[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 34 (Thursday, February 26, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E479]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            A TRIBUTE IN REMEMBRANCE OF LOUVINIA G. POINTER

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                          HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS-

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, February 26, 2009

  Mr. TOWNS. Madam Speaker, I rise today in remembrance of Louvinia G. 
Pointer. Ms. Pointer, a 92-year-old Brooklyn resident, was a 
musicologist and celebrated arts educator.
  Born in Holly Hill, South Carolina in 1926, Mrs. Pointer and her 
family migrated to Harlem in 1926 in search of progressive 
opportunities for African Americans in the North.
  Trained as a pianist from a young age, organist and lyric soprano, 
Louvinia White was prompted by friends to audition for Apollo Theater's 
Amateur Night competition at age 18. With a recommendation from Countee 
Cullen, Louvinia was accepted to New York University (NYU) in 1935, 
where she studied music education and later enrolled in the Music 
Masters program.
  In 1939, a member of Louvinia's church informed her that renowned 
British playwright Noel Coward sought three African American women to 
open his new production scheduled to open on Broadway. Louvinia and two 
singing partners auditioned for Coward singing ``Lift Thine Eyes'' from 
Felix Mendelssohn's Elijah. Returning home from classes at NYU one 
evening she found a telegram in her mailbox from Mr. Coward asking her 
to report to the theater, When she arrived, Coward approached her with 
hands outstretched and thanked her for coming, exclaiming that he 
needed her voice in his show, Set to Music, starring Beatrice Lillie. 
Soon thereafter, Coward composed an obbligato for Louvinia to open the 
production.
  In 1943, Louvinia became a choral director in the National Youth 
Administration (NYA) Radio Workshop, a unit of President Roosevelt's 
Works Progress Administration. Louvinia directed one of the two NYA 
Radio Choirs, which performed weekly concerts on WNYC-FM until the 
conclusion of the program in 1943. Through the success of her choir, 
Louvinia married World War II veteran William Davis Pointer Sr. (1918-
2001) and the two birthed three children, Olive Elise Pointer (1950), 
William Davis Pointer Jr. (1952), and internationally acclaimed, Grammy 
nominated jazz violinist and political activist Noel Whitaker Pointer 
(1954-1994).
  Louvinia's final Broadway role was in the 1951 revival of Marc 
Connely's 1936 film classic The Green Pastures, a musical setting of 
the Biblical ``Creation''. Louvinia then commenced her tenure as a 
music educator in the New York City public school system in 1958. She 
educated thousands of youth at Girls High School, Tilden High School, 
P.S. 21 and Lefferts Junior High School.
  In 1987, Louvinia founded the Great Day Chorale, a 50-member a 
capella singing ensemble. Under Louvinia's leadership the four-part 
ensemble performed nationally and internationally in New Orleans and 
Barbados.
  Louvinia is survived by daughter Olive Pointer Harney, son, Rev. 
William D. Pointer Jr., Associate Pastor of Christian Cultural Center 
Brooklyn, N.Y., daughter-in-laws Elder Lillie Pointer of Long Island, 
NY and Chinita Pointer of Orange, N.J., fourteen grandchildren, seven 
great grandchildren, nieces, nephews and cousins.

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