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# Santa Monica Public Library waives overdue fines during January 6-13 amnesty
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/010507-story-20070105-3/
- Published: 2007-01-05T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T23:37:50.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Community, Santa Monica, #archive-import

Celebrating MLK the musical way The Santa Monica Symphony, with Music Director and Conductor Allen Robert Gross and soprano Juandalynn R. Abernathy, daughter of civil rights leader Rev. Ralph Abernathy, will celebrate Martin Luther King Day with a free concert in the SGI Auditorium at 525 Wilshire on Monday, Jan. 15, at 2:30 p.m. The concert is the final event in Santa Monica’s annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Day celebration, which begins at 9 a.m. at the SGI Auditorium.

The program will feature Abernathy singing traditional spirituals and “Old American Songs” by Aaron Copland, as well as the orchestral “Epitaph” by Adolphus Hailstork and excerpts from the “Afro- American Symphony” by William Grant Still.

Music was a major part of Martin Luther King’s life and the Civil Rights Movement. Marchers and demonstrators sang as they peacefully resisted oppression. Their anthem “We Shall Overcome” is now used around the world.

The music on the program pays tribute to the African-America roots of so much of our America’s music, and to today’s African-American composers who have brought that tradition to symphonic music.

The great tradition of African-American spirituals has been preserved and adapted for the concert hall by many gifted arrangers.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on January 5, 2007.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/010507.pdf?ref=smdp.com)