? Because then they wouldn't be caught, hopefully. And so she did that. And then when the guys came back, she secured everything. And some British guys dropped by and said, is anything going on? Oh, no. How would anything? You know, doing the usual. And she was very good. Then came Battle of Bunker Hill. She and her husband are living down by the Mystic, near where the police station is now. And the soldiers coming back from Bunker Hill, we didn't do well. And many of the guys were wounded. She took a bullet out of a guy's cheek because he asked her to. I don't know how many times you want to ask me to take a bullet out of your cheek. I'm not so sure I could do it, but she did.
[Unidentified]: Okay.
[SPEAKER_01]: Then also, there were some messages that had to go to George Washington. Her husband was supposed to do it. He couldn't. So who does it? She rose across the trail. She delivers messages. Hey, don't tell me she wasn't scared. Then after everything, she and John purchased a farm up in North Medford, near where I live. You know, Fulton Street, guess what? Fulton okay and it starts down and then goes way up to his very winding turning and that's where they had their farm and John passed and Sarah kept going she had daughters and all She was a hit with John Brooks, the governor, who was a hero living down here in Medford Square. She'd go to his house. In her 90s, she was walking down the hill to go to church services. Well, why shouldn't I? I can walk. I'm going to church. What do you want? She wasn't a rough woman at all. I call her ready. And freedom was huge for her, not only individually, but of course, the community and the nation. So she's buried at Salem Street Burying Ground. She has a beautiful, well, it looks like a boulder, but it's not. It was like the door stop thing that would have been up in her house that she'd walk across to go outside. And that was considered, let's put that as her marker. That's a great idea. So when you touch it, she walked on that in and out of her house. I love it.
[Carter]: Yeah. One, it's a phenomenal story. It's wonderful history. And I think I love it even more based on, you know, kind of what Laura's been doing to keep it alive because between the work she's been doing on getting the statue built and the reenactments at virtually every Medford historical thingamajig that happens, you know, it's great. It's really, really great to be retaining so much history through Sarah Bradley Fulton. Okay, so we move on. That, obviously fascinating. Let's talk a little bit about Belinda Sutton.
[SPEAKER_01]: She was sort of new to me, even though she's the most distant woman in the whole group. Belinda Sutton, her dates, 1712 to 1793. Okay. She was born in the Gold Coast of West Africa. And when she was about 12 years old, Some slave hunters came to her village and took her and other kids and captured them and brought them over to the Isle of Antigua where dear Isaac Royal had his plantation and all. And he was also, this is now 1732 approximately, she was working for him, yeah, like she wanted to, but there she was, doing what she needed to do. He decided rightfully that he needed to gather up his family and come over to America. And Medford, as you know, royal house, et cetera. Time passes. She's working so hard. Of course, you know, she's totally cut off from everything she has ever known. Everything. And the idea of freedom for her, it was a fond hope, perhaps, but that's where it was. 1775, time of the revolution. Well, shall I say, unfortunately, Isaac Royal was a great supporter of the crown. Like, oh gosh, I got this big, wonderful mansion. What could happen to me? He was so selfless. But he fled, because he figured he better. Because what would happen? He didn't want to be dragged out. That's enough with slave people dragging other people. But he's not in that crowd. OK. So he leaves, goes to Canada, then eventually back to England. She's there with many other slaves. What to do? Well. Massachusetts took over his property. So now she's belonging to Massachusetts, if you will. She apparently married, has two kids. By 1778, she's living in Boston. She had a son and daughter. 1783, huge date. Slavery was declared unconstitutional. She's free. To do what? Everything she knows is, she has no income. What could she do? She, of course, as you might know, can't read or write. There's a handicap. But she does have friends. And maybe, I think she was connected with Prince Hall.
[Carter]: Prince Hall, yes.
[SPEAKER_01]: In February of 1783, through his efforts, she petitioned the legislature for reparations. I mean, that's a word we're starting to use today. But here's 1783, and Belinda says, I don't have a dime to my name. The legislature should do something for me, and very justifiably so. So she says she's, and I think she may have helped, and then he, of course, dressed it up. She was marked with the furrows of time, because now she's a much older woman. Her daughter is ill, and she's hoping, beyond hope, that this will happen. Her request for compensation actually was granted. She was granted 15 pounds and 12 shillings annually. That's not a lot to us, but to her it was manna. However, almost on a yearly basis, she had to reapply because the payments stopped. Wouldn't you know? But her petition is now on the Royal House website that you can read it. It's absolutely heart-wrenching because she talks about how for years and decades she gave freely of her time and labor, would never recompense in any form or shape. And now she was, in essence, penniless. So she needed to be repaid and supported. It's absolutely, I started crying when I read it. It was so, it was, I want to say dramatic, but not overly so. But to imagine the courage of a woman, an older woman, can't read or write, but petitioning the legislature. Which just goes to show, to me, if a woman is bound and determined, she'll find a way.
[Carter]: I would say so. I would say so. OK. So the next place I want to go is Lydia Maria Child. OK. And that gets us back to at least somewhat to the suffragist piece.
[SPEAKER_01]: 1802 to 1880, much more in our own time. OK. Now, you know where, what's it, Blue Fuji, is that the name of the restaurant? That's where her house was. OK. OK. So now you've got to like, OK, there. Her parents, Converse and Susanna Francis, they had six kids, which was not unusual. All right. Mother died when Lydia was 12. Father was overly stern. She then lived with her sister in Maine, where that community in Maine was very sympathetic to Native Americans. So Lydia was able to appreciate that, you know, it's a different place. Oh, they're okay, aren't they? All right. She comes back to Boston, 1824. She decides she's going to write a novel. I couldn't, I said, oh yeah, one of these lady novel things. No, no. Habermack, a tale of early times. It was a romance. with an upper class white woman and a Native American guy.
