Under the baobab: Local artists, pastors bring ‘God’s Trombones’ back to Happy Valley

Happy Black History Month III.

Congratulations to the Ferguson Township Board of Supervisors, Laura Dininni, Lisa Strickland, Tierra Williams, Hilary Caldwell and Patricia Stephens, for creating another Black History Month “first.” They appointed Centrice Martin as the Ferguson Township interim manager. Martin is the first Black manager of a borough or township in the Centre Region.

In 1900 James Weldon Johnson wrote a poem that began:

“Lift every voice and sing, till earth and heaven ring.

Ring with the harmonies of liberty”

Later his brother, J. Rosamond Johnson, set the poem to music. In 1919 the NAACP proclaimed the song as The Negro (Black) National Anthem. In 1927 JW Johnson published a collection of his poems called, “God’s Trombones, Seven Negro Sermons in Verse.” In 1952 Fred Warring and his Pennsylvanians produced “God’s Trombones.” It is considered one of their finest TV productions. In 1995, LAF Theatre Company, Essence of Joy and the Penn State School of Theatre produced “God’s Trombones” at the Paul Robeson Cultural Center. Later in ‘96, it was included in the first locally produced Martin Luther King Jr. holiday productions.

This Friday at 7 p.m. at the Church of the Good Shepherd, 867 Grays Woods Blvd., “God’s Trombones” will be presented by Essence 2, LAF Theatre Company and a select group of artists and pastors from the area. A benefit for the Pennsylvania Innocence Project, it is sponsored by the Racial Unity Network. Admission is free, with donations to the project accepted. Here’s more about the participants:

• Prof. Anthony Leach, founder and director of the Essence of Joy choir and Essence 2, is a world-renowned musical director, composer and scholar of African American secular and sacred music. He is a professor emeritus from Penn State’s School of Music.
• The Rev. Bonnie Kline Smeltzer is the pastor of University Baptist and Brethren Church. She loves to plan worship, talk with people about life and faith, and sing in the choir. She pastors from the heart and finds it important to connect to people by bringing real life and a living faith together. An African proverb is one of her favorite sayings: “When you pray, move your feet.”
• Pastor Harold and Sherren McKenzie have been together for 49 years. He and Sherren have been residents of State College since 1976. He has served as senior pastor of Unity Church of Jesus Christ since 1989. They believe that all people should come into an intimate personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
• The Rev. AnneMarie Mingo, an assistant professor of African American Studies and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Penn State, is an affiliate faculty member in the Rock Ethics Institute. In 2018-2019 she was the Ella Baker Visiting Professor of Black Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her work centers on the lived experiences of Black churchwomen who were involved in the Civil Rights Movement.
• Paul McReynolds was born and raised in Santa Ana, California. He worked as an EMT for four years in Hollywood. Paul is a graduate of Gammon Theological Seminary. He is serving Albright-Bethune UMC in State College. His motto is “simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”
• Stacy Sublett, as a military kid, lived all over the South. Stacy and Kim moved to Happy Valley in 1998 to seek the Kingdom as part of the team at Calvary Church. The parents of nine great kids, they are glad to call Happy Valley home.
• The Rev. Jason “JAE” La Mar Yates, JAE is engaged in social and spiritual matters globally. He serves as Church-wide Pastoral Consultant of Triedstone Church of Chicago and enjoys a secular career as a health care management consultant along with entrepreneurial endeavors. He was in the 1995 production of “God’s Trombone’s.”

Brothers and sisters, come celebrate with us. We promise you’ll have a wonderful time.