Stacy Horn

Last night I was watching a Livestream of the demonstration here in response to George Zimmerman’s not-guilty verdict. There were two simultaneous chat streams, one civil, and the other ugly and racist. I went back and forth reading the two entirely different takes on what had happened the night Trayvon Martin was killed, and what was happening last night. I can see how reasonable people disagree, but at least one side was not reasonable. They might say the other side wasn’t either.

It reminded of the trouble I had researching one of the darker chapters in my book. There was a riot in the Chatham Street Chapel in downtown New York on July 7, 1834. A mostly black congregation had originally gathered in the chapel on July 4th to celebrate Emancipation Day, the day when slavery was outlawed in New York in 1827. But a mob had interrupted and prevented their service and they had reconvened on the 7th. There was a misunderstanding about who had the space for the night and a riot ensued.

I tell the whole story in my book, but what I want to talk about was my challenge in figuring out what had happened that night. Every newspaper account I read depended on the paper’s stand on abolition. If they were anti-abolition, the blacks were the aggressors, if they were for the abolition of slavery the white mob had started it.

Here is an anti-abolition account. (Sorry for the tiny print.) It’s insane because even though they get some of the facts right, that the blacks had arranged and paid for the use of the space, well, you’ll see. The “colored man named Hughes,” identified as if he was some insignificant personage, was Benjamin F. Hughes, the principal of African Free School No. 3.

The only people arrested that night were four young black men. Thanks to the amazing Municipal Archives I was able to find the original arrest records—this is particularly astounding since this was before we had the official New York Police Department we have today—and the names of the young men who were arrested.

Even more astounding, one of the men arrested, Samuel R. Ward, was so upset at the injustice of what had happened, he immediately set about educating himself and he spent the rest of his life lecturing around the country against slavery (sometimes with Frederick Douglass). And he wrote about the events of that night much later in his life, when he retired. There’s even a note of humor in his account, when he points out that the only person who suffered a true physical injury that night was the white man in charge of the mob, who hurt himself jumping out a window fleeing from what he had started.

I wasn’t there the night Trayvon Martin was killed, and neither were any of the people talking about it last night. And all the witnesses to the riot on July 7, 1834 are long dead. In my book I wrote down the three versions I found and left it to the reader to decide. But it’s clear where I stand. If there were a trial today I’d go with Samuel R. Ward’s version.

The Chatham Street Chapel was torn down and on the site today is, of all things, a prison. I was not allowed to walk up and take a picture of the plaque commemorating the site of the Chapel. So I went up to the plaza in front of One Police Plaza, walked past the benches and hedges, leaned over and took this shot.

Side note: the guards who wouldn’t let me walk over and take the picture insisted that they’d worked there for decades and there wasn’t a plaque anywhere about any chapel.

On July 23rd at 8pm I’m going to be giving a presentation about the History and Science of Group Singing at the Observatory in Brooklyn ($5 admission). I’ve been working very hard collecting photographs and putting together choice facts and stories, so please come see me! It’s a very interesting place so I’d come a little early so you can look around and explore before the presentation.

Someone uploaded screenshots from Virtual Choir 4 to Facebook and miracle of miracles, I found myself. I am third from the left, top row.

I was so anxious about my radio appearances today I swam a mile in the evening, all in an effort to exhaust myself. Now I feel like swimming another mile to decompress.

The picture below was my view from my first interview on WPR’s show 45 North with guest host Cynthia Schuster. I was nervous about that one because I was going to be on for a FULL HOUR. But Cynthia kept things moving, and helped me make all the points I wanted to make, and as usual, I loved the callers.

After that I walked over to a different studio on the same floor to talk to the always wonderful Brian Lehrer. I think we’re all in agreement that Brian Lehrer is the most gifted interviewer and I’m not just saying that because he was kind enough to let me on his show (although I would do something like that except he really is that good and you all know it’s true!).

Damnit. I meant to thank him for getting me through Hurricane Sandy. I bought a battery operated radio after 9/11 and that radio and Brian Lehrer kept me emotionally alive. We were without power for a week and I curled up and listened to Brian and his callers and felt so much calmer. I would have felt so alone and cut-off otherwise.

UPDATE: Here it is. Once again, too impossible to find myself, and that’s not the point really (it would be fun though!).

Below is a screenshot from my Virtual Choir 4 submission. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Virtual Choir, it was created by composer Eric Whitacre. “The Virtual Choir began in May 2009 as a simple experiment in social media when Britlin Losee – a fan of Eric’s music – recorded a video of herself singing ‘Sleep’ and shared it on YouTube.” Whitacre invited others to do the same, and the videos were edited into a choir. It has since become something Whitacre does regularly and the 4th one debuts today.

I was in the last one and I’ll be in this one too, although I never found my face in the last one. I must admit I didn’t try very hard. It was too much work, there were 2,945 people in Virtual Choir 3! And there are 5,903 in Virtual Choir 4, so we shall see if I can spot myself this time. But this is what I looked like (beautiful earrings by Nora Brown of Ontario). I decided to sing the soprano 2 part. People who have already read my book will appreciate that.

Oh, I should post my behind-the-scenes setup for my video submission. Please scroll down …

In the video you see me singing in front of a blanket (we were asked to have uncluttered backgrounds). Out of camera reach you see the real story—my desperate attempts to look my best.

In any case, I’m dying to see the result!! It debuts at the celebration of the Queen’s coronation, so the UK is seeing it first. I’ll post a link to it as soon as it appears online.

I love when friends send pictures of my book and I particularly love this one, sent by a friend who gave my book to a friend of his who is also a choral singer. How can you not love this smiling face?

If anyone who reads this could please do me this favor—if you go into a Barnes & Noble and they don’t have my book, please say something! Which brings me to my Barnes & Noble story.

Years ago I was hired to pick authors for a tv show that was being developed for Barnes & Noble’s website. Steve Riggio, then the president of B&N, interviewed me. For some god forsaken reason I decided it would be a good idea to sing to him at my interview. Insane. I cringe at the memory.

Seconds after I started my mind was screaming, WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?? But at that point what could I do? I had to finish the song. The thing is, he hired me! The whole incident is particularly shocking to me because I believe I have a very so-so voice and even though I sing all the time I go out of my way to make sure no one can hear me. It’s the great thing about singing in a choir. You get all the joys and benefits of singing without feeling exposed about it.