Toward a More Inclusive Sweet Adelines: Harmonizing the World in the 21st Century BY ELIZABETH DAVIES
Author’s Note: Thank you to Janice Dorris, Valerie Clowes, David Wright, Maria Christian, Kathy Woodford and Amy Rose for their invaluable assistance on this project. Any errors or omissions are mine, not theirs.
T
he year 2016 marked an important
international contests, I see that women of
milestone for women's barbershop.
color are still few and far between. I wonder,
Fifty years earlier, in 1966, Sweet
“Could I be doing more to make this great
Adelines formally lifted its ban on nonwhite
organization even more inclusive? Could I do
membership. The exclusion was written into
more to harmonize the world?"
the corporate bylaws in 1958 and, according to the organization’s records, was an “unwritten
It's a tricky question for a white Sweet Adeline like me, because it requires me to
policy” for years
confront the
before that.
race history of
In my view,
barbershop, which
“Harmonize the
is as complex and
World” is the
uncomfortable as
most beautiful
the race history of
mission any
the U.S. itself. Yet, as I consider
organization could have. I believe
what kind of
in the power of
barbershopper I
close-harmony singing to lift spirits, enrich
want to be in the 21st century, there is much
lives, and connect hearts and minds.
inspiration to be found in our complicated
However, when I survey the thousands of gorgeous faces on the risers at regional and
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July 2018 | THEP I TCH P I P E
history. Here are some goals I have set for myself.