A “Wings Over Jordan Choir” Full-Circle Moment

Posted on May 19, 2025 by Dr. Regennia N. Williams, Founder, President, and Executive Director
The Wings Over Jordan Choir in a publicity photo ca. 1940. Worth Kramer, conductor.

by Regennia N. Williams, PhD

On Saturday, May 17, 2025, I experienced a deeply moving full-circle moment, one that I will hold close to my heart forever. That day, surrounded by family, friends, and colleagues, I participated in the Wings Over Jordan Alumni & Friends’ scholarship luncheon. It was a profound honor to be one of the individuals recognized for dedication to preserving and promoting the powerful concert spirituals that the Wings Over Jordan Choir from Cleveland, Ohio helped make famous in the 1930s and 1940s. (See plaque below.)

Maestro Glen Brackens (left) is shown above with members of the leadership team for the 2025 Wings Over Jordan Alumni & Friends Scholarship Luncheon. (Photo by Regennia N. Williams)

The Rev. Glenn T. Settle, Pastor of Cleveland’s Gethsemane Baptist Church, established the choir in 1935. I was first introduced to the amazing history of the Wings Over Jordan Choir as a Junior High School student in Cleveland, where I had the exhilarating experience of singing in a Gospel Music Workshop of America (GMWA) convention choir in 1974. Over the years, I have been blessed to study and write about the Wings Over Jordan Choir and interview alumni and friends of this legendary group for the Praying Grounds Oral History Project. In 2015, I took a bold step and founded Spiritual Gifts: A Professional Black Sacred Music Repertory Ensemble, embarking on a thrilling journey to Europe for the group’s inaugural tour during the Advent season. Under the direction of Maestro Glenn Brackens, our repertoire was a celebration of gospel, spirituals, and other powerful forms of Black sacred music.

Life got even more interesting after I moved to the Metro DC area in 2016, when a team member working on an exhibit for the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) contacted me about information on the Wings Over Jordan that I had included in an earlier publication. In responding to that request, I was able to help facilitate the inclusion of materials about the choir in one of NMAAHC’s inaugural exhibits.

I returned to my hometown in December of 2019, and it warms my heart to see people around the world embracing the rich cultural expressions of African Americans from Cleveland and beyond. Reflecting on my journey from a Junior High School student to a published historian brings a smile to my face, especially when I consider the significant impact that the Wings Over Jordan Alumni & Friends group has had on my life. That awards luncheon truly felt like a full-circle moment, and I sincerely hope that the students who received scholarships and participated in the program activities on May 17, 2025, find even greater success in their future endeavors.

Left: Maestro Glenn Brackens and summer arts program alumna and luncheon MC.

Below: Dr. Regennia N. Williams, award recipient. (Photos courtesy of Regennia N. Williams)

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Arts & Humanities Alive! (AHA!) to Host a Virtual Pre-Juneteenth Discussion on June 9, 2025

Posted on May 6, 2025 by Dr. Regennia N. Williams, Founder, President, and Executive Director

By Regennia N. Williams

Dear Friends,

Please know that you are cordially invited to join me for a pre-Juneteenth Zoom program titled “Tubman, Stokes, and ‘Station Hope.'” This free virtual discussion will take place on June 9, 2025, at 7 PM EST. We will consider the work of Harriet Tubman (1822-1913), Congressman Louis Stokes (1925-2015), and other like-minded Americans in Black freedom struggles of the 1860s, 1960s, and beyond.

Please save the date, and see the event announcement on Facebook for registration info.

Thank you!



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Toni Morrison, My Writing Muse

Posted on April 2, 2025 by Dr. Regennia N. Williams, Founder, President, and Executive Director

By Regennia N. Williams, PhD

Author Toni Morrison (1931-2019) has long been my muse of choice. A native of Lorain, Ohio, Morrison’s work never fails to inspire and amaze me, whether I am in my hometown of Cleveland, Ohio or some other great location.

On April 1, 2025, the first day of National Month of Hope, Jazz Appreciation Month, and National Poetry Month, Morrison’s life inspired me to organize my thoughts for upcoming research and writing projects on photojournalism, African American art, oral history, memory, and community.

My motivational reading for April 1st was “Toni Morrison’s Beloved: History, ‘Rememory,’ and a ‘Clamor for a Kiss.'” This insightful article by Caroline Rody reminded me of why I love Beloved, Jazz, and other Morrison novels from the late 20th century, especially her understanding of Black history and culture.

I will keep reading works by and about Morrison whenever I need inspiration and motivation for my own work in 2025-2026. You are more than welcome to join me on this reading and writing journey.