[Unidentified]: Whoa.
[SPEAKER_01]: This interracial marriage, Medford was not quite ready for that. Even though we had had, hey, hello, that's why I brought her in. Kezia Revalian had already, you know, she was coming into that town soon, and they accepted her. See, the thing is, you have to know the people, and then you accept. It was, can I say earth-shaking? Yeah, it really, you can imagine. Who's this written by? Oh, this is a white woman writing about an interracial marriage. 1824, yes, yes, okay. She wasn't really comfortable with that. She wanted to write and write. She got into children's books. They were successful. She made money, okay. She wrote a book on the revolution through the eyes of two women. Wasn't that good? She worked on magazines, okay. Then, love. She married David Lee Child. OK, who's he? Well, he was a rabble-rouser, intelligent, brilliant, and a lousy businessman. So throughout their whole marriage, he was forever running them into debt. she would make the money off her writing. And he would take the money. I don't want to say squander, but poorly invest. So they had a bad time. One aspect of her writings I really like, the frugal housewife. I thought you had the frugal housewife. For those who are not ashamed of economy, This is 1829. Keep your eye on the 1829. She was trying to raise domesticity to the level of competence you would find in a profession. Whoa. You mean women, when they're doing all this stuff like in your poem, getting stuff ready for the man, they're actually doing something important? Oh, my. 1833, she got hooked up with William Lloyd Garrison, abolitionist, and wrote an appeal in favor of that class of Americans called Africans. Lousy titles, but a good, good book. And what she was incredible for, considering she'd come from Medford, Her reaching out to different races, stressing the importance of the work women do, saying women and men should work together, interracial harmony. That's like she's from New York or something. You know, it's not like this little place. And she learned a lot of those lessons around here. So you might know her best for Over the River and Through the Woods. But she's much deeper. And so coming out, I love the fact that her first novel was an interracial romance. How cool is that? I think that's grand.
[Carter]: Yeah, that's pretty far Over the River and Through the Woods.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's over. That's very far.
[Carter]: Oh, yeah, so let's let's let's depart from from Lydia and We got we got two more to get to and we got to do it pretty quick we'll do it fast okay, so Amelia Earhart
[SPEAKER_01]: 1897 to 1937, okay, she's in a pretty much her own time. Born in Kansas, she, her sister and mother after her mother got divorced, they came here to Medford. living on Brooks Street. They have a nice house. There's a big boulder out front with a newly designed plaque. It looks really good. And of course, her interest was in air flight. Aviation. Yeah, aviation. OK. uh she made all kinds of records you know this is of course a very unusual uh occupation interest whatever for a woman but she was good at it and she also did fashion design and luggage don't stop a woman if she's doing okay 1928, after she'd been a social worker at Denison House in Boston, she met George Putnam, a publisher. And he's got money, smarts, and he wasn't bad looking. She became the first woman to cross the Atlantic by plane, though she was just a passenger. And I'm thinking, yeah, right. But hey, that was huge. She was a sensation. He asked her to marry him. And this is, I think, the big thing. She didn't want to change her name. We're talking 1920s. She didn't want to change. And she said, if I have to change my name, we're not getting married. So he said, that'll be fine. Then she wrote him a letter right before the wedding. And she said, I love you, but I want you to know that if either one of us is unhappy after a year, we're calling it quits.
[Carter]: It's a prenup.
[SPEAKER_01]: What do you really think? I mean, so she was a woman who wanted to say what she thought.
[Carter]: Yeah, clearly.
[SPEAKER_01]: And they didn't divorce. They were happy. But he must have been extraordinary.
[Carter]: Yeah, I would say so. Yeah. Yeah. Very good. Very good. OK, so the last stop that we're going to make on our tour is our own Madeline Duggar Kelly.
[SPEAKER_01]: OK. She's born exactly the same year as Amelia Earhart, 1897. But Amelia was only 40 when she disappeared. Madeline died in 1995, so she definitely is into our time of life. She was very athletic in high school. Now, that's what you expect to hear about a woman, right? There's a guy well on the news, you know this whole thing with March Madden, you know And you get interviews of high school guys, you know, all right Very athletic specialized in the high jump and Eventually got inducted into the Medford Hall of Fame. Mm-hmm She went to Sargent College for Physical Education, which is now part of BU. Right. She went there a couple of years and then sort of, but eventually she went to the Portia Law School and became a lawyer. She must have been brilliant.
[Carter]: Yeah, smart woman.
[SPEAKER_01]: She married, in 1918, married Lieutenant Colonel Edward Duggar. He was active in the 372nd Infantry. They had six kids together. All the kids went to college. Which is phenomenal.
[Carter]: Yeah, absolutely.
[SPEAKER_01]: But she had a hard time finding a job. They said, oh, you know, she wanted to work in school. She wanted to work. Oh, you're very qualified, but you're a woman and you're black. Too bad, huh? And it was terrible finding a job. 1939, her beloved Edward died. She worked then for the Works Progress Administration, and finally was a director of service clubs at Fort Devens. And then one of her proudest moments, 1952, she was the Massachusetts Mother of the Year, which was a huge benefit to her. She served on a school committee, and that's her portrait over there. She, did you know her?
[Carter]: So yeah, we lived on 158 Jerome Street and right next door across the lot was her home. Okay. And she was, she was a boss.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh yeah.
