Stephen L. Hayes, Artistic Director of The A Cappella Choir of Wiley College, was presented an honorary doctorate degree during Saturday's commencement ceremony in recognition of his exemplary leadership, training, and mentoring of the much loved choir, which has performed twice at the White House during his tenure. Thank you Dr. Hayes for the beautiful music ministry you have shared across the U.S. and abroad!
Wiley College Article
October 6, 2016
When music major Stephen L. Hayes earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff in 1973, his goal was to become a composer-arranger for STAX Records. It did not happen. In time, he would accept a higher education appointment in the music department at Philander Smith College in Little Rock, Arkansas.
It was his choir at Philander Smith College that would sing the anthem at the Fifty-Second Presidential Inaugural of Bill Clinton. Later, when he was given the nod to lead the great Tuskegee University Choir in Alabama, his choirs won national choral festivals and was invited to sing in the East Room of the White House. Eventually, Mr. Hayes would conduct choirs at Carnegie Hall, the John F. Kennedy Center, Madison Square Garden and for the National Prayer Breakfast.
He now serves as an associate professor of music at Wiley College, and he is the artistic director of the A Cappella Choir of Wiley College. It was under his baton that the choir sang twice at the White House, in 2011 and 2013.
On October 7, the Sundance Film Festival First Place Prize winning film "The Birth Of A Nation" will open in theaters across the country. It is based upon a true story about Nat Turner's slave rebellion in 1831 in Southampton, Virginia. Nate Parker produced, directed, wrote and stars as Nat Turner.
The movie's soundtrack was recorded by the A Cappella Choir of Wiley College under Mr. Hayes' direction. The choir's recording of "Couldn't Hear Nobody Pray" plays at the end of the movie as the credits roll.
Wiley College is known for its national championship debate team that was featured in the movie "The Great Debaters" starring Denzel Washington, Forest Whitaker, and Jurnee Smollett-Bell. The Wiley College Choir recorded musical excerpts for the soundtrack of that film also.
Atlantic Records recently released the "The Inspired By Album"- the CD soundtrack for "The Birth of a Nation." Wiley's choir is featured on the soundtrack singing "Couldn't Hear Nobody Pray" and backing popular artist Trey Songz on the track, "Stand." The CD and tracks from the album are available on ITunes.
With its most recent accomplishments of recording music for actor Nate Parker's directorial debut, "The Birth of a Nation," and the movie's soundtrack CD, which was released last year by Atlantic Records, the A Cappella Choir of Wiley College (ACWC) continues to share its music ministry around our country and the world.
Under the baton of its artistic director, Stephen L. Hayes, who is an assistant professor of music at Wiley College, the choir spent two days in November in the College's chapel recording the scene and atmospheric music for the movie, including the hauntingly moving melody "I Couldn't Hear Nobody Pray," featuring Lewis Keys, Wiley College Class of 2012.
Arranged by Mr. Hayes, the melody is a piece the choir is highly requested to perform. Mr. Keys sang the melody for ACWC during his four years at the College; it is featured on the soundtrack and can now be purchased on ITunes.
The A Cappella Choir of Wiley College also recorded background music for the soundtrack's title "Stand" by Trey Songz, which can also now be purchased on ITunes.
Other major accomplishments by the A Cappella Choir of Wiley College under Mr. Hayes' leadership include singing at the Hollywood premiere of "The Birth of a Nation" in September, 2016; traveling to Japan in 2014 to perform at the International Association of Methodist-related Schools, Colleges, and Universities conference in Hiroshima; singing at the White House in 2011 and 2013; performing in concert with Grammy-winning artist Rita Coolidge in 2011; and contributing music to the soundtrack for the film "The Great Debaters" in 2007. The choir has also recently received offers to sing in Africa, Brazil, and Australia.
"The Birth of a Nation," tells the story of Nat Turner's slave rebellion in Southampton County, Virginia, in 1831. The movie won the Audience Award and the Grand Jury Prize at last year's Sundance Film Festival and was acquired by Fox Searchlight for $17.5 million, the largest purchase in Sundance history.
When he rolled into the Jim Crow South on a Greyhound bus - a black man sitting in the whites-only front seat - James Farmer was scared.
"Courage is not being unafraid, but doing what needs to be done in spite of fear," said the founder of the Freedom Rides and pioneer of the earliest sit-ins.
A relentless leader, a dynamic speaker, and a forceful organizer, Farmer was one of the first civil rights activists to use nonviolent direct action to fight for dignity and justice. Yet at what cost?
His own family suffered from his frequent absences, prison stays, and threats made on his life. And, he was continually disappointed in his lack of recognition, especially after witnessing the momentous legacy of Martin Luther King, a man ten years his junior.
The Good Fight chronicles Farmer's life, in his own words, from his earliest days as a "Great Debater" at Wiley College to his legacy teaching a new generation of students about the movement that shaped a country.
The Great Debaters is a 2007 American biographical drama film directed by and starring Denzel Washington. It is based on an article written about the Wiley College debate team by Tony Scherman for the spring 1997 issue of American Legacy. The film co-stars Forest Whitaker, Kimberly Elise, Nate Parker, Gina Ravera, Jermaine Williams and Jurnee Smollett. The screenplay was written by Robert Eisele. The film was released in theaters on December 25, 2007.
Based on a true story, the plot revolves around the efforts of debate coach Melvin B. Tolson (Denzel Washington) at Wiley College, a Historically Black College, to place his team on equal footing with whites in the American South during the 1930s, when Jim Crow laws were common and lynch mobs were a pervasive fear for blacks. In the movie, the Wiley team eventually succeeds to the point where they are able to debate Harvard University. This was their 47th annual debate team.
The movie also explores the social constructs in Texas during the Great Depression including not only the day-to-day insults and slights African Americans endured, but also a lynching. Also depicted is James L. Farmer, Jr. (Denzel Whitaker), who, at 14 years old, was on Wiley's debate team after completing high school (and who later went on to co-found C.O.R.E., the Congress of Racial Equality). According to the Houston Chronicle, another character depicted on the team, Samantha Booke, is based on the real individual Henrietta Bell Wells, the only female member of the 1930 debate team from Wiley College who participated in the first collegiate interracial debate in the United States. Wells also happened to be a minor African American poet whose papers are housed at the Library of Congress.
The key line of dialogue, used several times, is a famous paraphrase of Augustine of Hippo: "An unjust law is no law at all."
Another major line, repeated in slightly different versions according to context, concerns doing what you "have to do" in order that we "can do" what we "want to do." In all instances, these vital lines are spoken by the James L. Farmer Sr. and James L. Farmer, Jr. characters.
Director Stephen L. Hayes with Take 6 and the 105 Voices of History at the Kennedy Center - September, 2009
Take 6 & HBCU 105 Voices Kennedy Center, DC Pt 1
