Birmingham native, Jamal Ali, along with his Omega Psi Phi Fraternity chapter brothers, (Rho Gamma Gamma) directed the play, “Birmingham– Voices of Freedom” on Saturday, March 22, 2014.
Ali said he wanted to bring the story to life in Chicago “so people can begin to appreciate the triumphs that emerged from the tragedies.”
Children and adults performed select poems, writings along with song and dance of those turbulent times of 1963 Birmingham.
“Still I Rise,” “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” and the song “Keep on Pushing” were preludes to the evening’s finale, “Ballad of Birmingham,” where Sharvette Rogers, also a Birmingham native and niece of Jamal Ali, traveled from Atlanta, Georgia to perform this moving poem about the bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church. Guests left the event feeling, entertained, informed and inspired.