[Carter]: She was a boss.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh yeah.
[Carter]: The tale is told that Mike McGlynn, when he wanted to run for mayor, he had to get her, basically get her a blessing. So he went and he sat in her room and had her conversations. And she made him make some promises that he kept. Good. Particularly in the African-American community here in West Medford. So yeah, we knew her. She was a member of our church, and she ran a lot of stuff, right? Without official title, she knew how to get stuff done.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, if something needs to be done, she'd do it.
[Carter]: Yeah, and she passed that trait on to the children and all of them. A lot of distinction in that family.
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.
[Carter]: A lot of distinction in that family. So let me ask you one last question. What would people who are just meeting you for the first time be surprised to find out about you?
[SPEAKER_01]: What would they be surprised? I like to read. No, that's not it. That's not it. That's not it. I love animals. OK.
[Unidentified]: OK.
[SPEAKER_01]: Sometimes, what do you mean sometimes? I often think they're a lot better to be with than people. Well, they're straight shooters. I mean, you get to know, you ask a question and they'll let you know. I've had some very great relationships with cats, dogs.
[Carter]: Okay. Do you have a preference?
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, I don't dare say yes. No, I don't have a preference. Yes. Okay. Well, cats are more intricate, I find.
[Carter]: Yeah, they're intricate.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. I've had, well, and my email address is Kitty Hawk. And she was my soul cat. S-O-U-L, cat. Because she always thought she could fly. And because she'd get on top of a plant and woo. And I had her for 21 years. And I thought she was invincible. She wasn't. But she taught me so much.
[Carter]: I imagine.
[SPEAKER_01]: She taught me how to deal with things. And if something doesn't work, figure out another way to do it. And that was invaluable.
[Carter]: Wow, well I dare say you are invaluable. Oh, well that's. To the city of Medford of course, but also to the whole notion of kind of a cultural legacy that kind of transcends eras, decades.
[SPEAKER_01]: You have to, because if we're just stuck in our own little space, because that's my chief grievance with developers, because I'll go up to some guy who's, oh, we'll take all this down. And I'll say, you know, history didn't begin with you, believe it or not. And what do you mean? And I say, is there something worth saving here? Because we don't want to start with a blank slate all the time.
[Carter]: Don't get us started about developers. So I want to say thank you so very much for bringing your historical insights and your you know, your great wit.
[SPEAKER_01]: You have to be comfortable.
[Carter]: Yeah, to this cultural community, and obviously in greater Medford. It's really important work that you've been engaged in. And I hope the city will continue to treat you well and give you the, the kids say, give you your props.
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you, yes. Well, may I interrupt? Yeah, please. OK. This year, in June, It's the library's 150th birthday. So this is great. So we're going to deal with the Magoon Mansion that became the library. And that's all wonderful. And then in October, I will expand a bit on Thatcher Magoon, Jr.' 's life story. Daddy came to the library, and son lived across the street in another beautiful mansion. And son adopted his housekeeper. So the program in October is simply titled, Emotional Turmoil on High Street.
[Carter]: That's rich. OK. All right. To everyone watching out there, thanks so much for your attentiveness and your interest in our discussion this evening, and thanks for coming along with us as we continue to refresh for greater flexibility and bring you some of the best stories and entertainment possible. Get ready for something very special on the musical side of the coin. We're gonna Take a break to reset the stage and I'll come back and share some announcements and then we'll get going with the second half of our program. Please give it up for Dee Morris. Check 1-2, check 1-2. Check 1-2, check 1-2. Check 1-2, check 1-2. Check 1-2, check 1-2.
[SPEAKER_07]: I've got a little bit to do anyway.
[Unidentified]: The stories of women, you know, my husband and I lived in, after all, it was kind of a border wall. We were brought up in a rural area. I don't really know how reliable any of the information is about her, but kind of like one of the famous women's commercials was the wife of a Revolutionary soldiers. So, you know, I sort of answered the question. I said, you know, obviously, my father was also a member of the Black Nation, as well as the Congress. She came from a place of self-employment. My brother's in Syria. I don't know her. I don't know her. I don't know her. I don't know her. I don't know her. I don't know her. I don't know her. I don't know her. I don't know her. I don't know her. I don't know her. I don't know her. I don't know her. I don't know her.
