Musician John Legend urged a CenterStage audience last night to honor the Richmond 34's courageous legacy by reforming a still-unequal education system.
"Fixing education is the ultimate long-term stimulus plan," he said during "An Evening of Reflection with John Legend" at CenterStage's Carpenter Theatre.
JOHN LEGEND
The event capped a day of commemorative activities 50 years to the day after 34 Virginia Union University students engaged in a historic sit-in to desegregate the lunch counter and Richmond Room at Thalhimers department store.
Their protest marked one of the first mass arrests of the civil-rights movement. Nineteen months later, Thalhimers became one of the first Richmond retailers to desegregate its lunch counters.
Legend, a six-time Grammy winner, opened with a heartfelt rendition of Stevie Wonder's "Visions." But on this night, his message, not his music, took center stage.
He said he was in Richmond "to honor the legacy of these wonderful people who made a sacrifice for all of us."
"It makes me want to live a life worthy of their sacrifices," said Legend, who is engaging in global activism through his Show Me campaign.
Fifty years after the Thalhimers lunch-counter demonstration, poverty and injustice endure in America, Legend said before launching a blistering attack on the inequities of the U.S. education system whose schools have been described as "dropout factories."
"Our nation has an education system that helps perpetuate inequity," he said. "We have to level the playing field."
Legend was joined onstage by three Richmond Community High School students, who asked the musician questions.
The evening opened with a performance by Amaranth Contemporary Dance, which in collaboration with VCU Dance opened with a tribute to the Richmond 34.
"Equalizing the Lines: Prelude to a New Dream" featured choreography to the backdrop of video clips of young people and Richmond 34 members.
"It was like living in two worlds: a black world and a white world," former VUU president Allix B. James said of that era on video.
The push-pull movements of the dancers suggested that the quest for equality -- which often found expression in a march -- was often a dance with an unwilling partner. But last night's dance ended with an interracial couple's embrace.
Contact Michael Paul Williams at (804) 649-6815 or mwilliams@timesdispatch.com.
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