Fortune’s Bones: The Manumission Requiem

Who was Fortune?

In life, he was an African-American slave who served a doctor in post-Colonial Connecticut. In death, he became a medical specimen and later a walk-by exhibit at the Mattatuck Museum, a skeleton known only as “Larry.” But Fortune was also a husband, father and human being and, stirred by the true story of this man, Connecticut poet-laureate Marilyn Nelson wrote Fortune’s Bones: The Manumission Requiem.

The book fell into the hands of Dr. Ysaye Barnwell, composer and artistic director of Sweet Honey in the Rock; she was so gripped by the story’s power she set the text to music. Her cantata, performed as the evening’s second half by a full symphony and choirs, is the centerpiece of a program that celebrates the fullness of African-American life, following as it does a first-half presentation of spirituals by the Heritage Signature Chorale and soloists. Together, these artists metaphorically set Fortune’s bones to rest. As Dr. Barnwell notes, “God’s Blessings on Fortune … da bell done rung.”