Voices of the Northwestern Community Ensemble
When Eileen Cherry-Chandler ’73, ’97 PhD enrolled at Northwestern in 1969, she was interested in art that celebrated the Black aesthetic and moved people toward influencing political change. Cherry, along with Clifton Gerring III ’76 and Lurell Stanley Davis ’74, ’97 MA, decided to form a small gospel choir, which they named the Northwestern Community Ensemble (NCE).
The NCE performed its debut concert on December 10, 1971, at Alice Millar Chapel. That evening, Robert “Bob” Moore ’88, ’89 MS was one of many who filled the pews.
When he heard the gospel anthems and spirituals, he was enthralled. Moore, NCE’s unofficial historian and founding president of the Northwestern University Black Alumni Association, auditioned a month later and has been involved with the ensemble ever since. “I felt I was in my element,” Moore says.
Now, Moore shares his unique perspective on photos representing five decades of NCE.
1970s
The NCE’s first performance (pictured here), titled “An Evening of Music,” featured students from Northwestern, as well as neighboring schools, Kendall College, and the National College of Education, now known as National Louis University.
“You couldn’t differentiate the students from Kendall from the students from National from the students from Northwestern,” Moore says. “We were bound together.”
1980s
For more than a decade after that debut concert, NCE continued to thrive. The ensemble (pictured here in 1982) rehearsed and sang at churches in Evanston and performed throughout Chicago. The group even toured around the country during spring break, singing at members’ hometown churches in cities like Atlanta, Baltimore, Louisville, and Milwaukee.
Moore, NCE’s former president and business manager, says choir members became informal ambassadors for Northwestern, raising awareness about the University in communities that were unfamiliar with Northwestern.
1990s
As NCE’s reputation for excellence grew, Moore says the ensemble began to attract some of the biggest names in gospel music to the Evanston campus.
In 1998, Tramaine Hawkins, Albertina Walker, and Inez Andrews sang alongside NCE. Internationally acclaimed artists Kirk Franklin, Hezekiah Walker, Richard Smallwood, and Byron Cage performed at past NCE winter concerts, and in celebration of NCE’s 50th anniversary, Grammy Award-winning singer Donnie McClurkin joined the choir for a virtual concert on May 8, 2021.
2000s
NCE has been intentionally interdenominational and multiracial since its inception. While the choir has sung Black sacred music since 1971, it has always been open to all students.
“We weren’t looking at the color of people who wanted to join,” says Moore, an NCE member from 1972 to 1975. “You had to bring your spirit. You had to bring your faith.”
2010s
In 2018, NCE performed a musical tribute during the University’s Bursar’s Office Takeover Commemoration at Alice Millar Chapel (pictured above). This concert came 50 years after students occupied the Bursar’s Office to protest the Black student experience at the University.
The takeover helped spur progress at Northwestern, ranging from increasing financial aid for Black students, to revised housing policies and the expansion of “studies of Black history and Black culture,” among others.
The demonstration also aided in a rise in Black student enrollment. By 1973, there were approximately 670 Black students enrolled at Northwestern, a significant increase from 120 in 1968.
“It was like a renaissance, a coming-of-age of Black students who were coming to the University in great numbers,” Moore says.
Among the wave of students who came to Northwestern during this pivotal time were NCE cofounders Cherry-Chandler, Davis, and Gerring. Learn more about NCE’s history in the Northwestern Libraries’ online exhibit curated by Charla Wilson, archivist for the Black Experience: Northwestern Community Ensemble: Black Sacred Music and the College Campus.