Release date: March 7, 2007

Sweet Honey in the Rock Founder Offers "Songtalk"

Contact: Elaine Justice, 404-727-0643, elaine.justice@emory.edu
Contact: Kelly McLendon, 404-727-4481, kelly.mclendon@emory.edu

Bernice Johnson Reagon, founder of the Grammy Award-winning Sweet Honey in the Rock ensemble, will present a special "Songtalk" offering at Emory University's Candler School of Theology at 7 p.m. Monday, March 26 at Cannon Chapel. "Songtalk" is a balance of song and talk in the creation of a live performance conversation. The event is free and open to the public.

Candler Women, a group comprised of female divinity students based at Candler, are sponsoring "The Art of Justice" as part of Candler's annual Women's Week from March 26-30. The week's events include a series of guest speakers, worship services and entertainment, including Reagon, highlighting women's roles in civil rights and social justice movements.

Reagon is professor emeritus of history at American University. She retired from Sweet Honey in the Rock, the acclaimed African American women's a cappella ensemble she founded in 1973, having produced most of the group's recordings including the Grammy-nominated "Still the Same Me."

Reagon has served as a music consultant, composer and performer for several radio, film and video projects, including the Peabody Awarding-winning 1994 radio series "Wade in the Water: African American Sacred Music Traditions," produced by National Public Radio and the Smithsonian Institution.

Reagon's work as a scholar and composer is reflected in numerous publications and productions of African American culture and history. She is the recipient of the 2003 Heinz Award for the Arts and Humanities of the Heinz Family Foundation.

Other programs open to the public and free of change during Women's Week 2007 include:

• 11 a.m., Tuesday, March 27 - "Service of Word and Table with Celebrant Rev. Nora Martinez," Cannon Chapel;

• 11 a.m., Thursday, March 29 - "Service of Word: Artistic Celebration," Cannon Chapel;

• 7 p.m., Friday, March 30 - "Coffee House and Silent Auction," featuring works of art that honor and explore artistic expressions of social justice, Brooks Commons, Cannon Chapel.

For additional information or questions, contact Jessica Davenport at jdaven2@swbell.net or Kate Floyd at khfloyd@emory.edu.

Candler School of Theology, Emory University, is an intellectually vital, internationally distinguished, and intentionally diverse university-based school of theology. Candler is committed to educating ministers, scholars of religion, and other leaders. Candler is dedicated to expanding knowledge of religion and theology, deepening spiritual life, strengthening the public witness of the churches, and building upon the breadth of Christian traditions, particularly the Wesleyan heritage, for the positive transformation of church and world. It is one of 13 United Methodist Church seminaries, and its enrollment includes more than 500 students from more than 50 denominations.

Emory University is one of the nation's leading private research universities and a member of the Association of American Universities. Known for its demanding academics, outstanding undergraduate college of arts and sciences, highly ranked professional schools and state-of-the-art research facilities, Emory is ranked as one of the country's top 20 national universities by U.S. News & World Report. In addition to its nine schools, the university encompasses The Carter Center, Yerkes National Primate Research Center and Emory Healthcare, the state's largest and most comprehensive health care system.

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