NMH Magazine : Winter 2007

Notable Appearances

Look through the records of NMH speakers and performers, and you’ll find a star-studded roster—no small wonder, given that D. L. Moody, one of the greatest orators of his time, founded the school.

Here are a few choice guests.

Carl Sandburg
October 1936
Silverthorne Hall
Poet and author Carl Sandburg was a 58-year-old literary lion when he came to Northfield. Socialist by inclination, whimsical by choice, Sandburg reminded students, “Your teachers are here to train you to be better able to recognize lies and half-lies, truths and half-truths.” He read several of his poems and proverbs, then concluded by singing English ballads while strumming his guitar.

Shirley Chisholm
October 1984
The Auditorium
Chisholm, the first black woman to run for president, talked to NMHers about the 1984 presidential election and how they could get involved. Feisty and determined, she was America’s first African American congresswoman (1968 to 1983); in 1972 she made a bid for the Democratic presidential nomination in spite of what she termed “hopeless odds” to show her refusal to accept the status quo.

Theodore Roosevelt
September 1902
Memorial Chapel and the Auditorium
Barrel-chested and frock-coated, President Theodore Roosevelt cut a striking figure when he visited Mount Hermon and Northfield. Less than a year into his first term, the president arrived by train and addressed Mount Hermonites in Memorial Chapel (“I am sure you have sound hearts and sound bodies, and that you have good lungs I am willing to testify!”). He then lectured Northfielders on the virtues of good citizenship before dashing back to his train.

Amelia Earhart
September 1933
The Auditorium
One year before she spoke at Northfield, aviatrix Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic, gaining instantaneous fame. With her legendary independence, pioneering spirit, and determination to set records, she presented a powerful role model to Northfield Seminary students. Little did they know how rare that evening with her would become: in 1937, Earhart disappeared in the mid-Pacific while attempting to fly around the world.

William Sloane Coffin Jr.
October 1960
Mount Hermon Music Building
Reverend Coffin, a liberal Christian who was Yale’s chaplain in the ’60s and ’70s, in many ways personified the ethos of NMH. In his 1960 talk, he spoke about the need for humanitarian aid in Africa and asked his audience “What are you going to do?”An internationally known peace and civil rights activist, Coffin appeared at NMH many times over 40 years, preaching Sunday sermons, serving as guest lecturer, and delivering three commencement addresses (1964, 1982, and 1999).

Muhammad Ali
April 1974
Mount Hermon Campus
World-famous boxer Muhammad Ali came to NMH for the Black Arts Festival sponsored by the Afro-American Society. He spent about six hours on campus, speaking about friendship, truth, and the purpose of life and bragging how he was going to beat world heavyweight champion George Foreman in an upcoming fight (sure enough, Ali defeated Foreman in October). Ali left a poem for NMH: I like your school/and I love your style/but you’re paying so cheap/I won’t be back for a while.

Marian Anderson
October 1955
The Auditorium
In January 1955, Marian Anderson became the first African American to sing with the New York Metropolitan Opera. Ten months later she gave a concert at Northfield as part of its 75th anniversary celebration. A world-acclaimed contralto who performed for kings, queens, and presidents (and of whom conductor Arturo Toscanini said, “A voice like hers is heard only once in a hundred years”), Anderson sang selections by such composers as Mozart, Schubert, and Verdi, closing with four spirituals.

Trapp Family Singers
September 1941
The Auditorium
In 1941 the Trapp family (immortalized, Hollywood-style, in The Sound of Music) were relative newcomers to America. They’d left their native Austria in 1938 after the Nazis invaded; the family settled in Vermont but spent much of the year touring as a choral singing group. In the Auditorium, Georg and Maria von Trapp and their seven children, all wearing native Austrian dress, sang a smorgasbord of selections (Irish air, Tyrolean folk song, Brahms’s “Lullaby”) while their priest conducted.

The Tradition Continues
Extraordinary speakers and performers continue to come to campus, due in large part to the Jacqueline Smethurst Series. Created in 1998 and named in honor of former head of school Jacqueline Smethurst, this series funds appearances from the best and brightest of our times.

The following speakers are on the docket for 2006-07.

Nikki Giovanni
A world-renowned poet, writer, commentator, activist, and educator, Nikki Giovanni is deeply committed to the fight for civil rights and equality. Her two most recent volumes of poetry, Love Poems and Blues: For All the Changes, both won the NAACP Image Award. (October 19)

damali ayo
Author, radio essayist, and performer, damali ayo generates a fresh dialogue on race and diversity through her work. Her satirical book How to Rent a Negro has been acclaimed as “one of the most trenchant and amusing commentaries on contemporary race relations.” (January 18)

Nuruddin Farah
Award-winning Somali novelist Nuruddin Farah, widely hailed as the best African writer of our time, focuses on the themes of women’s liberation and political and individual freedoms in his homeland. His stories are vivid reminders of living through cultural conflicts. (February 1)

Sister Helen Prejean
Author of Dead Man Walking, Roman Catholic nun Sister Helen Prejean offers a candid meditation on capital punishment. Prejean counsels death-row inmates and their families and has written a second book, The Death of Innocents: An Eyewitness Account of Wrongful Executions. (February 4)

Jeff Jacoby
Columnist for the otherwise liberal Boston Globe, Jeff Jacoby serves as “blue-state” Massachusetts’ preeminent spokesperson for “red-state” conservatism. His provocative columns on the political and social issues of the day evidence his legal training and passionate beliefs. (March 29)

They Were Here
Below are some of the notables we’ve had on campus over the last 110 years.

Little Vernon Brothers, juvenile musicians, 1896
Mabel Conklin, National Woman’s Christian Temperance Union organizer, 1899
Benjamin Chapin, Abe Lincoln impersonator, 1904
William Jennings Bryan, politician, 1919
Norman Thomas, socialist and presidential candidate, 1934
Countess Alexandra Tolstoy, daughter of novelist Leo Tolstoy, 1937
Rudolf Serkin, pianist, 1951
Bennett Cerf, publisher and humorist, 1957
Basil Rathbone, actor, 1962
Joni Mitchell, singer, 1968
Blood, Sweat & Tears, band, 1969
Paul Winter Consort, musical group, 1969 and 2005
Jackie Robinson, baseball player, 1970
Lawrence Ferlinghetti ’37, poet, 1978
Madeline L’Engle, author, 1984
David Hartman ’52, TV host and producer, 1985
Maya Angelou, poet and author, 1999
James Carville and Mary Matalin, political pundits, 2000
Ken Burns, filmmaker, 2001
Peter, Paul & Mary, singers, 2001
Harlem Gospel Choir, 2002
John Updike, novelist, 2003

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