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Home , Candie Carawan, Charles Neblett, Cordell Reagon, Freedom songs, Guy Carawan, Up Above My Head

The story ofthe through its songs. ~M I THSO;\ I ANrrOLKWAYS CD SF 40032 IAIAIDI SING FOR FREEDOM The Story of the Civil Rights Movement through Its Songs I 2' IIII 1. We Are Soldiers in the Army 3 I a 9307 -40032-2 0 2. Keep Your Hand on the Plow 2: I I 3. This Liule Light 2: 12 4. You BeUer leave Segregation Alone :39 Hymns, , gospel songs, 5. Your Dog loves My Dog 1:59 prayers and speeches have been a unirying force in the struggle for 6. Ain't Gonna let obody Turn Me Around 2.30 civil rights throughout the United 7. I Woke Up This Morning with My Mind on Freedom 3:37 States. These early 1960~ field 8. Keep Your 1 :46 recordings from campaign centers 9. Oh Pritchett, Oh Kelly 2:27 such as Montgomery and Birming­ 10. Up above My Head 1:02 ham, Alabama; Albany and Atlan­ 11. Tilis lillie Light 3:46 ta, Georgia; Greenwood, Missis­ 12. Brown Baby 1: 53 sippi; and Nashville, Tennessee 13 Which Side Are You On? 3:46 testify to the irrepressible power 14. I'm Gonna Sit at the Welcome Table 1:53 or song in the civil rights move­ ment. 15. Mass Meeting and Prayer 3:53 16. Guide My Feet 2:06 Th ese pc,jonnan(cs WCI'C originally 17. I'm on My Way 3: 41 issued on Fo lh ways Records . Extensive notes with colllpl ;'(e discograp hical 18. Rev. 1:3 1 inJonnaIion are enclosed. 19. Yes, We Want Our Freedom 2:23 20. Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. 3:41 Smithsonian 21. Ninety-nine-and-a-halfWon't Do 2: 15 O Folkways 22. Get on Board 4:53 ~mithsoni~H\/Folkwa)s Records 23. No Danger in the Water 1:23 Center for Fo lklLfc Programs .tnd 24. Speaking 1:10 Cultural Studies 25 Keep Your Eyes on the Prize I: 10 955 L'Enfa nl Plaza, Su ite 2600 Smithsonian In~ li tution 26. 2:42 W.,hmglon DC 20560

® © 1990 Smllhsoniantrolkways Record, Pn nted in Canada Montgomery, Alabama is considered the singing for the Montgomery Improvement birth place of the modem civil rights Association. All the songs I remember SING FOR FREEDOM movement. In December of 1955, Rosa gave us strength to go on." The Story of the Civil Rights Movement through Its Songs Parks refused to give up her seat on a city Compiled with notes by Guy and bus, sparking the Montgomery Bus The Montgomery Gospel trio carne to a Boycott, which carne to national atten­ workshop at Highlander in 1959. They tion. As a local movement grew in met Guy there and when a benefit concert he civil rights movement was the the civil rights movement from Mont­ Montgomery, singing became a strong for Highlander was planned for Carnegie greatest singing movement this gomery through Nashville, Albany, force in unifying people in their struggle. Hall in 1961, he invited them to take part. T country has experienced. The Binningham and tracing the The churches were the meeting place for This was perhaps the first time singers songs that grew out of campaigns across development and spread of the freedom the movement and singing was a central directly involved in the civil rights the Sou th in the early 1960s built on the repertoire. ingredient of mass meetings that took movement had a hearing in the northern rich culture of African American place night after night. setting. They appeared in the concert with communities, particularly the black Sing For Freedom is also available in book , Guy, Willie Dixon and Mem­ church. There were songs to fit every fonn. The book represents a reissue of Many commonly known hymns, spiri­ phis Slim and a quartet of freedom singers mood (rom sorrow to joy. from two classic collections of , tu~ls and gospel songs began to take on a [rom Nashville. determination to irony and humor. We Shall Overcome (Oak, 1963) and new mea'hing when they were part of a Freedom Is a Constant Struggle (Oak, mass meeting:-Soon small adaptions were The three songs are traditional gospel We were fortunate to live in the South 1968). The new edition includes ll5 made which gave even sharper focus to songs with very slight adaptions to suit during those years and to be based at the freedom songs (including all the songs on traditional words. "We've got the light of the new mood of challenge and change in Highlander Center, one of the gathering this recording), over 135 stirring freedom, we're gonna let it shine ... deep the South. They were recorded in a rather places for civil rights activists to