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Honoring Harriet Tubman on March 10th and Every Day!

Posted on March 10, 2025 by Dr. Regennia N. Williams, Founder, President, and Executive Director

Harriet Tubman, c. 1868.

By Regennia N. Williams, PhD

On March 10, 2025, people across the United States will observe Harriet Tubman Day. Tubman, who lived from 1822 to 1913, has been memorialized as, among other things, a freedom-seeking conductor on the Underground Railroad, a Civil War Era spy, scout, nurse, and general; a suffragist, and a member of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church.

I invite readers of all ages to learn about the life and legacy of this great American woman throughout 2025. Adults can join discussions about COMBEE: Harriet Tubman, the Combahee River Raid, and Black Freedom during the Civil War (Oxford University Press, 2024). We will also explore related children’s literature starting with When Harriet Met Sojourner (HarperCollins, 2007). The covers of both titles are shown below.

Be sure to obtain and read both books, and watch for announcements about virtual and face-to face discussions beginning in May 2025.

HAPPY READING!

Version 1.0.0
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Celebrating Black Art, Black Family History and the Legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Posted on January 8, 2025 by Dr. Regennia N. Williams, Founder, President, and Executive Director

By Regennia N. Williams PhD

Above: Bonnie Venable and Rodney Carpenter are the featured artists for a January 20, 2025, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. commemorative event in Cleveland.

I am often pleasantly surprised to find that there are so many wonderful artists, educators, and scholars right in front of me — or just a few blocks up the street from my home! But that is one of the benefits of living in Cleveland’s Larchmere / Shaker Square District, where there is no shortage of creative geniuses.

In December, for example, I stopped by Larchmere Arts to say hello to artist-owner Vince Robinson. Vince was not available, but I ended up having a wonderful conversation with Bonnie Venable and Rodney Carpenter. They are the founders of R & B 216 Studio. They are also the creators of all of the paintings, drawings, prints, and jewelry that were on display at Larchmere Arts during the year-end holiday season.

This chance meeting served as my introduction to Bonnie’s work. But, Rodney and I met years ago, when I asked him to paint a portrait of my late father, Nathaniel Williams, Sr., who was a U.S. Army veteran and one of the founding members of Cleveland’s New Joshua Missionary Baptist Church. The portrait that Rodney painted continues to be a family favorite.

Above: U.S. Army veteran Nathaniel Williams, Sr. (Rodney Carpenter, artist. Courtesy of Regennia N. Williams.)

On Sunday, January 20, 2025, 10 AM – 4 PM (EST) Rodney Carpenter and Bonnie Venable will be the featured guest artists for the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. commemorative program activities. The artists’ contributions to the larger event are sponsored by African American History Initiatives at the Western Reserve Historical Society’s Cleveland History Center. Admission to the museum and the art exhibition will be free for all guests. You are cordially invited to attend. For more information, please see samples of their work below, and visit https://www.facebook.com/share/p/15b2RuVhGm/.

Help Wanted, by Rodney Carpenter (2019)

Freedom Marchers, by Bonnie Venable (2020)

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2024: A Smithsonian-Inspired Year to Remember

Posted on December 29, 2024 by Dr. Regennia N. Williams, Founder, President, and Executive Director

By Regennia N. Williams, PhD

The folder cover for information packets that we distributed for the Smithsonian-Cleveland Partnership launch activities.

In my December 2023 blog post, I shared detailed information about the January 2024 Smithsonian-Cleveland Partnership activities. These programs would involve local residents, their organizations, and museum professionals from the Robert F. Smith Center for the Digitization and Curation of African American History at the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC). Individuals throughout Greater Cleveland supported our plans for celebrating, documenting, and preserving African American history.

Carlos Latimer is the Director of the East Cleveland Public Library. He is shown standing next to a portrait of Icabod Flewellen. Mr. Flewellen was the founder and director of Cleveland’s African American Museum. (Regennia N. Williams, Photographer)

The East Cleveland Public Library’s Icabod Flewellen Collection attracted lots of attention during the Smithsonian team’s visit. This should come as no surprise to many students of local history. After all, Flewellen was the founder of Cleveland’s African American Museum. The energy in the room was palpable. Rita Knight-Gray, the librarian-archivist, enjoyed the East Cleveland session the most. She processed the Flewellen Collection and now wants to see it digitized.