[Carter]: All right, folks. We're trying to deal with some technical difficulties directing some folks that are trying to get here to participate in the program. So we think we got it licked. We'll see. All right. So thanks to everyone who joined us for all of our 2025 winter events so far. And again, for being here tonight, we really have lots of work to do as a community. And we're going to continue to need your growing participation and partnerships to make this thing work. Hang in there with us, because we'll all hang together, or we'll all hang apart. And we don't want to do that. So seniors, elders, join us each week, Tuesday through Thursday, for a nutritious lunch and a vibrant fellowship. Lunch is served at 12 noon. You can call 781-483-3042 to make a reservation. And it's just a $2 donation. So come on and have lunch with us sometime. We also really, really want you to join us in a WMCC membership and make sure that we have your contact information for future outreach and news. So we have some things going on right now, ourselves and also some other organizations that we're friends with that I just want to call your attention to. We're going to have here at the community center on May 16th at 11 a.m. a fraud protection workshop that's being done by AARP. They're going to explore common scams, how to spot them and avoid them, tactics that scammers are using to target individuals. There's all kinds of stuff out there right now, as you all probably know. What to do if you're asked for personal information. There's this one scam where they try to get you to say yes, so that they can record your voice and then apply that response to things that you never agreed to do. So, you know, this workshop will tell you how to address these types of scammers when they call on the phone, and what information not to give them. And the resources can help to protect you, and you can pass along the information to your family. So we'll have a post out there on our bulletin board, and if you have any questions, you can call us. We can give you the number that you can write down. We can also give you the registration link that you might need. So that's one thing. Also, the Medford Community Chorale and Youth Young Adult Chorus is having their annual spring concert on Friday, May 2nd. which is not a fresh Friday, so you don't have to worry about the conflict, at 7 p.m., and that's at the Karen Theater at Medford High School. It's a free admission. They welcome donations. They'll have raffles. And it's always a benefit for a local charity. And Elizabeth, or Betsy Pesci, she really, really does a great job with that chorus. So if you have a chance to go hear them sing, that would be fantastic. Okay, and then our friends over in Lexington have been hosting a series on the Black Patriots of Lexington. It's been a nine-episode series produced with Lex Media and Tricons 2. And it invites audience on a journey through the lives of 11 black men and women who were part of the economic, political, and military revolution that came to a head at Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts on April 19, 1775. And there's a lot of additional information that goes along with that. If you're interested, again, we'll have the information posted. and hope to be able to add it to our website. Your tax-deductible donations help to support the mission of WMCC. Consider partnering with us in carrying this mission forward. Please consider making a tax-deductible donation to this vital community organization. You can make your donation by phone, online, or by check. Please contact Lisa Crossman at 781-483-3042 for more information or to become a member. All right? All right, okay. So now it's time, as is our custom, to turn our attention to the lyrical miracle we've engaged for this evening's musical side of the ledger. So you get to go around, you get to see people, meet people, do things. My friend, friend of the program as well, Stacy Clayton, has been doing this wonderful concert over at Somerville Community Baptist Church for who knows how long now. And, you know, and we have folks who both participate as singers that are members of the community center and Stacey always invites everybody out and we go and we have a wonderful time. And I've been privileged to be both, you know, her resident poet as well as, you know, her emcee for the last couple of years. But she's introduced me to some wonderful folks who have come and sang for us. And one of those people who comes and sings with Stacey is Jenny Bonham Carter. And she's from Sweden. And she's a delight. And her last name is Cotter, and that doesn't hurt her at all. So we're happy to always to entertain her and have her entertain us. What the World Needs Now Interfaith Coalition Singers was created in 2021. They are a diverse group of artists, each with their own unique musical journey. As a group, through the God-given language of environments, and they always strive to expand and collaborate. They lend their voices to the Poor People's Campaign, Massachusetts Peace Action, various houses of worship, festivals, MLK celebrations, senior centers, and more. The members of What the World Needs Now, one is on her way, Interfaith Coalition Singers are Walter Cooper and Stephen Cooper, let me tell you about the Cooper brothers. The Cooper brothers back in the day, alright, you know, they came through, you know, because that's what the brothers do, you know, they come through because we have women over here in West Medford, you know. And I'm just going to say it the way that we said it. We had them fine sisters over here in West Medford. So the brothers would come through. We had the Cambridge boys come through. We had some of the Boston fellas come through. We kind of chased them away, right? Because they could be troublemakers. But you know what I'm saying? We had a couple of the Somerville boys come through. And then we had a few of the West Newton boys come through. Because we had Shiloh. They had Myrtle Baptist, right? So everything's copacetic. Everything works. Everything works. So Walter and... And Steve and I are here. And Belle Linda Halpern is here. And Merle Perkins is on her way. So without further ado, we're going to get started with the members that are in the building. So please welcome Jenny Bonham Carter, Walter and Stephen Cooper, Belinda Halpern, as they take the stage. They are the What the World Needs Now Interfaith Coalition Singers.
[SPEAKER_07]: Thank you so very much for having us. I love this place. Even my mom and dad have been to the West community, West Medford Community Center. And the atmosphere is just beautiful. We couldn't be happier. And here comes a very timely song. We are not going to sing for you. We're going to sing with you. And we're hoping you have brought your voices today. Keep your eyes on the prize To all the women who came before, you gave us courage and so much more.
[SPEAKER_04]: Keep your eyes on the prize, hold on.
[SPEAKER_07]: A tribute we want to pay to you, to your principles you stayed true. Keep your eyes on the prize, hold on. You know it. Hold on.
[SPEAKER_14]: Hold on. Hold on. Keep your eyes on the prize. Hold on.
[SPEAKER_06]: Through your struggles and your pain, many rights we've come to gain.
[SPEAKER_13]: Keep your eyes on the prize.
[SPEAKER_06]: Hold on. Strong in faith, you did what's right. Taking action in the midst of plight.
[SPEAKER_04]: Keep your eyes on the prize. Hold on.
[SPEAKER_12]: Hold on. Keep your eyes on the prize.
[SPEAKER_07]: Hold on. You've inspired us to not behave, but walk the walk that you have paved.
[SPEAKER_13]: Keep your eyes on the prize.
[SPEAKER_07]: Hold on. So together, hand in hand, against injustice, we will stand.
[SPEAKER_14]: Keep your eyes on the prize. Hold on. Hold on, keep your eyes on the prize. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Keep your eyes on the prize.
[SPEAKER_05]: I'm on my way. I'm on my way. To a better world. To a better world. I'm on my way. I'm on my way. To a better world.
[SPEAKER_13]: To a better world.
[SPEAKER_05]: I'm on my way.
[SPEAKER_12]: I'm on my way to a better world. On my way, oh Lord, I'm on my way.
[SPEAKER_05]: I'm on my way.
[SPEAKER_06]: If you don't come, if you don't come, I won't turn back.
