Journey through "Dark Before Daybreak"

Dark Before Daybreak is the unlikely story of Earnestine Rodgers Robinson, a black woman born in the Deep South at the end of the Great Depression, who triumphs without formal music training as a composer at the world-famous Carnegie Hall. Her story has been the centerpiece of an award-winning short documentary film, Sounds of a Miracle, that has screened at prestigious film festivals including LA Shorts Fest, Palm Beach International Festival and Rhode Island International Film Festival.

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To get an idea of the amazing journey of Earnestine Rodgers Robinson from segregation and the Deep South to her triumphant bow on Carnegie Hall, travel through the collection of book chapters, interviews, film clips and audio of the composer narrating her own story.

Click the sample chapter to download and read the first two chapters

Winter of 1937-38

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Memphis, Tennessee, a river town and my birthplace, is nestled on a small bluff above the Mississippi River and geographically wedged between the states of Mississippi and Arkansas. Memphis in 1938, at the time of my birth, was worlds away from my future. Composing classical music is not the most likely career that one would expect to come out of the Deep South. Such a career choice is unimaginable when you consider that I grew up during an era blighted with despair in the midst of segregation. Yet, it happened to me.

1950s

Despite the political and cultural upheaval that loomed on the horizon, as a stereotypical teenager, I was self-absorbed in my own life. It was difficult for me to focus beyond the current state of my daily activities. But something was happening. Slowly, we started to peel back the absurdities of everyday life and each in our own way began to inspect and question what was acceptable.

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Narrated by Earnestine Rodgers Robinson

1968

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It was the summer of 1965 when we pulled up stakes in Chicago and headed south. Part of me was happy to be abandoning the harsh Chicago winters; I was also looking forward to living around my family again. But I was also feeling a great deal of trepidation about moving back to the South, even for a short while. The country was in the midst of the Civil Rights Movement, and now we were moving into the middle of it.

1972

It was the spring of 1972. The rains had fallen, and the flowers were gradually pushing themselves up. The children played in the yard, and the birds chirped. Each day I did the usual cooking and cleaning, and on the weekends, I shopped for groceries and did the laundry. My daily life, while pleasant, was ordinary. But this was spring and like the season, I was propelled by the inevitable cycle of change. But the real change was about to happen within me.

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1988

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There was one thought that plagued me the most, “Why did God choose me?” I showed no talent for music growing up; I was not born into a family with a musical legacy; and I did not have the money, resources or connections for a career in entertainment. I was one of the least qualified. Furthermore, I did not know how anyone, especially me, a housewife, would promote classical music in Memphis, a city known for Elvis and blues.

1997

Carnegie Hall, world premiere, my music, collectively, were words that I never dreamed would be used in relationship to me. But the extraordinary was happening. For the first time, my oratorio would be performed in front of a live audience – a real concert at the famed Carnegie Hall, of all places. After the failed concerts, the prospect of this seemed unimaginable.

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2002

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After another success in New York, I set my sights on a new dream. I wanted to have my music performed in Europe. There was no single event that I could point to which sparked this idea, but something inside me was definitely propelling me toward this new goal. However, I did not have any viable contacts in Europe nor did I have any idea of how to proceed toward this dream. But the lack of details did not bother me. I was trusting God for the unbelievable, yet again.