NMAAHC’s Dr. Doretha Williams (second from left) examines materials from East Cleveland Public Library’s Icabod Flewellen Collection. (Regennia N. Williams, Photographer)

Our Smithsonian guests traveled by mini bus with members of the host team. Our other stops included venues where African American art and archival collections were housed. Among these were the Cleveland Museum of Art. They also included Severance Music Center, home of The Cleveland Orchestra. Other stops were the Cleveland Public Library, the Western Reserve Historical Society, Mt. Zion Congregational Church, Antioch Baptist Church, Karamu House, Gethsemane Baptist Church, and East Mt. Zion Baptist Church.

Dr. Richard Jones is a member of the African American Archives Auxiliary of the Western Reserve Historical Society. He also shared his incredible collection of rare Black postcards. We also visited Cleveland State University’s Michael Schwartz Library, where the Praying Grounds Documentary and Oral History Collections are housed.

Clevelanders are thrilled about the opportunity to learn from the Smith Center team. Our official Smithsonian-Cleveland Partnership website also indicates their excitement. They are looking forward to future visits.

Sister Yvetta, a master drummer and poet, performed with dancers and drummers of Djapo Cultural Arts. The performance at the East Mt. Zion Baptist Church was rousing. (Regennia N. Williams, Photographer)

Dr. Regennia N. Williams (left) and DavidPatrick Ryan joined others in viewing the East Mt. Zion Greenstone Church Oral History exhibition on January 27, 2024, the day of the Smithsonian’s Community Summit. (Photograph courtesy of Regennia N. Williams)

“A Place for All People: Introducing the National Museum of African American History and Culture” is a poster exhibition from the Smithsonian Institution’s Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES). It was on display at the Western Reserve Historical Society during the first quarter of 2024.

Grand Dame Queenie is a 2012 painting by Amy Sherald. It is included in the SITES poster exhibition “A Place for All People.”

TV20’s Errol Porter and Regennia N. Williams discussed the Smithsonian-Cleveland Partnership launch during a February 20, 2024, Black History Month segment. (Photograph courtesy of Regennia N. Williams)

This book served as the recommended text for the NMAAHC-inspired spring 2024 “Archives 101” initiative. The initiative included site visits to Cleveland Public Library. It also involved visits to The Dittrick Medical History Center on the campus of Case Western Reserve University.

For more information, including program updates for 2025 – 2026, please visit https://www.cleblackhistoryandculture.com/.

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Reconnecting with Cleveland State University: Memories & Insights

Posted on December 16, 2024 by Dr. Regennia N. Williams, Founder, President, and Executive Director

Above: Dr. Regennia N. Williams, founding editor of The Journal of Traditions & Beliefs and four-time alumna of Cleveland State University, is pictured outside the Regennia N. Williams Campus Activities Board Office at Cleveland State University. (Photograph Courtesy of Regennia N. Williams)

By Regennia N. Williams, PhD

The Fall 2024 Homecoming Week activities at Cleveland State University (CSU) offered opportunities for me to reconnect with my Alma Mater and many of my former CSU colleagues. New friends at the student center also worked with me to create the above self-portrait outside the Regennia N. Williams Campus Activities Board Office.

Needless to say, I am grateful to CSU for so many of the life-changing opportunities that I have enjoyed in my hometown of Cleveland, Ohio and throughout the global community–including travels to Asia, Europe, and Africa and the opportunity to serve as the founding editor of The Journal of Traditions & Beliefs and The Traditions & Beliefs Newsletter. While the COVID-19 global pandemic and related activities delayed the publication of both our biennial journal and the newsletter, I am pleased to say that we plan to be back on track by the first quarter of 2025.

Until our new publications are released in 2025, please visit https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/jtb/ to read journal articles from our previous issues, use the links below to check out some of our most popular articles for November 2024, and visit our “Praying Grounds” website at https://www.clevelandmemory.org/pray/ to see back issues of the newsletter and other important information about my ongoing research on religion and spirituality in the history of Africa and the African Diaspora. Thank you!

The Journal of Traditions & Beliefs 
In November 2024, The Journal of Traditions & Beliefs had 854 downloads.
The most popular papers were: 
The Spiritual Mandela: Faith and Religion in the Life of Nelson Mandela (142 downloads)
https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/jtb/vol6/iss1/10
Self-Realization in a Restricted World: Janie’s Early Discovery in Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God (99 downloads)
https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/jtb/vol4/iss1/5
Hex Workers: African American Women, Hoodoo, and Power in the Nineteenth- and Early Twentieth-Century U.S. (74 downloads)
https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/jtb/vol3/iss1/8
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Let There Be Singing!