[SPEAKER_13]: I won't turn back. If you don't come, I won't turn back. I won't turn back. If you don't come, if you don't come, I won't turn back.
[SPEAKER_05]: I won't turn back. I'm on my way. Way, oh Lord, I'm on my way. On my way. I asked my brother. I asked my brother. To come with me. To come with me. I asked my brother. I asked my brother. ♪ To come with me, to come with me ♪ ♪ I ask my brothers, I ask my brothers ♪ ♪ To come with me, to come with me ♪ ♪ I'm on my way, oh Lord, I'm on my way, on my way ♪ ♪ I ask my sisters, I ask my sisters ♪ ♪ To come with me, to come with me ♪ ♪ We're asking our sisters, I ask my sisters ♪ Come with me.
[SPEAKER_06]: I ask my sister.
[SPEAKER_14]: I ask my sister. Come on with me. Come with me. On my way. Way, oh Lord.
[SPEAKER_05]: I'm on my way. On my way. We're on our way. We're on our way. To a better world. To a better world. We're on our way.
[SPEAKER_12]: We're on our way to a better world. We're on our way. We're on our way to a better world. We're on our way. Oh, Lord. We're on our way. Oh, Lord. We're on our way.
[SPEAKER_13]: Thank you so much. You're very kind. So we would like to say that we are what the world needs now.
[SPEAKER_06]: The Interfaith Coalition Singers and our mission is
[SPEAKER_12]: Love, sweet love.
[SPEAKER_13]: It's the only thing that there's just too little of. What the world needs now. What the world needs now is love, sweet love. It's the only thing that there's just too little of. What the world needs now is love, sweet love. No, not just for some, but for everyone. Lord, we don't need another mountain. There are mountains and hillsides enough to climb. There are oceans and rivers enough to cross, enough to last till the end of time. What the world needs now is love, sweet love. It's the only thing that there's just too little of. What the world needs now is love, sweet love. No, not just for some, but for everyone.
[SPEAKER_06]: Lord, we don't need another meadow. There are cornfields and wheat fields enough to grow. There are sunbeams and moonbeams enough to shine. Oh, listen, Lord, if you want to know.
[SPEAKER_14]: What the world needs now is love, sweet love.
[SPEAKER_13]: It's the only thing that there's just too little of. What the world needs now is love, sweet love.
[SPEAKER_12]: No, not just for some, but for everyone.
[SPEAKER_11]: Love, love, love.
[SPEAKER_04]: You know it.
[SPEAKER_11]: All we need is love, love, love. All we need is love, love, love.
[Unidentified]: all we need is love
[SPEAKER_12]: All we need is love, love, love. All we need is love, love, love. All we need is love, love, love. All we need is love, love, love. All we need is love, love, love. All we need is love, love, love. All we need is love.
[SPEAKER_07]: And the Beatles said it like this, love, love, love.
[SPEAKER_11]: Love, love, love.
[SPEAKER_12]: Love, love, love.
[SPEAKER_07]: I think we can do that one more time.
[SPEAKER_12]: Love, love, love. Love, love, love.
[SPEAKER_07]: There's nothing you can do that can't be done. Nothing you can sing that can't be sung. Nothing you can say, but you can learn how to play the game. It's easy. All you need is love.
[SPEAKER_13]: All you need is love. All you need is love, love. Love is all you need.
[SPEAKER_14]: All you need is love. All you need is love.
[SPEAKER_13]: All you need is love, love. Love is all you need. Love is all we need. Love is all we need. Love is all we need. Love is all we need. Love is all we need. Love is all we need. Love is all we need. Love is all we need. Love is all we need. Love is all we need. Love is all we need. Thank you, thank you so much. Well, as you know by now, we are what the world, we call ourselves, what the world needs now, Interfaith Coalition Singers. And we are a group of performing artists in our own right. My brother and I, the Cooper brothers, as we refer to them, my brother Stephen, on Walter, we have been singing for over five decades. We started out, yeah, that's a long time. So we started out in the 60s and 70s singing R&B and all that stuff. In the 80s, we turned to gospel. And ever since the 1980s, we've been singing in a quartet known as the Love Tones, the Gospel Love Tones. And then we were fortunate enough to, a few years ago, to meet these ladies. and they have allowed us to continue, really, in ministry. So we are, we call ourselves, as we say, what the world needs now, Interfaith Coalition Singers. And that name, it's important, as we've talked about the people and we talk about history, particularly black people, it's important to understand the role that faith played. And the thing about that faith piece is that You're not going to get a lot of that in history. Because things like the Underground Railroad, they relied on stealth. It's interesting. We're talking about the Underground Railroad. We're talking about Harriet Tubman, which is right. But I know people who talked about the way they moved those escaped slaves. through from one household to another, moving them away. It was a culture. It was a culture of that Underground Railroad. And again, the thing about it is there's no historical record of it. Because they couldn't be. Because they couldn't be successful if they had done that. But they were successful. They were successful. And the thing of it is, you can't really kind of tell the story, but we can tell the story by looking. Thank you so much for telling the story about these women and these people who affected us. In our community, particularly when you think about the history, slaves were kidnapped in their countries. They were put on ships and taken to the wilderness. Now, the reality is if you made that trip on that ship, you were physically select to make that trip under those circumstances. A lot of them didn't. But if you made it, you were physically select. And then when they brought the slaves here, what did they do? They evangelized them. Why? Because they thought they could control them. They said, we're going to make them Christians, and then we'll control them and be able to manipulate them. But you know something? Like I said, there's no history, but go to the spiritual. The spiritual is what made those people who were put on those boats, and when they came over here, they were not a people. They had no common culture. They had no common language. But the spiritual made them a people. Listen to the spirituals if you want to find out the story of slaves in America. Don't look at white people. Don't look at segregation and all that stuff. You got to look at the people. It's important to tell the story. But nobody talks to the people. And my point is this. And we're going to talk about that now. Hopefully it will be reflected in the museum. If you talk to the people, they'll say, Jesus. You ever hear a historian talk about Jesus, about that? You talk to any of us, you're like, I see some smiles, and you know, you know what you heard growing up. In Shiloh, in other places, you know what we heard growing up. And who do we hear that from? Women. Women, our mothers made sure, my brother and I, I could testify and I'll stop talking after this, but my mother made sure, we had to go to church till we were 14, you had no choice. And then at 14, you can make your own decisions. But no, why did they do that? Because they loved us and they knew. They knew that life was going to come against us. And to deal with the things that life was going to bring against us was going to require the power of faith. We are the interfaith coalition singers. We support interfaith coalitions through music and through the arts. Because if you look at things like the civil rights movement, we talk about Dr. Martin Luther King, and rightfully so, he was the leader, but he was the leader of a of an interfaith coalition. That was an interfaith coalition movement that made those things happen. That's the same thing that's required today, and we're hoping that we can kind of incite you all to come into that, because that's what is required today, for us to continue to coalesce, allow our faith to inform our responses to the things in the world. So, enough of my talking. And now I want to introduce you to Bell, Linda Halperin is going to lead us.
