Piece Description

Through story and song, author Russell Goings has adapted his epic poem “The Children of Children Keep Coming” into an hour-long spoken word performance that delineates and celebrates the too often unsung African American cultural history.  His inspiration comes from friendship of iconic collagist Romare Bearden and from the voices of the ancestors.

Infused with the improvisational feel of jazz, this program celebrates the soulful spirits of ancestors through Goings’ masterfully poetic prose.  Narratives of historical figures Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr., Frederick Douglass and Phillis Wheatley intertwine with mythic characters Evalina, Banjo Pete and Black Tiny Shiny to tell the important story of the African American heroic journey.  

With introduction by acclaimed Tony Award winning Broadway actor Brian Stokes Mitchell, the radio adaptation of “The Children” will be available for broadcast on public radio stations nationwide starting Black History Month, February 2010.  It is the first part of a yearlong audio and lecture series exploring African-American narratives through art and storytelling, in partnership with WNPR – Connecticut Public Radio and Fairfield University.


Russell Goings graduated with honors from Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1959.  He briefly played professional football, and then headed to Wall Street to become the first African-American brokerage manager for a New York Stock Exchange member firm.  Later, he became the first black owner of an investment firm, which managed the assets of some of the world’s largest companies along with many legendary athletes and entertainers.  He was founder of Essence Magazine and became the chairman of the Studio Museum in Harlem.  Goings is an inductee into the Wall Street Hall of Fame.  He spent thirteen years writing the “Children”, studying under Pulitzer Prize nominee and Fairfield University poetry professor Kim Bridgford.