Next ‘Conversations on Race’ set for Monday

Cheryl Boots is the featured speaker at this month’s “Conversations on Race.” Photo by Marblehead Racial Justice Team

The Marblehead Racial Justice Team will host their next “Conversations on Race” event on Monday, with a focus on “the soundtrack of the civil rights movement.”

The event will be held at the Marblehead Museum from 7-8:30 p.m. Attendees will hear the stories of three people involved in the 1960s Civil Rights Movement and how singing influenced their lives. The discussion will explore what these lives tell us and why it matters during Black History Month in 2023. The session will reveal ways that music played different roles at different times in the Southern Freedom Movement.

The featured speaker will be Dr. Cheryl C. Boots, a retired Boston University professor who taught American literature, American history, and humanities.

Her book, Singing for Equality: Hymns in the American Antislavery and Indian Rights Movements, 1640-1855 examines the role of sacred music in American society before the Civil War.

Her book-in-progress tells stories about singing in the Southern Freedom Movement from 1955 to 1965. Boots is a founding member of the Marblehead Racial Justice Team and served as music minister and soloist at St. Stephen’s United Methodist Church in Marblehead for more than 30 years.

Those who cannot attend in person can access the event on Zoom. The link to register is: https://fareharbor.com/embeds/book/marbleheadmuseum/items/413038/calendar/2023/02/?amp;flow=667971&full-items=yes

For more information email: infoMRJTeam@gmail.com.

Singing for Equality, a book written by Cheryl Boots, the featured speaker at this month’s “Conversations on Race.”