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“WHERE IS THE FREEDOM IN THE LAND OF THE FREE?”
The painful story of the connections between Elizabeth Keckley and Queens University of Charlotte -- and of a modern Margaret Bonds premiere at the intersection of those two.

John Michael Cooper
Jun 137 min read


“WHERE IS THE FREEDOM IN THE LAND OF THE FREE?”
In April 2026 Margaret Bonds's groundbreaking musical on the life of Elizabeth Keckley will receive its world premiere at Queens University of Charlotte (NC).

John Michael Cooper
Jun 79 min read


RECOGNIZING THE EDGE OF THE HOLOCAUST, BELATEDLY
A miniature review-essay on the whitewashed myths of the liberation of Nazi concentration camps, prompted by Abraham Klausner's memoir.

John Michael Cooper
May 305 min read


DISINVITED, REINVITED
In 1955, Columbia Artists Management and Robert Shaw disinvited two Black soloists from the Robert Shaw Chorale's upcoming Southern tour. Margaret Bonds denounced their disinvitation in a press release -- and the soloists were reinvited.

John Michael Cooper
Apr 156 min read


FIVE YEARS AND THREE ANNOUNCEMENTS
March 17, 2025 Five years ago today, on St. Patrick’s Day in 2020, I set up my website , and the following day (March 18) I posted my...

John Michael Cooper
Mar 1710 min read


“Another Message from the Gods to Man via MARGARET BONDS”:
With roots dating to the mid-1930s, Margaret Bonds's song "Note on Commercial Theater" has finally been published. Here is its story.

John Michael Cooper
Mar 411 min read


MARGARET BONDS: The Ballad of the Brown King (text by Langston Hughes)
A free program note containing accurate, up-to-date information for those studying or planning to perform The Ballad of the Brown King.

John Michael Cooper
Jan 174 min read


A BOND OF DISTINCTION
Kamala Harris's housing initiative reflects the influence of Rev. Hamilton Boswell, nephew of Margaret Bonds & grandson of Dr. Monroe Majors

John Michael Cooper
Nov 2, 20245 min read


BLACK REINSCRIPTION, WHITE REPRISAL: ELIZABETH KECKLEY AND MARGARET BONDS
(Prefatory note: I began this first of the twelve Black History months of 2024-25 down with simultaneous COVID and flu – and the lost...

John Michael Cooper
Feb 28, 20249 min read


Margaret Bonds and The Ballad of the Brown King
Some Historical Errata, Corrigenda, and Addenda As December nears, so do more performances of one of Margaret Bonds’s most important and...

John Michael Cooper
Nov 11, 20235 min read


MARGARET BONDS, LANGSTON HUGHES, AND THE JOY OF “JOY”:
A Conspirare Premiere and a Gratuitous Youthful Photo Langston Hughes’s poem Joy was first published in the collection The Weary Blues...

John Michael Cooper
Mar 24, 20234 min read


A FATHER-DAUGHTER GIFT FOR TODAY
The Margaret Bonds / W.E.B. Du Bois Credo Returns to Its Roots Margaret Bonds’s relationship with her father was complicated but rich –...

John Michael Cooper
Feb 22, 20235 min read


A HISTORIC RE-ENACTMENT
Margaret Bonds’s Montomery Variations and Credo on the Same Program with the Hartford Chorale and Hartford Symphony Orchestra Margaret...

John Michael Cooper
Feb 19, 20233 min read


A COMPOSITIONAL COLLABORATION(?) BETWEEN MARGARET BONDS AND FLORENCE PRICE
Sleep Song (text by Joyce Kilmer) Have you ever been in a crowd or out in public and heard a voice that you immediately recognize, even...

John Michael Cooper
Jan 20, 20236 min read


A MOST AUSPICIOUS OCCASION
The world premiere of the “revised and extended” version of Margaret Bonds’s The Ballad of the Brown King (December 11, 1960) HISTORY WAS...

John Michael Cooper
Dec 11, 20222 min read


MARGARET BONDS: “NO MAN HAS SEEN HIS FACE” (1968)
Fifty-one-year-old Owen Brady was found unconscious and riddled with bullets inside a wrecked and burning car that had crashed into the...

John Michael Cooper
Nov 19, 20224 min read


COALESCENCE, CULMINATION, AND EMANCIPATION:
Four Early Performances of Margaret Bonds’s Spiritual Suite [This note is about Margaret Bonds’s Spiritual Suite – the surviving magnum...

John Michael Cooper
Nov 11, 20224 min read


“I DEDICATED IT TO MOTHER”
On the Origins of He’s Got the Whole World in His Hand by Margaret Bonds Margaret Bonds is justly celebrated for her inspired and...

John Michael Cooper
Jul 1, 20223 min read


“UNIVERSITIES, UNIVERSITIES, UNIVERSITIES!” (1)
The Conservatory of the University of Missouri, Kansas City, Brings Margaret Bonds’s Civil-Rights Credo to the Home of Dred Scott’s...

John Michael Cooper
May 1, 20224 min read


THE VOICE OF MARGARET BONDS
Reflecting on Her Recorded Interview with James V. Hatch Most commentaries on Margaret Bonds either quote or refer to this passage: I was...

John Michael Cooper
Apr 23, 20223 min read


John Michael Cooper
Jun 137 min read


John Michael Cooper
Jun 79 min read


John Michael Cooper
May 305 min read


John Michael Cooper
Apr 156 min read

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