The late Rev. Esther Dozier to be celebrated April 2 in Great Barrington
GREAT BARRINGTON — The late Rev. Esther Dozier — who initiated Great Barrington’s annual W.E.B. Du Bois birthday celebrations more than 20 years ago — will be honored Saturday, April 2 with a birthday celebration of her own. On what would have been her 80th birthday, the first female pastor at the historic Clinton African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, will be feted at Saint James Place in Great Barrington. The community is invited to attend the 4 p.m. celebration, which will include music, tributes, and refreshments.
In 2001, Dozier led the town’s first annual Du Bois celebration. “Honoring Our History: A Celebration of W.E.B. Du Bois” included a lecture by David Graham Du Bois and a program by students from the Jubilee School in Philadelphia. Under Dozier’s leadership, the Clinton Church, long a center of social activism, became a hub for activities related to the Du Bois Homesite and Upper Housatonic Valley African American Heritage Trail. In the mid-2000s, Dozier collaborated closely with David Levinson on his book, “Sewing Circles, Dime Suppers, and W.E.B. Du Bois: A History of the Clinton A.M.E. Zion Church” (Berkshire Publishing, 2007) and began the nomination process that eventually led, in 2008, to the listing of the Clinton A.M.E. Zion Church on the National Register of Historic Places.
Born in rural Alabama, Dozier was raised in poverty but taught by her mother to dream big. As a young woman, she moved to the Berkshires with two of her sisters. Active in the Clinton Church for four decades, she served as its pastor for nearly nine years, the first woman (after 48 men) to hold the role since the church’s founding in the 1860s.
Dozier believed that the church was a place for refueling but her activities and influence extended far into the community. In addition to lifting up Black history and culture and the legacy of Du Bois, she spoke passionately against injustice, intolerance, and socio-economic inequality. She was a strong supporter of the housing organization Construct, which decades earlier had operated out of the Church’s basement, and was a frequent participant in charitable and interfaith activities.
“My aunt was so much about the future,” says Dozier’s nephew Delano Burrowes, a Brooklyn-based artist who is helping to plan the upcoming celebration. “She planted seeds for a lot of the conversations we’re having today. Her legacy prompts us to think of our own — what are we doing about the future? How can we live up to her ideals of hope, action, and service to our communities?”
“Esther had such an impact on me personally, and on Jubilee’s history,” says Jubilee School founder Karen Falcon, who will travel from Philadelphia to speak at the April 2 event. “She was an amazing person and had a legendary role in inspiring the town of Great Barrington to celebrate its native son. This tribute to her is richly deserved.”
Burrowes is one of three family members who will speak at the event. Joining him will be his mother Rev. Conway, co-pastor of the Macedonia Baptist Church and a member of Clinton Church Restoration advisory board, and Virginia Conway, Dozier’s sister-in-law and a longtime Clinton Church member. Musical selections will be offered by the Price Memorial A.M.E. Zion Church Choir and Dr. MaryNell Morgan-Brown.
There is no charge to attend the celebration, however, contributions to help restore the historic Clinton African Methodist Episcopal Church may be made in Rev. Dozier’s memory at the event or online.
—A.K.
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BCC introduces free STEM Café event
PITTSFIELD — Berkshire Community College (BCC) will present a free Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Café on Tuesday, March 22. The drop-in session will be held from 11:30 a.m.–1 p.m. in The Connector, located between Hawthorne Hall and Melville Hall.
Presented by BCC’s STEM Starter Academy, the STEM Café will focus on transfer and employment opportunities and feature presentations by Berkshire STEM Network partners. A special highlight includes the opportunity for instant transfer to Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA). Food, fun and prizes will be on hand.
Presenters include:
- MCLA Life Sciences & Radiology Departments
- General Dynamics
- Local non-profit STEM organizations Girls Inc., Flying Cloud Institute, and Center for EcoTechnology
- Berkshire STEM Network representatives, who will offer science kits and STEM lending library resources
- MCLA 2-4 STEM Transfer Bridge Program representative David Eve, MCLA Computer Science Department
- MassTeach representative Nick Stroud, MCLA Education Department
- MCLA Transfer Counselor Kolumbia Granger
- BCC Career Center representative Charlotte Lotz, who will offer BCC students enrollment in the career software program Handshake, and opportunities to learn about internships and jobs
- BCC STEM alumni who transferred to MCLA, who will share their experiences and aspirations
Forum credit will be provided to BCC students.
—A.K.
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Distinguished Lecture to feature composer-conductor William Perry
LENOX — The Lenox Library’s next Distinguished Lecture will be held Sunday, March 27 at 4 p.m. Composer, producer, and Berkshire Edge contributor William Perry will discuss “Poetry: It’s the Only Thing that Matters.” The event is free and open to the public, and will take place via Zoom.
Born in Elmira, New York, William P. Perry attended Harvard University and studied music with Paul Hindemith, Walter Piston, and Randall Thompson and literature with George Sherburn and Walter Jackson Bate. After a stint in the military, he joined the J. Walter Thompson advertising agency as a composer, script writer, and television producer, working with such entertainment icons as Arthur Godfrey, Ed Sullivan, and Jackie Gleason.
The next career move took him to the Museum of Modern Art, where he became music director and composed and performed more than 200 scores for the Museum’s silent film collection. His subsequent PBS television series, “The Silent Years,” hosted by Orson Welles and Lillian Gish, won an Emmy Award. Perry is often credited with having played a major role in the revival of interest in classic silent films. Continuing his association with PBS, he created and produced the “Anyone for Tennyson?” poetry series and thereafter produced and scored the Peabody-Award winning Mark Twain Series of six feature films for Great Performances. His stage work has included a musical biography of Mark Twain that ran for ten summers in Elmira and Hartford and a Broadway musical version of “Wind in the Willows” starring Nathan Lane. In recent years Perry, a longtime Berkshires resident, has concentrated on a Naxos series of CDs of his orchestral works. He also contributes a bi-weekly “Anyone for Tennyson?” column to The Berkshire Edge.
—A.K.
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Mid-day Music and Meditation at Salisbury UCC
SALISBURY, Conn. — The Congregational Church of Salisbury, UCC will present its monthly Mid-day Music and Meditation on Friday, April 1 from 12–12:30 p.m. at 30 Main St. in Salisbury. The Meeting House doors will open at 11:30 a.m. and attendance will be restricted to one-half capacity. Audience members will be admitted on a first-come, first-served basis. Masks will be required.
For this musical meditation, the church’s music director, Dr. Samuel Lord Kalcheim, will present a half hour of organ and instrumental works. Free to the public, this musical gift provides a time of reflection surrounded by inspiring, soul-nourishing classical repertory. For more information, please contact the church office at 860-435-2442.
—A.K.
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Berkshire Bounty mobile food drive set for April 5
GREAT BARRINGTON — Berkshire Bounty’s next Mobile Food Drive will be held Tuesday, April 5 from 9-11 a.m.
Volunteers will again be collecting canned and/or packaged goods to be delivered to The People’s Pantry in Great Barrington. Volunteers will come to donors’ homes on April 5 between 9–11 a.m. Donations should be left on the doorstep by 9 a.m. Donations may also be dropped off at Hevreh of Southern Berkshire or The People’s Pantry.
Please consider a) donating canned and/or packaged food or b) driving to pick up food at donors’ home. If you are interested in participating, please email Berkshire Bounty at info@berkshire-bounty.org and include what would like to do, your street address, email address, and best contact telephone number.
Foods in most demand are hearty soups, pasta, pasta sauce, cereal, cooking oil, coffee, and tea. If donating from your own pantry, please check expiration dates.
—A.K.
