For centuries, African Americans had been denied the basic rights to live free and be educated. Against all odds, a small minority were able to find a path to creative expression. This unique concert tells their stories, in their voices, through music, slave testimonies, letters and autobiographies. It brings two centuries of music of unknown African American composers out of obscurity for all to hear as well as more familiar spirituals, gospel songs and works of Duke Ellington and Undine Smith Moore.