If You Go
What: The 14th Amendment: All a-Cryin’
When: 4-5 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 28
Where: Multicultural Center in the UTC University Center.
Admission: Free and open to the public.
Information: Nicole Brown at 423-425-4400 or Nicole-brown@utc.edu
The 14th Amendment: All a-Cryin’, a short video based on an original music composition by UTC professor Jonathan McNair and members of the Marian Anderson String Quartet, is a featured Black History Month presentation on Thursday, Feb. 28.
McNair, coordinator of music theory and composition in the Department of Music, teaches music composition, music theory and practicum in music technology.
The musical work for string quartet is based on the African-American spiritual “Listen to the Lambs,” which contains the lyric, “all a-cryin’.” McNair said the composition was inspired by “the use of excessive force against African-Americans in unwarranted circumstances by law enforcement.”
“This song came powerfully to mind after watching numerous videos of (unarmed) African-Americans being violently accosted by police officers, sometimes beaten, shot, and/or killed, when there was no provocation that could justify brute force nor deadly force,” McNair said.
“This was so disturbing that I felt that an artistic response was necessary. The music is a direct response to those videos and, more generally, to the failure of the United States to fully implement the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, which guarantees equal protection under the law to all citizens.”
The Marian Anderson String Quartet is a nationally recognized ensemble of four African-American musicians who have performed at presidential inaugural ceremonies and in concert and music festivals across the country. The ensemble conducted a residency at UTC in 2014, and McNair has collaborated with them occasionally since that time.
Spoken word artist Marcus Ellsworth of Chattanooga’s Barking Legs Theater also contributed to The 14th Amendment: All a-Cryin’ video project.