share photographs of the civil rights movement, down in the South, we're gonna let it impromptu session by Moe Asch of infonnation and to strategize. Particularly extensive first-hand accounts, and a new shine .. ." just before the trio interested in the cultural expression of essay by Guy and Candie Carawan on the returned to Montgomery. You can hear the movement, we travelled to many role of song in this movement. This 312 The trio heard on this recording was Guy's guitar accompaniment and a bass communities and recorded peoples' songs pp. book can be ordered for $17.50 already singing together as teenagers in a voice-that of Sam Collier of the Nash­ and stories. We collected the freedom postpaid directly from the publisher, Sing youth gospel choir when they became ville quartet. repertoire into two songbooks and Out Publications, at P.O.Box 5253, involved in the movement. Mary Ethel produced six documentary albums of Bethlehem, PA 18105. It is also available Dozier explains: "I was in elementary Guy wrote in the original notes to the songs, testimonies and mass meetings. from Roundup Records, P.O. Box 154, N. school in 1954. I was ten years old. After FoLkways album: This collection is drawn from those six Cambridge, MA 02140. the first mass meetings in 1955 we started "The three teens from Montgomery know albums. It is an impressionistic history of what it is to live in one of the most brutal Songs and Testimonies: was full of humor and satire and The arrests aroused a sleeping community Jim Crow cities in the South. They have Montgomery Improvement Association especially helpful for relieving the fear and nation and revealed the seriousness witnessed the historic happenings of the trio of high school students: Mary Ethel and anxiety of students going to jail for of the problem of segregation. They 1955 bus boycott, the mob violence in Dozier, Minnie Hendrick, Gladys Burnette the first time. helped erradicate the idea that the Negro reaction to the sit-ins and the freedom Carter: was content with his second-class rides. The Montgomery Improvement 1) We Are Soldiers in the Army In the early summer of 1960, following a citizenship. " Association has Carried on the struggle in period of several months of demonstra­ spite of constant harrassment by the 2) Keep Your Hands on the Plow tions, a boycott of the downtown area by FollOWing the sit-ins of the spring of police and threats of violence from white 3) This Little Light the black community, negotiations by a 1960, young people of the Nashville hate groups. These young women who bi-racial committee established by the movement became central participants in sing spiritual and gospel songs that In 1960 Nashville, Tennessee was a mayor of Nashville, and finally some the Freedom Rides, carrying on when the express the spirit of freedom have sung center of student demonstrations against desegregation of public facilities , Guy original rides were cancelled because of often for this organization and for many segregated public facilities. The sit-in recorded a documentary album for violent attacks. During the summer of other groups in Montgomery. They are movement spread rapidly through Folkways called "The Nashville Sit-In 1961, about 350 spent used to the fact that these meetings may southern cities. Sit-ins at downtown Story." These two selections are from that more than a month in jail together in be harrassed by police or white hoodlums lunch counters resulted in mass arres~ album. Mississippi. This was a fertile period for and that they have to be careful about and jailings and the entire black the creation and the spread of freedom where they go, what they do and what community rallied in support of the One of the-student participants, Peggy songs. Once they were released from jail, they say. Songs like "We Are Soldiers," students. Again the mass meetings were Alexander, wrote in the notes to the these singing freedom riders fanned out "Hold On" and "This Little Light" are central to the campaign. album: to their home communities or to their some of their best and have helped to lift "On February 27th students were called new assignments as organizers. the spirits of many people in Along with the church songs that were an vulgar names, cursed, kicked, beaten, Montgomery. " integral part of the meetings, some new rolled down steps and arrested. The Songs and Testimonials: freedom songs grew out of the Nashville students had strength in the