[SPEAKER_06]: Thank you, Walter. And I also grew up in a family where I had to go to synagogue. And it is Friday night. That is a time of blessing in Jewish homes. And my favorite blessing in Judaism is called Shechecheyanu. and shehecheyanu means we are blessing each moment. And we are thanking God for each moment, for each blessing that we have. I think of it as the Jew-boo prayer, the Buddhist Jewish prayer, because it's blessing every moment as it happens. And we have a lot to bless tonight. So here we go. You guys are going to sing it with me. We're going to do it as a blues, and we're going to do it in call and response. Baruch atah. Baruch atah Adonai Adonai Eloheinu Eloheinu Melech ha'olam Melech ha'olam Baruch atah Adonai Eloheinu Melech ha'olam Melech ha'olam T'shecheyanu T'shecheyanu V'kiyamanu V'kiyamanu V'kiyamanu V'kiyamanu V'kiyamanu V'kiyamanu V'kiyamanu V'kiyamanu And we welcome Merle. Means you made us. ♪ Means you made us ♪ ♪ The key of my new ♪ ♪ The key of my new ♪ ♪ Means you sustained us ♪ ♪ Means you sustained us ♪ ♪ Behigianu laz man hazeh ♪ ♪ You brought us here right now ♪ ♪ You brought us here right now ♪ ♪ You made us, you sustained us ♪ ♪ And you brought us right here right now ♪ ♪ Right here right now ♪ ♪ You made us, you sustained us ♪ ♪ And you brought us right here right now ♪ right here right now you made us you sustained us and you brought us right here right now right here right now We're here in West Medford.
[SPEAKER_13]: We're here in West Medford.
[SPEAKER_06]: We're blessing our women.
[SPEAKER_13]: We're blessing our women.
[SPEAKER_06]: We're blessing our ancestors. We're blessing our ancestors. We're blessing ourselves.
[SPEAKER_13]: We're blessing ourselves.
[SPEAKER_06]: Shechecheyanu vekiyamanu vehegiyanu lazman hazeh. Lazman hazeh.
[SPEAKER_14]: One more time.
[SPEAKER_06]: Shechecheyanu vekiyamanu vehegiyanu lazman hazeh.
[SPEAKER_04]: Ha-ho!
[SPEAKER_06]: All right, so we are so happy to have Merle with us. So happy to be here. Hello. So happy to see you. Thank you. And we're going to bring some peacefulness to somebody who's been driving without a GPS. And we need you to bring us peacefulness with us. There's a lot of places in the world that need this song. Israel and Gaza and Russia and Ukraine. Many places.
[SPEAKER_14]: Peace, Salaam, Shalom. Peace, Salaam, Shalom. Peace, Salaam, Shalom. Peace, Salaam, Shalom. Peace, Salaam, Shalom.
[SPEAKER_04]: Peace, Salam, Shalom. Peace, Salam, Shalom.
[SPEAKER_05]: Peace, Salaam, Shalom in Gaza.
[SPEAKER_04]: Peace, Salaam, Shalom in Israel. Peace, Salaam, Shalom in Ukraine.
[SPEAKER_05]: Peace, Salaam, Shalom in Russia. Peace, Salaam, Shalom in Yemen. Peace, Salam, Shalom. The Sudan. Peace, Salam, Shalom.
[SPEAKER_04]: We can live in peace.
[SPEAKER_10]: We can live in peace.
[SPEAKER_13]: Odevo shalom aleinu, Odevo shalom aleinu, Odevo shalom aleinu ve'akulam. Odevo shalom aleinu, Odevo shalom aleinu, Odevo shalom aleinu ve'akulam.
[SPEAKER_04]: Shalom! Asalamu alayna, salam, salam, salam. Asalamu alayna, salam, salam, salam. Peace will come upon us. Peace will come upon us. Peace will come upon us. Bring everyone. Peace will come upon us. Peace will come upon us. Peace will come upon us. Bring everyone. Upon us and upon the whole world. Shalom, shalom, shalom. Upon us and upon the whole world. Shalom, shalom, shalom.
