Brooklyn's Progress
January 2003

Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), and Medgar Evers College of The City University of New York present the 17th annual Brooklyn Tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. "Come Share the Dream" on Monday, January 20, 2003 at 11:30am in the BAM Howard Gilman Opera House (30 Lafayette Avenue).

The celebratory event, the largest public performance honoring Dr. King in New York City, will feature a keynote address by Fred D. Gray, the legendary attorney who defended Rosa Parks, Dr. King, and the Montgomery Bus Boycott participants in the landmark 1950's U.S. Supreme Court segregation case. Headlining the musical portion of the tribute will be the extraordinary up-and-coming jazz vocalist Lizz Wright performing with Voices from The Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir.

Attorney General Eliot Spitzer will also give remarks at the annual event. Following the tribute in the BAM Howard Gilman Opera House, BAM Rose Cinemas will present special screenings of Julie Dash's film, The Rosa Parks Story, starring Angela Bassett. The Opera House tribute and the screening are free and open to the public. Seating is available on a first-come, first-seated basis. For further information, please call BAM Ticket Services at 718.636.4100 or visit http://www.bam.org/.
 
The celebration also will include remarks by Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz; Deputy Borough President Yvonne J. Graham; BAM President Karen Brooks Hopkins; BAM Executive Producer Joseph V. Melillo; Dr. Edison O. Jackson, president of Medgar Evers College of The City University of New York, and other prominent elected officials (to be announced).

Born and raised in Crown Heights, Borough President Marty Markowitz began his public career in 1971, at the age of 26, by organizing the Flatbush Tenants Council, which grew into Brooklyn Housing and Family Services, the largest tenants' advocacy organization in New York State. Mr. Markowitz was elected to the New York State Senate in 1979 and served eleven consecutive terms in Albany, but his dream in life has always been to lead Brooklyn as borough president, a goal he attained when he arrived in office in January 2002. As Borough President, Mr. Markowitz has committed himself to being "Brooklyn's chief advocate, biggest promoter, best salesman, greatest defender, and most enthusiastic cheerleader." His career is most often described as one of passionate and powerful advocacy on behalf of Brooklyn and its residents, particularly in the areas of housing, health, education, neighborhood preservation, and community development. As a senator, he was credited with running one of the best constituent service offices in the state. In addition, Mr. Markowitz is widely known for creating two of New York City's largest free concert series: the Seaside Summer Concert series, created in 1979, and the Martin Luther King Jr. Concert series, created in 1983, which bring international stars to standing-room-only audiences each summer.

Veteran civil rights attorney Fred D. Gray began his legal career in the midst of America's modern-day Civil Rights Movement. In college, he vowed, "to become a lawyer...and destroy everything segregated." Less than a year out of law school, and at the age of 24, he represented Rosa Parks who refused to give up her seat to a white man on a city bus. This action prompted the Montgomery Bus Boycott-the cornerstone of the Civil Rights Movement-and ultimately led to the desegregation of public transportation. In addition, Mr. Gray was also Dr. King's first civil rights lawyer. His work with Dr. King was the beginning of a legal career that now spans over 45 years. Determined to right the injustices he experienced and witnessed in his native state of Alabama, Mr. Gray has been at the forefront of the struggle for desegregation, integration, and challenging racial discrimination in voting, housing, education, jury service, farm subsidies, jails, and medicine. His other notable cases include defending the NAACP's right to conduct business in Alabama and representing victims of the infamous Tuskegee syphilis experiment. This successful 1973 lawsuit against the United States government led to a $9 million judgement for the Tuskegee victims and their families. Mr. Gray was born in Montgomery, Alabama, and is a graduate of the Nashville Christian Institute, Nashville, Tennessee; Alabama State University, Montgomery, Alabama; and Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio. Currently, Mr. Gray is senior partner at the law firm of Gray, Langford, Sapp, McGowan, Gray & Nathanson. He is currently President of the Alabama State Bar Association, the first African-American to hold this position. In addition to his impressive legal career, Mr. Gray has also authored two books, Bus Ride to Justice and Tuskegee Syphilis Study.

Immediately following the Opera House tribute, Mr. Gray will sign copies of his book, Bus Ride to Justice in the BAM lobby.

The invocation at the tribute will be delivered by Rabbi Ari Korenblitt of Temple Shalom in Mill Basin and the benediction will be delivered by Reverend Clinton M. Miller of Brown Memorial Baptist Church. Imam Mohammad Hafiz will also address the audience.

Vocalist and songwriter Lizz Wright, whose gospel-infused style evokes the talents of artists such as Sarah Vaughan and Oleta Adams, is creating a buzz as a young artist to watch. In Atlanta, where she performs with the quartet In the Spirit, Ms. Wright has acquired a strong fan base and critical acclaim. In the annual "Best of Atlanta 2000" poll , Creative Loafing, Atlanta's arts weekly, named In the Spirit the best jazz group and said "Wright is truly a singer's singer. Her beautiful tone and exquisite phrasing, combined with just the right nuance, point to the fact that Ms. Wright may well be Ms. Right."  In addition to her commanding range and dark, opulent timbre, she is also a songwriter of great promise, poeticism, and soul. Several of her songs have become standards for Atlanta fans and are fast becoming favorites at the Jazz Gallery in New York, where her performances are gathering a devoted following. Soon Ms. Wright's resonant and soulful sounds can be heard on her forthcoming debut CD, which will be released on the Verve label in May 2003.

Although comprised of non-professional vocalists, Voices from The Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir is an award-winning gospel ensemble that has performed hymns, psalms, and spiritual songs at such prestigious concert venues as Carnegie Hall, Radio City Music Hall, the Paramount Theater, and Madison Square Garden. The downtown Brooklyn choir, led by Musical Director Carol Cymbala, has recorded three videos and numerous albums, four of which earned Grammy Awards. The choir's most recent CD release is Be Glad, an inspiring celebration of hope, which was recorded days after the September 11th terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. As one of New York's most acclaimed choirs, Voices from The Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir performs a diverse array of traditional and contemporary gospel styles every Sunday at The Brooklyn Tabernacle.

Following the celebratory event on Monday, January 20, at 2 p.m., the BAM Rose Cinemas will feature The Rosa Parks Story (2002), a 90-minute film directed by Julie Dash, Featuring Angela Bassett, Peter Francis James, Cicely Tyson. Acclaimed director Julie Dash (Daughters of the Dust creates a moving film, which chronicles Rosa Parks' life from her childhood as an inquisitive and rebellious young girl, through her marriage and introduction to the NAACP, to her legendary and monumental act of defiance on a Montgomery bus. Starring Angela Bassett (who also served as executive producer), the film highlights Rosa Parks' position as a key figure in the Civil Rights Movement and her alliance with Dr. King (played by Dr. King's son, Dexter Scott King).

Support for the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Tribute is provided by New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Endowment Fund for Community, Educational and Public Affairs Programs at BAM, Independence Community Foundation, and Medgar Evers College of The City University of New York.

The BAM facility is owned by the City of New York and is funded, in part, with public funds provided through the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs with support from Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg; the New York City Council; Council Speaker Gifford Miller; the Brooklyn Delegation of the Council; Councilman James E. Davis; Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz; and Cultural Affairs Commissioner Kate D. Levin.

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