belief that no N ashville Quartet from American Baptist movement. The songs included here are sacrifice was too great in order to attain Theological Seminary: , from a talented quartet of students from freedom. As one group was put into the ,Joseph Carter, Samuel the American Baptist Theological paddy wagon, other students stood on Collier: Seminary. They drew upon contemporary the sunny sidewalks of Nashville waiting 4) You Better Leave Segregation Alone songs and the soul their turn. music of Ray Charles for their clever 5) Y'!ur Dog Loves My Dog commentary on segregation. Their music ,I In Albany, Georgia the civil rights In the Albany section you hear "Ain't Charles Jones and : from Johns Island, , Doc movement matured in several ways. The Gonna Let Nobody Tum Me Around," a Comments Reese from the Texas prison system, Ed adult community participated in equal traditional song first adapted to the 8) Keep Your Eyes on the Prize Young, a cane fife player from Mississippi, strength with the students in marches movement in Albany, sung by the took part in these workshops. For some and demonstrations, and singing grew Freedom Singers. This is followed by the Bertha Gober, Rutha Harris, Charles young freedom fighters it was a revelation richer as the wealth of expression of the sound of a mass meeting which includes a Sherrod,Jamie Culbreath: to hear some of the songs and history that older people was tapped. When mass lined-out long meter hymn, a bit of the 9) Oh Pritchett, Oh Kelly had gone before. meetings first started in Albany, following sermon by Rev. Ben Gay, and a more arrests at bus and train stations, only a modern freedom song. There are In 1964 in Atlanta, Georgia there was an We have included here some recordings few people turned out. But as the arrests comments by two SNCC workers about important gathering of song leader/ from the Sing for Freedom Workshop in continued and news of mass meetings the and a song written activists from across the South. It was 1964. "Up Above My Head" led by Betty with exciting singing spread to the about the mayor and the chief of police. called a "Sing for Freedom" workshop. Mae Fikes of Selma, is followed by an community, the meetings became packed Most of this material comes from a This was one of a series of music exciting version of "This Little Light" and two churches had to be used to hold documentary album recorded by Guy in workshops that helped to spread the with singers from many communities and everyone. The meetings started with old 1962 in Albany and edited and produced growing repertoire of the movement. Guy, led by Rutha Harris from Albany, Betty time unaccompanied singing and prayer. by Guy and . The album was t4.r9ugh his work for Highlander, was Mae and others. You can hear the The older people expressed years of mastered and released with the assistahce inS>trum~ntal in pulling these workshops distinctive gospel piano of Carlton Reese, suffering and hope through their songs. of for SNCC and has - together, ~ndhe had help from cultural director of the Birmingham Movement The young people followed with newly long been out of print. organizers from both SNCC and SCLC Choir. Cordell Reagon does a beautiful adapted freedom songs. (the Southern Christian Leadership version of Oscar Brown's song, "Brown Songs and Testimonials: Conference). At these workshops, singers Baby." Out of the Albany movement came the The SNCC Freedom Singers: Cordell from many places talked of their local first group of freedom singers to travel Reagon, , Rutha movements and taught their songs. There Songs and Testimonies: nationally. Cordell Reagon had come to Harris, : was much creative singing together and Betty Mae Fikes: Albany from Nashville follOwing the new verses were added to songs on the 6) Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me 10) Up above My Head freedom rides, as a field secretary for spot. There was also a focus on older Around SNCC (the Student Non-violent musical traditions from African American Rutha Harris, Betty Mae Fikes and others: Coordinating Committee). He organized Albany mass meetings: Rev. Ben Gay: communities. Such outstanding carriers 11) This Little Light of traditions as the Georgia Sea Island the group of four singers who became the 7) I Woke Up This Morning with My Cordell Reagon: SNCC Freedom Singers. Pete and Toshi Mind on Freedom Singers, the Moving Star Hall Singers Seeger arranged their first concert