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[Back to index of October 2007 articles] A Haitian Celebration By Wendy Pagonis Small boys in the front row jostle each other nervously into a straight line as members of St. George's Episcopal Church on U Street nudge each other with shared smiles and anticipation. This is the Sunday treat the congregation has looked forward to all morning.
Despite the Rev. Vincent Harris's strong words of faith and devotion, a sermon that moved beads of sweat down his forehead and lifted his congregation's spirits, the attention this sunny, warm Sept. 9 morning is focused on the group of children forming three rows at the front of the church. The children, ages 7 and up, wear crisp, white cotton robes tied with green sashes. They are Les Petits Chanteurs, a youth choir visiting from Haiti, composed of 43 students who attend or have recently graduated from the Holy Trinity Cathedral and Music School in Port au Prince. Traveling with the singers are 11 members of the school's chamber orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique. They are convincingly the best of the best. These children confidently taking their positions in front of the St. George's congregation have seen crowds more intimidating than the friendly men and women seated before them today. Les Petits Chanteurs and the chamber orchestra have performed in the biggest halls and on the most renowned stages of the United States and Canada, including the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and Lincoln Center in New York City. They have even performed with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. But today's performance in this relatively small, historically black church is more about history than fame. In 1861, James Theodore Holley, a black missionary disillusioned by racial inequities in the United States, moved his family with 110 other Episcopalians to Haiti and founded Holy Trinity Cathedral – the country's first Episcopal church. In 1874, Holley became the first black bishop of the Episcopal Church.
The Rev. Carleton Hayden, a retired history professor and member of the Diocesan Council has done research on Holley's journey and says one of St. George's former members, Anna Julia Cooper, befriended Holley in 1900 during their work on the first Pan American Congress, organized by William E. DuBois. "All three were cultural nationalists who believed that all black people, whether in Africa or the Diaspora, were linked in blood, culture and oppression," Hayden says. Cooper was an educator, feminist and human rights activist until her death in 1965. Now Hayden, assistant rector at St. George's, along with the rest of the congregation, is watching history come full-circle, bringing 54 children from Holley's cathedral in Haiti to perform at Cooper's church in Washington. Once a refuge for American slaves, Haiti remains among the poorest countries in the world. The images of Haiti on American television have been of violence and political upheaval, but these children hope to show that there is more to their country. At the Rev. David Cesar's direction, they begin to sing in French, their crystal voices echoing off the church walls. Until the election of 2005, many places in Haiti were unsecured, Cesar says. At times, the children would go home and be unable to get to school the next day because of gunfire. "The Holy Trinity in Haiti and the Episcopal Ministry changed the life of many, many children," says Cesar, the music school's dean.
The Rev. Stephen Davenport III, formerly the chaplain at St. Patrick's Episcopal Day School in northwest Washington, scheduled the choir and orchestra's tour. Davenport, who is now retired, has worked with the Haitian church since 1970. Students will perform at 43 places in the U.S. and Canada where Haitian immigrants live. "The purpose of this tour is not for fundraising," Davenport says. "It is to present a positive image of Haiti." Bernadette Williams, 24, is on her third tour playing cello with the orchestra. "We start together. We grow up together," she says. "We are one big family." Members of St. George's can relate. More than 10 families pulled together to provide last-minute housing for the children. The Rev. Harris credits all those involved with making the children's performance at St. George's happen quickly. But historians could argue this meeting has been in the works for more than 100 years. [Back to index of October 2007 articles]
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