Art and Community Service: MLK Day in the Empire State

During my civil service career in New York State government, I was honored to have led in organizing NYS’s Division of Housing and Community Renewal’s Annual African American Month observations. Among the highlights one particular year was a focus on The National Black Theatre of Harlem, founded by acclaimed actress Dr. Barbara Ann Teer pictured below.

As the nation geared up then to implement federal and statewide festivities for its recent hard-won National Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday, New York State’s vision as to how citizens are to meaningfully celebrate Dr. King’s Dream was in development for a full year. Under the auspices of the Governor, the King Day Planning Committee was led by Jim Harding, then Director of Legislative Affairs for the Governor of the State of New York and Chair of the King Day Holiday Commission.

Harding had also served as Special Advisor to the Mayor of New York City and as Deputy Commissioner of the NYC Fire Department. It was my honor to have been chosen by the Governor to serve as a member of the King Day Planning Commission, the goal of which was to formulate an active vision of embracing Dr. King’s philosophy of community service and philanthropy.

Unique within the nation, King Day festivities in the Empire State centered around a full year’s commitment to human service in all 62 counties, culminating with a weekend of festivities, including a Day of Community Service; choral, gospel and popular musical celebrities in concert; and a dinner gala in Albany’s Convention Center. These activities were accompanied by an array of health and wellness, community development, and legislative workshops held in the State Capitol throughout the busy weekend – all available free to the public.

The activities culminated in a march led by the Governor to the MLK Memorial in Albany, where a wreath was laid in honor of Dr. King as a symbol of sustaining his vision. This was a fitting crown to the many events and activities organized to engage multiracial, intergenerational New Yorkers’ participation in Dr. King Day. Jim Harding offered a review of the year’s progress toward fulfilling the Planning Committee’s statewide vision to ensure Dr. King’s National Holiday is honored annually in a manner consistent with Dr. King’s values for an inclusive society and peace for all humankind.

Guest speaker and Black History Month honoree, Dr. Barbara Ann Teer, founded the National Black Theatre (NBT) in 1968. A native of East St. Louis, Illinois, Dr. Teer was an award-winning actress – a performer of both stage and screen. She is known as a director, visionary, entrepreneur, and champion of the Black Arts Movement. The NBT broke ground as the country’s first revenue-generating Black Arts complex, as the longest-running Black theatre in New York City, as acquisitor of the largest collection of Nigerian New Sacred Art in the Western Hemisphere, and as one of the oldest theatres founded and consistently operated by a woman of color in the nation.

More than five decades after its founding, NBT’s core mission remains the same: to be the premier producer of transformative theatre – theatre that enhances African American cultural identity by telling authentic, autonomous, multifaceted stories of the Black experience. NBT is now envisioned as a means to educate, enrich, entertain, empower, and inform national consciousness around social justice issues that impact our communities.

Holding tight to the founding principles of ownership, self-determination, and human transformation, NBT continues to reach new heights with over 350 original theatre works touring world-wide, including an associate partnership with the National Black Theatre of Sweden. The work and accomplishments of National Black Theatre have solidified its position at the leading edge of Black theatre development, production, and innovation, and activating resources for arts sector advocacy. NBT is an AEA Equity house and a member of Theatre Communications Group, A.R.T./New York, Harlem Arts Alliance and the Coalition of Theatres of Color. Sadly Dr.Barbara Ann Teer died July 21, 2008. Rest in Heaven, dear friend.