The Reconstruction Beaufort Youth Chorale is a group of talented middle and high school students from Beaufort County who tell the story of Reconstruction in their community through song and dance. Their premiere performance will occur on Saturday, February 29 at 4:00 p.m. at the United Church in Beaufort. SC Humanities supported this project with a Mini Grant.
The chorale members were selected through an audition process and trained through educational workshops with scholars and professionals about Reconstruction Era history, music history, voice performance, and more. The effort is coordinated by The Second Founding of America: Reconstruction Beaufort, a not-for-profit corporation working in collaboration with The Community Foundation of the Lowcountry. Their mission is to uncover the truth and tell and teach missing parts of our nation’s history.
The first-ever performance of the Youth Chorale will take place on Saturday, February 29 at 4:00 p.m. at the United Church, 1801 Duke Street, Beaufort, SC 29902. Admission is free. The chorale is co-directed by Dr. Marlena Smalls and Marianne Rice. The pianist and coach is Ms. Karen Harmon; the drummer is Roderick Johnson, and the bass player is Rodney Foster. Music research was conducted by Dr. Eric Crawford at Coastal Carolina University.
More information about the performance can be found on the Facebook event. The Second Founding of America: Reconstruction Beaufort has a Facebook page as well: https://www.facebook.com/reconstructionbeaufort/.
The mission of SC Humanities is to enrich the cultural and intellectual lives of all South Carolinians. Established in 1973, this 501(c) 3 organization is governed by a volunteer 21-member Board of Directors comprised of community leaders from throughout the state. It presents and/or supports literary initiatives, lectures, exhibits, festivals, publications, oral history projects, videos and other humanities-based experiences that directly or indirectly reach more than 350,000 citizens annually.
