URBANA — The words in spirituals, protest songs and jazz and blues music tell the history of blacks and civil rights in the United States.
But when they're sung by students at Wiley Elementary School in Urbana, they seem even more special, more historic, more hopeful.
The students put on an assembly Thursday to remember the life of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
Music, drama and dance teacher Cara Maurizi put the program together and said she thinks students learn the history better when associating it with music.
"It's the best way to teach them," she said.
The assembly was scheduled before the holiday in hopes the students will remember that on Monday, "this is why we don't have school today," Maurizi said.
The songs ranged from spirituals like "Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around" and "This Little Light of Mine" to Pete Seeger's peace anthem "Turn! Turn! Turn!" and even "Pride (In the Name of Love)," which U2 wrote as a tribute to King.
It ended with students and audience members alike together singing all the verses to "We Shall Overcome."
Between each performance, Maurizi created a voice recording to reiterate the history of the songs students performed. She also sang "Mood Indigo," by Duke Ellington, as a solo. With the help of accompanist Gordy Wilson, her soulful voice made the space feel more like a smoky nightclub than an elementary school gym.
Maurizi emphasized Ellington and his influence — he wouldn't perform for segregated audiences — and called jazz "American music."
The assembly also featured student art, in the form of animated videos coordinated by art teacher Rusty Clevenger.
He had students channel the styles of Jackson Pollock and Robert Rauschenberg, who incorporated people like King and John F. Kennedy into his art. Clevenger allowed his students to incorporate images from the civil rights movement, like Rosa Parks, sit-ins and scenes from Birmingham, Ala., and Memphis.
Students used repetition, line and color, Clevenger said, and every time they added something to their work, they took a picture. The progress was incorporated into a video they made using iMovie.
Another video presentation had fourth-graders reading from the book "Duke Ellington: The Piano Prince and His Orchestra," by Andrea Davis Pinkney and Brian Pinkney. Students also put their own spin on the book's illustrations with colored tracings made for the video.
Fifth-grader Hanna Davenport read an essay and showed a PowerPoint presentation she made that highlighted King's life and the changes he inspired. She encouraged her classmates to work together as they remember him.
"Just because he's no longer with us doesn't mean we can't remember the things he did for us," she said.