[SPEAKER_13]: Ojibo Shalom Aleinu, Ojibo Shalom Aleinu, Ojibo Shalom Aleinu, ve'akulam. Ojibo Shalom Aleinu, Ojibo Shalom Aleinu, Ojibo Shalom Aleinu, ve'akulam. Ojibo Shalom Aleinu, Ojibo Shalom Aleinu, Ojibo Shalom Aleinu, ve'akulam. Peace will come upon us, peace will come upon us, peace will come upon us, bring everyone. Peace will come upon us, peace will come upon us, peace will come upon us, bring everyone.
[SPEAKER_14]: Peace will come upon us. Peace will come upon us. Peace will come upon us. Bring every
[SPEAKER_06]: So we are also about to enter into what for many Jewish people is our favorite Jewish holiday. What's coming up? Yes, yes. And it's really a story of liberation, very much in line with the stories that Walter's been telling us about slaves being freed. And it was a big inspiration to the African-American population in this country. So we are going to sing a song about crossing that Freedom River. But first, I've got to get the words. Hold on. Here we go.
[SPEAKER_05]: Oh, we are crossing the freedom river.
[SPEAKER_12]: hear it calling. Just like the ringing of a bell, there'll be no stopping.
[SPEAKER_04]: No need to reconsider, got to see that promised land for ourselves.
[SPEAKER_13]: Oh, we are crossing, ooh, the Freedom River, hear it calling. Just like the ringing of a bell, there'll be no stopping.
[SPEAKER_06]: No need to reconsider Not to leave that promised land for ourselves We were slaves down in Egypt Working all day in the sun When that no good pharaoh treated us so wrong Let God call down to Moses' child. Now go and get it done. You've got to lead my people back where they belong.
[SPEAKER_12]: Oh, we are crossing. Ooh, the freedom river, hear it calling.
[SPEAKER_13]: Just like the ringing of a bell, there'll be no stopping. Don't need to reconsider not to see that promised land for ourselves.
[SPEAKER_10]: Well, they say the land of Canaan is full of milk and honey. And there's joy enough for all to go around. But before we go, I gotta say, although it may sound funny, I was feeling lost, but now I'm found. Oh, we are crossing, ooh, the freeway.
[SPEAKER_13]: we're calling just like the ringing of a bell there'll be no stopping no need to reconsider not to see that promised land for ourselves we've got to see that promised land for ourselves well we've got to see that promised land
[SPEAKER_10]: Yeah, see that promise land.
[SPEAKER_06]: All right, as we're talking about women's history, who was the really important woman who made music after the Jews crossed the river? They crossed the Red Sea, really. They crossed the Red Sea, the Egyptians are chasing them, and there's this very famous woman who gets her timbrel, and yes, Miriam. Excellent, excellent. We are celebrating Miriam tonight. My mother's name. May she rest in peace. Amen. So we are, everybody's got a right to live. So we're gonna hear a little bit from Jenny about her work that some of you may also know about the Poor People's Campaign. Crossing the River of Liberation Today.
[SPEAKER_07]: That's correct. One of the many ways we can channel what we feel and do something is, as I'm sure so many people are already involved in all sorts, and building community is the number one. Poor People's Campaign, the Poor People's Campaign, a moral... Revival. Thank you, thank you. A national call for moral revival. Has had a revival ten years ago. And it is a movement across the country. And we lend our voices often to the Poor People's Campaign in various ways.
[SPEAKER_06]: And Jenny is the theomusicologist of the Poor People's Campaign.
[SPEAKER_07]: True. I think we should do, Somebody's Hurting Our Brother. I think I should not do this. Please sing along. I will sing. Somebody's hurting my brother and it's gone on far too long. And we won't be silent anymore. Somebody's hurting my brother, and it's gone on far too long. Yes, it's gone on far too long.
[SPEAKER_12]: Oh, it's gone on far too long.
[SPEAKER_07]: Oh, somebody's hurting my brother, and it's gone on far too long. And we won't be silent anymore. Don't you know somebody's hurting my sister, and it's gone on far too long. Yes, it's gone on far too long. Oh, it's gone on far too long. Yes, somebody's hurting my sister, and it's gone on far too long. And we won't be silent anymore. somebody's hurting the elderly and it's gone on far too long yes it's gone on far too long oh it's gone far too long. Somebody's hurting the elderly, and it's gone on far too long. And we won't be silent anymore. Don't you know somebody's poisoning our waters, and it's gone on far too long. Far too long. Yes, it's gone on far too long. Somebody's poisoning our waters. And it's gone on far too long. And we won't be silent anymore. Somebody's hurting poor people, and it's gone on far too long. Oh, it's gone on far too long. Yes, it's gone on far too long. Somebody's hurting poor people, and it's gone on far too long, and we won't
[SPEAKER_04]: silent and we won't be silent and we won't be silent and we won't be
[SPEAKER_14]: be silent and we won't be silent and we won't be silent and we won't be silent and we won't be silent and we won't be silent and we won't be silent and we won't be silent and we won't be silent and we won't be silent and we won't be silent and we won't be silent and we won't be silent and we won't be silent and we won't be silent and we won't be silent and we won't be silent and we won't be silent and we won't be silent and we won't be silent and we won't be silent and we won't be silent and we won't be silent and we won't be silent and we won't be silent and we won't be silent and we won't be silent and we won't be silent and we won't be silent and we won't be silent and we won't be silent and we won't be silent and we won't be silent and we won't be silent and we won't be silent and we won't be silent and we won't be silent and we won't be silent We won't be silent.