Posted on October 10, 2024 by Dr. Regennia N. Williams, Founder, President, and Executive Director
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Helen Turner-Thompson and the Power of Words and Music

Posted on March 30, 2024 by Dr. Regennia N. Williams, Founder, President, and Executive Director

By Regennia N. Williams, PhD

When I was informed of the passing of Rev. Helen Turner-Thompson (January 7, 1931 – March 5, 2024), I immediately thought of the times when she graciously agreed to share her oral history with me or other individuals who were working with me.

In 2004, I had the pleasure of interviewing Rev. Helen Turner-Thompson in her home for The HistoryMakers, one of the nation’s largest African American video oral history projects. The original interview is housed with others for this project in the Library of Congress. This screenshot is taken from The HistoryMakers website. For more information, including video excerpts from the interview, click HERE.

In the 2003 studio interview for the Praying Grounds Project at Cleveland State University, the 2004 HistoryMakers interview in her home, and the 2021 telephone interview with the members of the A. Grace Lee Mims Arts and Culture Oral History Project, she let everyone know that she had both contributed to the art of Black sacred music and been influenced by the contributions of other artists.

(Above) Rev. Helen Turner-Thompson and her vocal and instrumental ensemble posed with me for this Juneteenth 2021 photograph at the Western Reserve Historical Society. (Photograph courtesy of Regennia N. Williams.)

Hers was definitely a life well-lived and carefully documented, and numerous interviews, concert performances, church services, articles, book chapters, and books provide evidence of the value of her work. Those of us who knew her benefitted greatly from her contributions, and she will be missed. Thanks especially to the HistoryMakers, the Cleveland Memory Project, where the Praying Grounds Collection is housed, and the Gospel Music Historical Society, where she served on the governing board, students of African American history will continue to benefit from her rich legacy for years to come.

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Community Curation and Digitization Activities Have the Potential to Make Every Month Black History Month

Posted on December 26, 2023 by Dr. Regennia N. Williams, Founder, President, and Executive Director

Pictured above (left to right) are the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, and the Washington Monument. (Photographs by Regennia N. Williams.)

By Regennia N. Williams, PhD

For reasons that are obvious to everyone with an interest in African American history, the first quarter of the calendar year can be incredibly busy. Between the commemorative events related to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday in January and the month-long celebration of Black history in February, there is seldom, if ever, a shortage of thought-provoking programs for audiences of all ages. For residents of Greater Cleveland, however, an already rich season of arts and humanities programming is about to become even richer.

Beginning in January 2024, the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) will partner with local businesses, faith communities, cultural arts organizations, educational institutions, neighborhood groups, and individuals to promote the preservation of African American history at the local level. The partnership may continue for several years, and it has the potential to improve access to African American archives in research institutions, and make every month Black history month! 

Thanks to the Robert F. Smith Center for the Digitization and Curation of African American History, Clevelanders will soon be able to reap the same partnership benefits that residents of Washington, DC, Chicago, New Orleans, Nashville, and other communities have already enjoyed. Residents will participate in workshops, work one-on-one with museum professionals from the nation’s capital, learn more about their own collections and materials that are available in local library and archival collections, and view and discuss the “gOD-Talk” documentary film, “a groundbreaking project led by the Center for the Study of African American Religious Life in association with the Pew Research Center.”

Dr. Doretha Williams is the director of the Smith Center, and I am pleased to serve as the local program director for the Cleveland partnership. ”MLK, Movements, Millennials, and More: From ‘We Shall Overcome and the Civil Rights Movement to #BlackLivesMatter and ‘A Place for All People'” is the theme for Cleveland’s January launch. Site visits and other program activities will begin on Wednesday, January 24th with a tour of the Severance Music Center and the archives of the Cleveland Orchestra and will conclude on Saturday, January 27th with a “Community Curation Summit Meeting” at the city’s historic East Mt. Zion Baptist Church. Pictured below, this local landmark was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2022.

The African American Archives Auxiliary (AAAA /”Quad A”) of the Western Reserve Historical Society (WRHS), which is a Smithsonian Affiliate, and African American History Initiatives at WRHS will serve as the official hosts. The RASHAD Center, Inc., Black Girl Media, the Greater Cleveland Urban Film Festival (GCUFF), and the JT Lynch Jazz Ensemble are among the other local partners. This NMAAHC partnership is the first of its kind for Cleveland, and local groups are understandably thrilled to be part of the upcoming series of events.

Admission for all public programs will be free, and registration will begin on January 3, 2024.  Day, evening, and weekend events are planned, so please watch for more details here next month. You are also invited to click on the links above for more information about the work of NMAAHC and the Smith Center, or send an email to rashadcenterinc1@gmail.com for more information on the NMAAHC-Cleveland partnership.

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