Honoring Black History: MLK Choir brings harmony to Siouxland

Yahoo

13-02-2025

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (KCAU) — Sandra Pearson and her husband Andrew have dedicated their free time to bringing unity and harmony to Siouxland.
While some may not have heard about the MLK Choir, it's been around for over 40 years.
'We started, I would say, back in the mid-eighties under Dr. Floyd Everett Brown,' choir director Sandra Pearson said. 'He was the one that was very instrumental in helping us to form this Martin Luther King choir.'
The idea to name the choir after the civil rights leader came from Pearson's sister.
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'She wanted to bring in the community through unity. And so why not choose Dr. Martin Luther King's vision and his dream to bring that on?' Pearson said. 'So we've been singing basically every year since then, and it involves the entire Siouxland area.'Anyone can join the volunteer-based choir. There are typically 35 to 80 members throughout the year.'I was invited. I had an email sent to me asking if I would like to be part of the choir,' member Kent Carper said. 'As soon as I got here and found out about this group, I was a part of it and the choir. It's been a really big blessing and a lot of fun.'The choir only practices two times for an hour each starting two weeks before a performance. It makes it easier for people to participate. 'We can sing anywhere from four to five songs,' Pearson said. 'We sing songs that are so inspiring and with a lot of energy. Sometimes our songs can really go for a while because the audience is really giving us that energy.'
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Choir members aren't just there to sing. They support one another as they go through difficult times.'After the rehearsal, I just really teared up because there were some words in the songs that really blessed me,' Carper said. 'It's a really, really awesome experience. I can't really describe in words, the energy, and just I love the unity as well because it's a very diverse choir of very diverse people of all kinds of backgrounds, all kinds of different – just a lot of diversity. And we're just all together, united, singing together.'The choir's biggest event is the yearly performance around Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
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