For Black History Month historical figure Frederick Douglass was portrayed by Kevin McIlvaine, former Harlan High School student, actor, singer, and educator, during a special event February 11-13 at the Field Museum. Frederick Douglass was a runaway slave who eventually became an abolitionist and founder of The North Star, an anti-slavery newspaper in the 1800s.

WVON’s Cliff Kelley hosted the event. The Apostolic Church Choir of Chicago accompanied McIlvaine, singing several gospel renditions such as “Let My People Go,” “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” and “We Shall Overcome.”
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I write this column today from a perspective different than the one I had prior to Sept. 11, 2001, the day that thousands of lives and America’s sense of security were lost in the attack on the New York Trade Center. For me and many others, I’m sure that watching the events of Sept. 11 unfold was surreal, like something out of a movie. A scary movie, to our dismay, that has come true.

Nothing will ever be the same again. As males and females, adolescents and adults, Black, White, Indian, Jewish, Protestant, Catholic, Muslim Americans, we will never be the same again.

For many Americans, there’s a heightened sense of fear. A heightened sense of vulnerability. But there is also a heightened sense of American pride and unity. And again, for me and many others, I’m sure that there is a sense of surrealism, like something out of a movie. Read more »