Music Teacher Joe Jenkins Sr. and the Transformation of Young Lives in Birmingham’s Ensley Community

By Keisa Sharpe | For The Birmingham Times Joe Jenkins Sr., founder of the Magic City Music Academy in Birmingham’s Ensley neighborhood, still remembers being mesmerized the first time he saw a boys’ choir perform. “There were only about eight members, and I was amazed at the sound they produced when they opened their mouths and started singing,” he recalled. That was in 1986, when Jenkins, living in Detroit, Michigan, at the time, invited the boys to sing at his church. During that performance, Jenkins saw “a vision of at least 20 to 25 Black boys dressed in tuxedos in the church choir stand,” he said. Later that same year, Jenkins came to Birmingham, where he took a position as minister of music at New Pilgrim Baptist Church in Birmingham’s Titusville neighborhood. He brought that vision with him, and it eventually led to the formation of the Magic City Boys & Girls Choir, which had its first reunion on June 21 at the Harbert Center in downtown Birmingham. Founder Joe Jenkins Sr. with student Taylor Lewis during lessons at Magic City Music Academy in Ensley. (Amarr Croskey, For The Birmingham Times) Participating in the Academy The Magic City Music Academy...