The Story of 400 Years invokes hope through the Black experience

Chicago saxophonist and composer Isaiah Collier conceptualized The Story of 400 Years as a student fellow at the University of the Pacific’s Brubeck Institute seven years ago, then evolved it into a multimedia production that integrates jazz music, dance, and visual art. The work illustrates the history and legacy of Black people in North America, starting with the inhumanity and brutality of the transatlantic slave trade that brought millions to the continent against their will. From there, it explores the important roles Black people have played in four centuries of American culture and how they’ll continue to shape the country and the world. 

The Hyde Park Jazz Festival originally commissioned the work; at its 2019 premiere at the University of Chicago’s Logan Center, Collier led a group of 13 local musicians recruited from a variety of jazz-informed scenes as dancers choreographed by Kennedy Banks-Battle moved to the music. Since then, Collier’s vision has only grown. He’s expanded the material into 13 movements, a direct reference to the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery in the United States following the Civil War. He then collaborated with a team of creatives, including Banks-Battle, visual artist Jordan Stewart-Curet, and musician and administrator Mayshell Morris to build a grander, more layered production. 

At this world premiere of the full-scale version of The Story of 400 Years, audience members can expect dancers and visual elements onstage and within the seating area of the DuSable Black History Museum. The performance was intentionally scheduled on a date essential to the work: When I spoke to Collier and his collaborators, they pointed out that Thursday, December 5, is the 69th anniversary of the launch of the Montgomery bus boycott. That yearlong campaign, which became a turning point in the civil rights movement, began in 1955, just days after civil rights activist Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to surrender her bus seat to a white person—and just months after 14-year-old Chicagoan Emmett Till was abducted and lynched in Mississippi and his murderers were acquitted by an all-white jury. The Story of 400 Years isn’t intended to be merely a recitation of the past, though—its 13 movements also celebrate resilience and connection. And just like in community organizing, more movements mean more hope and determination for change.

The Story of 400 Years The Chicago Black Artist Union’s presentation of Isaiah Collier’s 13-part suite features trumpeters Marques Carroll and Corey Wilkes, bassist Emma Dayhuff, chamber ensemble D-Composed, drummer Charles Heath, saxophonist and flutist Fred Jackson Jr., trombonist Tracy Kirk, pianist Frank Menzies, saxophonist and clarinetist Jacob Slocum, flutist Kenthaney Remond, and others, with choreography by Kennedy Banks-Battle and visual media by Jordan Stewart-Curet. Thu 12/5, 7 PM, DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center, 740 E. 56th Pl., $25–$135, all ages