The Cry of My People

“Freedom is something that has to be constantly monitored and watched.”—Archie Shepp

We invite sonic commotion for civic disruption through performance, poetry, and revolutionary thought. This show’s lineup features three artists who empower audiences to decipher the sorrow, rage, and angst of an era. The Cry of My People conveys aural imagery of Blackness and Black life in America for audience contemplation. With majestic composer, pianist and organist Amina Claudine Myers accompanying on piano along with a 10-piece band, Archie Shepp presents a selection of his spiritual yet radically charged works including the fiery and intriguing Algiers-inspired “Yasmina, a Black Woman.”

In her first live New York City performance since the 1970s, Linda Sharrock’s powerful vocal projections offer the audience a moment of witness to the voice as an instrument. Honoring Linda’s incomparable virtuosity—which prominently shaped Sonny Sharrock’s 1969 Black Woman album—the performance will activate an emotionally charged atmosphere of self-determination in a searing suite of empowerment.

Claudia Rankine shares select readings from her poetic works The End Of The Alphabet (1998) and Just Us: An American Conversation (2020).