[SPEAKER_07]: And we won't be silent.
[SPEAKER_13]: That's right.
[SPEAKER_07]: Jenny Bonham Carter. Maybe on that note, if anybody's interested, you can look at poorpeoplescampaign.org. And next Saturday, there is a big rally called Hands Off. And many people are nodding.
[SPEAKER_06]: At the bandstand at the Boston Common.
[SPEAKER_07]: at 11 a.m., and it's a multitude of, yeah, April 5th, multitude of organizations behind this, and that's what we need to do, raise our voices. Power in numbers. Amen. We're gonna do one more song, and I think we need to do this. Yeah. I think one more, because, yeah. One more. Yes, okay. Okay, so we're gonna do this a little later.
[SPEAKER_13]: We'll let you write down into this. But before we do that, we just want to say, we're getting ready to close now. So again, we said we are the Interfaith Coalition Singers, but there's one very important thing about faith that is really required. And this is what we're told. Faith without works is dead. You got to have the faith. The faith is important, but it just starts there. Then it's about the work. And that's what we're here to do. That's what we're here to focus on. Because there's work that we know. We know there's work to be done. And the question we ask ourselves with all the problems, the trouble in the world, we look at the world, what difference can I make? I'm one person. What difference can I make? But this song talks about this little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine. I have a little light. But think about it. If I take my little light and put it with Merle's little light, Jenny's little light, Belle's little light, Stephen's little light.
[SPEAKER_06]: D. Morris' little light, big light.
[SPEAKER_13]: Your little light, your little light. What happens when all those little lights get together? Pretty soon we have enough light to dispel the darkness. That's the work of faith. What's the work of faith? The work of faith is love. So our challenge is to let that love light shine. Even though we're in a world that doesn't necessarily reflect that, that's what we're called to. That's what our faith guides us toward, to stay on that right path with all the other stuff that's swirling around us. But we have that light. That light is what we can trust. That's what my mama said, you're going to stay in church until you're 14 years old. So you get that light. All right. OK. One, two, three. Everybody sing it with us. Sing it with us. Come on now.
[SPEAKER_12]: I'm gonna let it shine, this little light of mine. I'm gonna let it shine, this little light of mine.
[SPEAKER_04]: I'm gonna let it shine, let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.
[SPEAKER_13]: Everywhere I go, I'm gonna let it shine.
[SPEAKER_12]: Everywhere I go, I'm gonna let it shine. everywhere I go. I'm gonna let it shine, let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.
[SPEAKER_06]: All the women who came before We're gonna let it shine for them, all the women who came before. I'm gonna let it shine. All the women who came before.
[SPEAKER_04]: I'm gonna let it shine. Let it shine. Let it shine.
[SPEAKER_06]: Let it shine. Right here in West Medford, we're gonna let it shine. Right here in West Bedford, I'm gonna let it shine.
[SPEAKER_05]: Right here in West Bedford, I'm gonna let it shine.
[SPEAKER_04]: Let it shine.
[SPEAKER_13]: Let it shine. Sing that verse one more time. Right here in West Bedford. Cut the music. Right here in West Bedford.
[SPEAKER_12]: Right here in West Bedford, I'm gonna let it shine. Yeah, come on.
[SPEAKER_13]: Come on. Come on, Westminster. Everybody sing.
[SPEAKER_04]: Everybody sing.
[SPEAKER_13]: Come on, y'all.
[SPEAKER_14]: Walking in love, living in hope, I'm going to let it shine. Walking in love, living in hope, I'm going to let it shine. Walking in love, living in hope. I'm gonna let it shine.
[SPEAKER_12]: Let it shine. One more time.
[SPEAKER_13]: Let it shine. Walking in love, living in hope. Let it shine. All together. You can stand if you want. Walking in love, living in hope. You can stand up if you want. I'm gonna let it shine.
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_14]: Say it to somebody. Walking in love, living in hope.
[SPEAKER_05]: I'm gonna let it shine. Walking in love, living in hope. I'm gonna let it shine.
[SPEAKER_13]: Let it shine.
[SPEAKER_12]: Let it shine. Let it shine.
[SPEAKER_13]: Yeah. Thank you. Thank you so much. God bless you.
[Carter]: All right, so that is what's known as a pick-me-up. All right? All right, so if you didn't get lifted, I don't really know what to do about it. But I know I did. So I want to thank D. Morris for starting us out on the path to liberation. And I want to thank you, What the World Needs Now Interfaith Coalition Singers, for blessing us abundantly. What an inspirational evening. Thanks to Walter and Stephen Cooper, Belinda Halperin, Meryl Perkins. She did get here. And Jenny Barnum-Cotter. Give them a nice round of applause, everybody. OK. So that's a wrap for this live new edition of WMCC's monthly words and music program. We're so happy to be back here at the center and visiting with you in your living rooms and other household places. I want to thank all of our guests for allowing us to invade their spaces. showing their faces and sharing their graces. Special thanks to historian and educator Dee Morris. Wow, what the world needs now interfaith coalition singers. Just beautiful. Air high five to my man Kevin Harrington and Mark Davidson back there from Medford Community Media. All right, all right. Thank you for spending another evening enjoying what the WMCC has to offer. We'll be back in April with our, check it out, annual poetry edition of Fresh Friday's Words and Music as we celebrate National Poetry Month and dive heavily into the spring season. Okay, that's it. I quit. I got some other rhymes, but I can't say them. Love you all, and thank you for being here tonight. Have a safe trip home. Be careful, and keep coming back. All right? Thank you.