‘Let the Children Sing!’

Young musicians honor 19th-century African American activist William Cooper Nell

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When Regie Gibson looks back on the history of the United States, he can’t help but notice the integral role music played at every turn. Music, he said, has always been an “embodied expression of the spirit of what was in the hearts of people.”

As such, Gibson, a professor at Clark University and Berklee College of Music and a literary performer, views his role in “Let the Children Sing!” — a youth concert honoring key historical figures — as a purveyor of “historic context” necessary to “frame the music which is being heard.”

First staged in 2023, “Let the Children Sing!” is a collaboration between the Beacon Hill Civic Association and the Museum of African American History, stewarded by Michael Maler, founder of Crescendo Productions. The concert aims to foster empathy and awareness about the past among youth while celebrating civil rights progress.

The inaugural event honored Susan Paul, abolitionist and daughter of the Rev. Thomas Paul, the first pastor of the African Baptist Church at the African Meeting House. This year, the Eastern Mass. Youth Ensemble and City Strings United led by Linda Brown-San Martin and Bithyah Israel respectively, will honor 19th-century activist William Cooper Nell at the Museum of African American History on Feb. 9 at 3 p.m. with a mix of African American spirituals and contemporary pieces.

Bithyah Israel, president of City Strings United at the first “Let the Children Sing!” concert. PHOTO: Marianne Salza.

Like Paul, who taught and led a children’s choir, Nell was regularly involved in youth matters, including running a youth abolitionist organization and advocating for school desegregation. He also attended school at the African Meeting House, now operated by the MAAH where the concert will take place.

Maler emphasized the significance of allowing the young musicians to perform historical music “in such an important historic space.”

To bring Nell’s story to life, the youth choirs’ presentations of original musical compositions will be accompanied by Gibson’s readings of historical texts.

“I resonate so much with this program,” Gibson said, “because, being an educator, it’s always important to speak about the history of what it is that you’re teaching so that students have a wider, even more profound understanding of the underpinnings of what it is you’re attempting to impart to them.”

Regie Gibson, professor at Clark University and Berklee College of Music and a literary performer, will read from historical texts at the concert. PHOTO: Marianne Salza.

He added that in the United States, “we tend to love nostalgia” but have a harder time looking at history as it actually happened.

In this way, the concert is an opportunity to keep alive the memory of the “work that was done right here at home, on Beacon Hill” by Nell and activists like him, said Israel, president of City Strings United. For the youth, it’s also a chance to bolster their confidence and validate their efforts.

“When the children are receiving recognition of this caliber in public, it just confirms why they’re putting the hard work into preparation,” Israel said.

Gibson said he wants audience members to leave the performance with a sense of hope after being reminded of what is possible through the youth’s tribute to Nell. 

“This concert … is special to me. … It’s the children singing in both inspiration and in aspiration, and they pass that on to the people who are there in the audience,” he said. “And hopefully they carry that flame with them as they exit the museum.”