An annual event sponsored by The Unitarian Society, MLK@TUS promotes anti-racist education and action within the wider community. This event is scheduled in remembrance of Dr. Martin Luther King’s assassination in April 1968.
MLK@TUS 2024
1964/2024: Reflections on the Civil Rights Act of 1964
with Musical and Spoken Performances and a Keynote Address
April 7, 2024
April 7, 2024 – The Unitarian Society (TUS), located at 176 Tices Lane in East Brunswick, is hosting the annual MLK@TUS event, this year reflecting on 60 years since the Civil Rights Act was signed into law.
The Sunday event, starting at 3 p.m., is open to all at no cost, though donations are welcome. After an introduction, pianist Ansel Mapp and vocalist Tangie Cobb will perform songs of the Civil Rights movement such as “Lift Every Voice and Sing” and “We Shall Overcome.” The New Jersey Orators will then grace the stage with spoken performances, culminating with a keynote address by Bruce Morgan, President of New Brunswick Area NAACP. Opportunity for fellowship will begin at 5 p.m. with light refreshments served.
About the performers and speakers:
- Ansel Mapp is currently a MM Piano Performance degree candidate and student of Dr. Min Kwon at the Mason Gross School of the Arts, at Rutgers University. He received a BA in Applied Music and Philosophy from Baylor University in 2022. On Dec. 4, 2021, Ansel performed his first solo recital in Roxy Grove Hall at Baylor University, featuring all Black composers, and with works written by Valerie Capers, Florence Price, Margaret Bonds, Robert Nathaniel Dett, and arr. Dr. John L. Cornelius II, Associate Professor and Collaborative Pianist at Prairie View A&M University. This recital program was the first at Baylor to feature all Black composers and to feature multiple Black women composers. In June 2023, Ansel performed in the inaugural Nina Simone Piano Competition in Cincinnati. By doing the work to promote Black composers in spaces that lack Black representation, Ansel hopes to change attitudes surrounding minority composers and show that there is truly deserving and amazing music that needs to be showcased.
- Tangie Cobb began performing at C.L. Harper High School and Clark Atlanta University (CAU) in Georgia. Following graduation from CAU with a BA in Communications/Theatre Film Arts, Tangie relocated to New Brunswick, NJ in 1991. As an African American College Initiative Program intern at the famed Crossroads Theatre Company, she honed her talents in stage management, acting, and theatre administration under the tutelage of Ricardo Khan and Sydne Mahone. Tangie has shared the stage with veteran performers: Thuli Dumakude and Ebony Jo-Ann in the production of “Sheila’s Day,” where she was a cast member in the South African Tour of the Grahamstown Theatre Festival and the Brooklyn Academy of Music in 1993. The late South African director Mbongeni Ngema wrote a part specifically for Tangie. Being completely enthralled by “Sheila’s Day,” Tangie adapted her own “One Woman Version” of the story, which she shared at the 100th Celebration of the NAACP at Crossroads Theater in 2009.
- New Jersey Orators, Inc. is a non-profit 501(c)( 3) youth organization with the mission to teach the art of public speaking, an appreciation for literature, reading and media arts literacy, civic engagement, college readiness and life skills to youth from 7 to 18 years old in preparation for advance learning. Their objective is to develop critical thinking skills in youth and expose students to culturally sensitive literature written by authors and playwrights whom they would not normally know about from the curriculum taught in their schools, but the exposure would enrich their educational experience. The New Jersey Orators, Inc. has received several recognition awards for their impact such as the 2023 Dr. King Commission Award for Youth Programs; 2022 NJ Governors’ Jefferson Award; 2021 New Jersey Chamber & the African American Chamber of Commerce Diversity Award; and 2019 Johnson & Johnson’s MLK Community Service Award. The New Jersey Orators, Inc. is headquartered in Bridgewater, NJ.
- Bruce S. Morgan is the President of the New Brunswick Area Branch NAACP, 1st Vice President of the New Jersey State Conference of NAACP and the Region II representative to the NAACP National Resolutions Committee. Bruce serves on several advisory boards including the Middlesex College Advisory Council. Bruce’s commitment to youth has the New Brunswick Area Branch working closely with the New Brunswick ACT-SO mentoring program and Rutgers University NAACP Scarlet New Brunswick Chapter. The recipient of numerous awards and citations, Bruce always gives the credit to those standing beside him on the front lines fighting for freedom, equity, and equality for his recognition. Some of his awards are the Highland Park Dr. Martin Luther, King Jr. Award, the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Award for Community Service, from H.O.N.O.R., an affinity group of Johnson & Johnson, the Paul Harris Award from Rotary International, Vulcan Pioneers of NB Community Service Award and jointly with his wife, the Metuchen-Edison Area Branch NAACP Ozzie Davis & Ruby Dee Award.
“You Don’t Know Me Until You Know Me”
with Dr. Mykee Fowlin
April 23, 2023
On April 23, 2023, The Unitarian Society hosted a presentation challenging us to unveil our authentic selves. An experiential, one-person theatrical event, “MLK@TUS: You Don’t Know Me Until You Know Me,” featured a moving performance by Dr. Mykee Fowlin, whose mission is to create an atmosphere of worldwide inclusion, beyond tolerance, toward all people.
