The history of the civil rights movement is being told in local schools through the use of contemporary poems, songs, plays and books.

        Some of that involves taking old songs — written in the dialect of that time period — and rewriting them with a modern sound while keeping the history.

        An example is Done Made My Vow, an old Negro spiritual which reveals a commitment to a higher being. It quotes Biblical verses and ends with a vow to fight to be free.

        “My name is toil; my mother is strength. My future achievement. My goal is pride. I have walked this land. I have tilled this soil. In the name of this nation, I have died. So I will fight for the right to be free. To proclaim to this world; I am a man, look at me.”

        Composer Adolphus Hailstork, who teaches composition and orchestra at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va., has used the song in composing an oratorio, combining Negro spirituals, African-American history and classical music.

        It will be performed by the Cincinnati May Festival Chorus, 8 p.m. Friday at Music Hall. For tickets, call 381-3300.

        “I built a ceremony or a service around the song,” Mr. Hailstork said. “It starts with a song of praise, a review of history, a statement of commitment and sort of a benediction.”

        He said the musical uses quotes from the Bible, verses from civil rights songs and excerpts from civil rights speeches.

        Included are quotes from Marcus Garvey, Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Nathanial Turner, Malcolm X, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks and Frederick Douglass.

        Leading into an excerpt from a speech by Douglass, the lines read: “Now is a time to honor those men and women who boldly declared themselves "guilty' before the bench of injustice, and by doing so, changed a nation.”

        “Guilty of saying those who profess to favor freedom, and yet deprecate agitation are men who want crops without plowing and of saying, Power concedes nothing without a demand. If we ever get free from the oppressions and wrongs heaped upon us, we must pay for their removal. We must do this by labor, by sacrifice, and if needs be, by our lives.”

        Mr. Hailstork will visit several schools in Cincinnati, starting today. Visits are planned at Hyde Park, Oyler, Fairview, Millvale and Washington Park elementary schools and the Christ Emmanuel Christian Academy.

        The Association for the Advancement of Arts Education (AAAE) and May Festival sponsored his trip here in celebration of Arts Education Week, May 12-18.

        “This is an excellent example of how the arts can motivate and encourage students to learn,” said Glenn Ray, executive director of AAAE.

        Mr. Hailstork received a bachelor's degree in music from Howard University, bachelor's and master's degrees in composition from Manhattan School of Music and a doctorate in composition from Michigan State University.

       Allen Howard's “Some Sunday-Friday. If you have suggestions about outstanding achievements, or people who are uplifting to the Tristate, let him know at 768-8362, at ahoward@enquirer.com or by fax at 768-8340.

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