While Sandy Johnson loves her Johns Hopkins human resources job, there are times when it can test her good humor.
“But those feelings don’t last long,” she says, “because the choir practices every Tuesday.”
That choir is the 90-plus member Unified Voices, a volunteer group of Johns Hopkins employees and East Baltimore residents who perform gospel music at events around Baltimore. Johnson, a member since Unified Voices was birthed from an employee talent show in 1994, says the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Commemoration at The Johns Hopkins Hospital is the anchor of the choir’s performing year.
Friday marked the 35th commemoration, and, as it has for 23 years, Unified Voices filled Turner Auditorium with music honoring King’s legacy and spirit.
Robert Higgins, surgeon-in-chief of The Johns Hopkins Hospital and the hospital’s first African-American department head, delivered the keynote address to an audience that nearly filled the 759-seat auditorium.
Higgins talked about his family and his upbringing, with a mother who, after his father died in a car accident in 1964, raised Higgins and his two brothers. Through tears, he recalled his mother’s sacrifices as she provided for her sons.
“Would I be here if I didn’t have such a strong family? Or would I, like so many African-American men, have lived life with problems of incarceration, joblessness and a reduced life expectancy?”
Citing a decline in the number of African-American doctors and medical students, Higgins urged increased recruitment of underrepresented minorities at Johns Hopkins and throughout the medical community.
“There are explanations for the decrease,” he said. “But reversing the trend depends on our response as leaders. We all have a responsibility to be role models and mentors, and to influence the next generation, especially the underrepresented minorities of that generation.”
The event also featured remarks from recently retired U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski. Until her retirement, the East Baltimore native was the longest-serving woman in Congress. Last week, Mikulski joined The Johns Hopkins University as a political science faculty member and adviser to university President Ronald J. Daniels, who introduced her at the event.
She urged the audience to get involved in community service.
“Be the best at what you’re best at,” she said. “Every day, we’re going to make the world a better place. In the words of Martin Luther King, everybody can be great. Because everybody can be of service.”
The choir performed seven songs, including the event’s signature song, James Weldon Johnson’s “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” considered by many as the “Black American National Anthem.”
Johnson fronted the choir for their opening number, “Oh Happy Day,” urging the audience to sing along and greet one another.
“I want you to turn to your neighbor and say, ‘I’m happy to be here with you today!’”
Choir member Geraldine James says the MLK event is special to her. “I remember when [African-Americans] couldn’t walk in the front door of a movie theater,” says James, a Johns Hopkins employee for 42 years who works as a patient financial counselor at East Baltimore Medical Center. “We had to walk up the fire escape and watch the movie from the balcony. We’ve come so far, and Martin helped us make so much change. The choir gets so hyped up for this event.”
Founded by the late Levi Watkins Jr., the first African-American chief resident of cardiac surgery at Johns Hopkins, the Martin Luther King Jr. Commemoration event has drawn notable speakers over the years, including Coretta Scott King, Maya Angelou, Stevie Wonder, Rosa Parks and Bishop Desmond Tutu. The choir dedicated its performance of the hymn “Glory” to Watkins’ memory.
The event also honors the recipients of the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Service Awards, presented annually to Johns Hopkins staffers and students whose volunteer work recalls King’s community spirit.
This year’s recipients are Alexia Camm, Panagis Galiatsatos, Leigh Goetzke, Jessica Havern, Yvette Hicks, Carlisa Jones, Charles Odonkor and Daniel Pham.