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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
84 views
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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
16 views
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“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
39 views
1 comment


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
58 views
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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
415 views
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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
148 views
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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
98 views
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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
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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
79 views
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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
109 views
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“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
126 views
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OF HOPE AND NEW BEGINNINGS
A Commencement Letter from Langston Hughes, Shared with Margaret Bonds We are in an age of marches, of collective protests against...

John Michael Cooper
May 31, 20223 min read
39 views
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“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
45 views
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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
408 views
1 comment


THREE IN D.C.
The Voice of Margaret Bonds Rises in Three Events in the U.S. Capital This Weekend The estimable Margaret Bonds’s (1913-72) musical...

John Michael Cooper
Mar 29, 20224 min read
46 views
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THE CREDO SOUNDS AGAIN
W.E.B. Du Bois’s bold and brilliant civil-rights manifesto Credo was first published in 1904 and republished with revisions at the head...

John Michael Cooper
Feb 18, 20224 min read
45 views
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SINCE 1973
On Tuesday, February 15, 2022, at 7:30 p.m. CT, the internationally heralded GRAMMY-winning chorus Conspirare, conducted by...

John Michael Cooper
Feb 12, 20223 min read
101 views
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MARGARET BONDS’S "TROUBLED WATER" IN HER ARRANGEMENT FOR CELLO AND PIANO
Troubled Water is arguably Margaret Bonds’s best-known instrumental composition. Published by itself by Sam Fox Publishing (New York) in...

John Michael Cooper
Jan 27, 20222 min read
361 views
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LAMENT AND BENEDICTION
The Last Two Movements of Margaret Bonds’s Montgomery Variations and the 2022 Defeat of Voting Rights Legislation This past week, Senate...

John Michael Cooper
Jan 22, 20224 min read
45 views
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TWO POSTHUMOUS REVIVALS OF MARGARET BONDS AND LANGSTON HUGHES: AFRICAN DANCE (Danse africaine)
Performances by Greg Watkins and Members of the CAAPA Chorale, November 14, 2021; and Anton Nel and Members of Conspirare, February 15,...

John Michael Cooper
Dec 13, 20212 min read
129 views
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John Michael Cooper
Apr 156 min read
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John Michael Cooper
Apr 107 min read
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John Michael Cooper
Mar 1710 min read
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John Michael Cooper
Mar 411 min read
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