and • 12) Brown Baby fundraising tour of northern cities. In many ways Mississippi represents the Songs and Testimonials: album called Birmingham Mass Meeting, The movement in Greenwood, Missis­ most dilTicult arena for the civil rights Charles Neblett, Rutha Harris, Cordell 1963. We recorded this album under sippi, taking place at the same time as movement where the most entrenched Reagon: somewhat difficult circumstances. As we Birmingham, was much more rurally system of segregation and oppression was 13) Which Side Are You On? tried to enter New Pilgrim Baptist Church based. Greenwood was the center of a kept in place with the worst violence. to join in the singing in support of the major drive to register black voters and it : The fact that the movement flourished movement, we were arrested by Sheriff meant overcoming generations of fear. there and eventbally brought about 14) I'm Gonna Sit at the Welcome Table Bull Conner and told that no blacks and dramatic change is remarkable. We have 15) Mass Meeting and Prayer whites would be singing together in Bernice Reagon is the preeminant included two sections of recordings from Birmingham. We were released two days historian on the music of the civil rights Mississippi. Doc Reese and congregation: later just in time to get to the mass movement. Her introduction to a fine 16) Guide My Feet meeting we had planned to record. Guy collection of material released by the "Which Side Are You On?" with verses managed to maneuver himself onto the Smithsonian in 1980 includes these adapted for Mississippi is sung by the The movement in Birmingham, Ala­ speaker's platform and had to shift from comments which are appropriate to Freedom Singers. The original song came bama, a broad based attack on segre­ speaker to speaker and singer to singer Mississippi: out of the labor movement, composed by gation, led directly to the Civil Rights Bill with our single microphone to capture Florence Reece in the Kentucky coalfields of 1964. The bill finally passed by thj!--spir~ of the meeting. "The movement spread throughout the in the late 1930's. The version of "I'm Congress followed graphic news covetaru;. South. Initial organizers were Black Gonna Sit at the Welcome Table" is done of dogs and fire hoses set on demon­ Songs and T~timonials: college students who set aside their by Hollis Watkins from Mississippi at a strators, some of them school children. Mamie Brown with Carlton Reece &: the studies to work in segregated rural and festival in West Virginia in 1985. He More than 2000 people had been to jail. Birmingham Movement Choir: urban communities. They received combines verses from the civil rights The Birmingham churches favored 17) I'm on My Way support from local leaders who listened to movement with commentary on struggles modem gospel music, and once the them, housed and fed them. Share­ in the coalfields in the mid-1980s. Next movement was underway, a high-powered 18) Rev. Ralph Abernathy speaking croppers, ministers, hairdressers, you can hear Hollis speaking at a mass choir under the direction of Carlton Cleo Kennedy &: Carlton Reece: restaurant owners, independent business meeting in Mississippi in 1964. "Guide Reese, sang for forty nights running at 1 19) Yes, We Want Our Freedom people, teachers: these were the first to My Feet" is a song common to black mass meetings throughout the city: No try to register to vote, apply for a job or congregational singing throughout the wonder the Birmingham Movement Choir J 20) Rev. Martin Luther KingJr. use a public facility previously reserved South. It is associated with Mississippi sounds so fervent and unified. speaking for whites. The response was swift and during the civil rights years - perhaps Carlton Reece &: the Birmingham brutal: economic reprisals, jailings, because the race was so long and The selections here, which include both Movement Choir: beatings and killings. dangerous in Mississippi. (. .. "Lord, I .' singing and preaching, were part of an don't want to run this race in vain.") f 21) Ninety-nine-and-a-haIfWon't Do Nonetheless, the movement grew, pulling The collection ends with the singing of We recommend the follOWing additional Sit-In Songs: Songs of the Freedom Riders, recruits from all segments of the Black "We Shall Overcome," the great song of resources: CORE. Dauntless community and forcing change in legal, hope that grew out of the civil rights political and social processes. But