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Dozens of other SETLC tennis scholars also lined the Hall of States, depicting historic and contemporary African American figures. As hundreds of visitors strolled through the “gallery,” they were captivated by portrayals ranging from artists and entertainers, such as Annie Frances Lee, Cab Calloway and Chuck Brown, to freedom fighters Mary Elizabeth Bowser, Harriet Tubman and Malcolm X, and spanning a tapestry of history from Queen Nefertiti to First Lady Michelle Obama. Movement to Monument, SETLC’s original dramatic production, also enthralled the standing-room only-crowd. The audience stretched nearly half the length of the Kennedy Center Foyer, and included ticketholders to other performances taking place that evening. Many had a hard time pulling themselves away, as they watched the story of the Civil Rights Movement unfold through drama, music and dance. After repeatedly texting to waiting friends that they would be “just five more minutes,” one group of young professionals voiced their thoughts about the production as they finally headed off to take their seats for a Smokey Robinson concert: “That was great!” From the rousing applause tennis scholars received at the end of the performance, it was clear that everyone else in the audience agreed.
We thank our Blacks in Wax sponsors and donors for making this program possible, including Altria Group; Booz Allen Hamilton; the Mark David Ein Foundation; GEICO; Catherine L. Hughes; Mars, Incorporated; Nina O. May; ReedSmith, LLP; Michael Rogers; Judith Terra; Reginald Van Lee; Anthony and Diane Williams, and Serena and Venus Williams. Special thanks also go to the DC Children & Youth Investment Trust Corporation, the Freddie Mac Foundation, the MARPAT Foundation, the Meyer Foundation and the USTA Serves Foundation for their generous support of our ongoing educational programs, and to our SETLC parents, staff, volunteers and, of course, our wonderful tennis scholars. Bravo!
The 6th Annual Blacks in Wax program featured a new 45-minute stage production, Movement to MONUMENT. With the opening strains of Hail to the Chief, SETLC scholar Imani took his place at the podium, portraying President Barack Obama as scenes of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial played on a large overhead screen. Recalling the words of President Obama at the opening of the MLK Memorial. Movement to MONUMENT paid tribute to the “giants of the civil rights movement,” as well as “multitudes of men and women whose names never appear in the history books.”
As the program drew to a close, 10-year-old Calista joined the finale as Diana Ross, saying “I think we learned a very important lesson today. That is, in order for us to make things better, we must believe in each other. Help each other. Reach out to one another.” The program’s young story teller took that lesson to heart. “Now I get it,“ he said, “The movement hasn’t stopped. It took lots of folks with lots of determination to make things better for me, and for you, too. The King Memorial is more than just a monument. It’s here to remind us of hope, and justice and equality -- for us all. A monument for the people.”
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Heads swiveled on Saturday, March 3, as visitors to the Kennedy Center looked from Dr. Michael Eric Dyson to Juan Lovos, taking in the remarkable likeness between the noted author and the young tennis scholar portraying Dyson in SETLC’s Blacks in Wax “Museum.” At the other end of the Hall of States, heads turned again during the unveiling of a wax statue of Radio One founder
and CEO Cathy Hughes – the latest addition to Baltimore’s Great Blacks in Wax Museum – alongside an identical real-life version in Jayla Paris.
SETLC’s 6th Annual Blacks in Wax program premiered Friday, February 24, featuring an original stage production and its popular living history museum. Dozens of young people lined the hallways and classrooms as "wax replicas" of influential figures from African American history, from early freedom fighters to trailblazers of the 20th and 21st centuries. Many “unsung heroes” of African-American History were introduced this year, including Henry “Box” Brown, a slave who made his way to freedom by arranging to have himself shipped in a crate from Richmond to Philadelphia, and Eunice Hunton Carter (pictured above), the first black woman to earn a law degree at Fordham University Law School and the force behind the first successful prosecution of an organized crime “mob boss.”
More than 500 students from neighborhood schools, as well as area senior citizens, attended the two-hour matinee performance. In the evening, hundreds more took in the production, including District of Columbia Mayor Vincent Gray. The event also attracted the attention of local media, with coverage from WJLA’s ABC7 News, Fox5 Morning News and WUSA9.
The story was told through the eyes of a high school student as he explored the movement that led us to this place in history and the creation of the MLK monument. Along the way, the vignette revealed the roles that dozens played in the Civil Rights movement, with SETLC scholars portraying poets and entertainers, clerics and politicians, bringing them – and their place in history -- to life for audiences of all ages.
