hymns
Lakeland, the historic African American community of College Park, was formed around 1890 on the doorstep of the Maryland Agricultural College, now the University of Maryland, in northern Prince George’s County. The story of Lakeland is the tale of a community that was established and flourished in a segregated society and developed its own institutions and traditions, including the area’s only high school for African Americans, built in 1928. From the 1960s through the mid-1980s,the urban renewal process in Lakeland demolished many family homes, displaced 104 of 150 households, and replaced much oft he neighborhood with a mix of subsidized townhouses, high-density apartments largely inhabited by students, and an elder housing facility.
Religious life and education were always the backbone of the community and were seen by many as essential for life. By 1903, Lakeland was an established African American community with two churches and a school. Meetings for “song and praise” in individuals’ homes led to the establishment of two congregations: First Baptist Church, founded in 1891, and Embry African Methodist Episcopal Church, founded in 1903.
I’ve taken well-known hymns such as What a Friend We Have In Jesus, How Great Thou Art and Holy, Holy, Holy, and altered the text to change the meaning to highlight the practice of gentrification.
This piece was commissioned by Lineage Percussion for Shadows of Lakeland.
Perusal Score:
hymns
15 minutes
Percussion Trio
Lineage Percussion for Shadows of Lakeland
Lakeland, the historic African American community of College Park, was formed around 1890 on the doorstep of the Maryland Agricultural College, now the University of Maryland, in northern Prince George’s County. The story of Lakeland is the tale of a community that was established and flourished in a segregated society and developed its own institutions and traditions, including the area’s only high school for African Americans, built in 1928. From the 1960s through the mid-1980s,the urban renewal process in Lakeland demolished many family homes, displaced 104 of 150 households, and replaced much oft he neighborhood with a mix of subsidized townhouses, high-density apartments largely inhabited by students, and an elder housing facility.
Religious life and education were always the backbone of the community and were seen by many as essential for life. By 1903, Lakeland was an established African American community with two churches and a school. Meetings for “song and praise” in individuals’ homes led to the establishment of two congregations: First Baptist Church, founded in 1891, and Embry African Methodist Episcopal Church, founded in 1903.
I’ve taken well-known hymns such as What a Friend We Have In Jesus, How Great Thou Art and Holy, Holy, Holy, and altered the text to change the meaning to highlight the practice of gentrification.
This piece was commissioned by Lineage Percussion for Shadows of Lakeland.
Perusal Score: