Voices of the Civil Rights Movement: Black American Freedom Songs 1960-1966

Various Artists SFW40084

This double-CD reissue documents a central aspect of the cultural environment of the Civil Rights Movement, acknowledging songs as the language that focused people's energy. These 43 tracks are a series of musical images, of a people in coversation about their determination to be free. Many of the songs were recorded live in mass meetings held in churches, where people from different life experiences, predominantly black, with a few white supporters, came together in a common struggle. These freedom songs draw from spirituals, gospel, rhythm and blues, football chants, blues and calypso forms. The enclosed booklet written by Bernice Johnson Reagon provides rare historic photographs along with the powerful story of African American musical culture and its role in the Civil Rights Movement. "The music of the spirit with the history of the flesh." — New York Daily News
Country(s) United States
Culture Group(s) African American
Keyword(s) Calypso (Music); Documentary; Folk songs--United States; Rites and ceremonies; United States History
Language(s) English
Year of Recording 1997
Record Label Smithsonian Folkways Recordings
Source Archive Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage
Credits Produced by Bernice Johnson Reagon ; Cover artwork by Lois Mailou Jones ; Compiled by Bernice Johnson Reagon ; Liner Notes by Bernice Johnson Reagon ; Mastered by Dave Glasser ; Design by Reynald Searles