NATCHEZ &045; The racial dividing line obvious to the eye was blurred into obscurity Tuesday night once ears opened to the soul-touching stories of the Holy Family Catholic Church gospel choir.

The history of the all-black choir quickly became the history of the all-white audience at the annual presentation of &uot;A Southern Road to Freedom.&uot;

Performed three nights a week during Pilgrimage, the choral presentation aims at giving tourists and residents alike the story of the contributions of black men and women in Natchez.

The performance began in 1990 in response to a prompt from a white resident that felt the black story wasn’t told during pilgrimage’s house tours and Historic Natchez Pageant. Resident Ora Frazier volunteered to write the script of &uot;A Southern Road to Freedom&uot; more than 15 years ago.

&uot;I had gone to pageant and was terribly disappointed and a little hurt,&uot; Frazier said. &uot;There are other things about us that need to be told.&uot;

The stories

From Ibrahima the slave traded in Natchez to Richard Wright the nationally famous author, each of the characters portrayed by choir members has a Natchez connection, except one.

&uot;I put Harriet Tubman in there as a symbol,&uot; Frazier said. &uot;She rescued a lot of those who were enslaved. She is a symbol of the stronghold and the survival of those who were enslaved.&uot;

Frazier began her research into the black contributions several years before she started writing the script. Once the draft was complete she presented it to fellow choir members for approval.

&uot;There were those that felt we don’t want to be down there singing to the white people. But we have a story to tell and the white people need to hear it.&uot;

&uot;A Southern Road to Freedom&uot; was predated by a church choir from Beulah Baptist Church, which performed during pilgrimage, but didn’t tell the stories, Frazier said. In the mid-1960s, during the Civil Rights Movement, the choir’s performance was stopped and never started again.

&uot;I really got an eye opening when I started doing the research and looked at the songs from the period,&uot; Frazier said. &uot;I thought it was significant that not all slaves were dumb, stupid and ignorant. They had done great and marvelous things in their own countries.&uot;

And it was only a matter of time before they started doing great things in their new country, she said.

During the performance, Holy Family choir members embody black men and women who became congressmen, senators, mayors and authors. The stories of each are intermingled with songs from the time period.

The songs

Once Frazier finished her research and wrote the story, Director Alvin Shelby took over to complete the package.

&uot;I’d get the script and take different songs that would really help tell the story,&uot; Shelby said.

The musical score takes the audience through emotional ups and downs, leaves them crying and clapping and ties the history together.

One of the more upbeat songs, &uot;Everybody talking about Heaven and going there,&uot; is taken straight from slaves working the field who managed to mock their owners without punishment, Shelby said.

&uot;It was a concept the slaves had, how can you treat me this way and you go to church on Sunday and are just so sanctimonious. So they sang this song while they were working and their owners didn’t understand it.&uot;

Though the program lists more than 10 songs, Shelby said the score of songs is never the same twice.

The performance

It’s not until the choir members and soloists hear the first few chords played by Shelby that they know which song they’ll be performing for crowds of strangers.

Shelby, who has been with the program since its inception, likes to keep his choir and the audience on their toes, and he’s not afraid to do a little embarrassing.

&uot;I do that to try to keep it exciting,&uot; Shelby said. &uot;If it was the same every week, people would get tired.&uot;

The audience of tourists has no major indication that the performers are launching into impromptu performances though, at least not until they become part of the game themselves.

Perhaps the key is to avoid direct eye contact and slink in your pew, but really, no one is safe from Shelby and his choir once they begin seeking a few new members.

It’s not until the end of the program, but Shelby said he’s always chosen a few select audience members to put on the spot. Some sing solos, others just join the choir and grin widely, but regardless, it’s not an experience they’ll soon forget.

&uot;I think a lot of people in the audience want that experience of singing that kind of music,&uot; Shelby said. &uot;It’s a very memorable experience. I love watching people come up and do it. It seems like they are having such a blast.&uot;

The choir

The youngest are in high school, the oldest have grandchildren, but they all devote many hours to the performance.

&uot;I really admire the people that come and do this,&uot; Shelby said. &uot;It’s on a volunteer basis.&uot;

The choir starts working on &uot;A Southern Road&uot; about three or four months before spring pilgrimage starts. From March 12 to April 16 the same choir members appear Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday nights for the two-hour show.

The collection of bankers, educators, businessmen and students often take breaks from night jobs to attend the performance, Frazier said.

Typically the &uot;Southern Road&uot; group is all Holy Family choir members, but this year due to illness and various factors, the group has called in reinforcements from other churches. The majority of the performers are part of the Holy Family gospel choir.