its movement and has gone around the Discography Documentaries collected by Guy &: essence lay in the transformation of a world as part of peoples' struggles. It was Voices of the Civil Rights Movement, Black Candie Carawan people." recorded at a reunion concert of the American Freedom Songs, 1955-1965. SNCC Freedom Singers in Washington, The Nashville Sit-In Story, Folkways, FH 1980, Washington, D.C., Smithsonian 5590. In the Greenwood section of this D.C. in 1988, and was part of the Institution. A 3-volume record set with collection you hear Mrs.Fannie Lou soundtrack for the film on the history of excellent notes prepared by Bernice We Shall Overcome, Songs of the Freedom Hamer, the courageous sharecropper who the song. "We Shall Overcome" produced johnson Reagon. Riders and the Sit-Ins, Folkways, FH gave up her job and her home of many by jim Brown and Ginger Productions 5591. years to become a registered voter. She won an Emmy in 1989 for the best news Everybodys Got a Right to Live: jimmy eventually ran for Congress on the documentary. Collier &: Rev. Frederick Douglas Freedom in the Air, Albany, Georgia, SNCC Mississippi Freedom Democratic ticket. Kirkpatrick, Broadside, BR 308. Records. She was a powerful singer and speaker. Songs and Testimonials: Freedom Songs: Selma, Alabama, Birmingham, Alabama, 1963, Folkways, You also hear Medgar Evers, recorded Cordell Reagon, Bernicejohnson Reagon, Fol~_,:",ays, FH 5594. FD 5487. shortly before he was assassinated. Bob Rutha Harris, Charles Neblett witb The Story of Greenwood, Mississippi, 1965, Moses, a young organizer who came , Pete Seeger and the The Sit-In ·Story.;..The Story of the Folkways, FD 5593. south from Harvard, helps tell the story audience: Lunchroom Sit-Ins, Folkways, FH 5502. of the Greenwood movement along with 26) We Shall Overcome We Shall Overcome: Documentary of the Singfor Freedom, 1964, Folkways, FD two local citizens. on Washington, Folkways, FH 5488. 5592. Singfor Freedom, 1990. A new 70-minute Songs and Testimonials: Guy and Candie Carawan WNEWs Story of Selma, Folkways, FH compilation of songs from the above Mrs., : New Market, Tennessee 5595. recordings is available on Smithsonian! 22) Get on Board October 1989 Folkways 40032. It is available on CD, Movement Soul, Sounds of the Freedom Bob Moses and a Greenwood woman: cassette or LP. Movement in the South, 1963-64, recorded 23) No Danger in the Water by Moses Moon, Folkways, FD 5486. 24) Medgar Evers Speaking MattJones Then and Now, Relevant 25) Keep Your Eyes on the Prize Records. .' Reagon, Bernice johnson, Songs of the NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE: Recorded by ATLANTA, GEORGIA: Recorded by Guy All Folkways titles listed above are Civil Rights Movement 1955-1964: A study Willard Electronics in Nashville (1960) Carawan, assisted by Theo Bikel (1964) available on high quality chrome in culture history. Ph.D. dissertation, audio cassettes with the original 4) You Better Leave Segregation Alone 10) Up above My Head Howard University, 1975. notes. For information about these (traditional) :39 (traditional, adapted by Betty Mae and other African American titles Reagon, "Let the Church Sing "Freedom" Fikes) 1:02 5) Your Dog Loves My Dog available on FQlkways, write to: in Black Music ResearchJoumal, vol.7, (words and music by james Bevel and 11) This Little Light SmithsonianIFolkways Recordings 1987. Center for Black Music Research, Bernard Lafayette, Storm king Music, (traditional) 3:46 Center for Folklife Programs Columbia College, Chicago, IL Inc., BMI) 1:59 and Cultural Studies 12) Brown Baby Reagon, Contemporary Black American 955 L'Enfant Plaza, Snite 2600 (traditional, words and music by Congregational Song and Worship Washington, DC 20560 ALBANY, GEORGIA: 1961-62 Oscar Brown) 1:53 Traditions, booklet from a conference at 6) Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me the Smithsonian Institution, February MISSISSIPPI: 1964 1989. Around Films and Video (traditional, recorded by Folkways in 13) Which Side Are You On? Reagon, "Songs that Moved the We Shall Overcome, PBS special on the ) 2:30 (original words and music by Movement" in Perspectives, Civil Rights history of song, by jim Brown, 1988. 7) YWon Up This Morning with My Florence Reece, Stormking Music, Quarterly, summer 1983. • Inc., BMI, recorded by Eyes on the Prize, six part series on the Mind on Freedom Seeger, Pete and Robert Reiser, Everybody f in Atlanta) 3:46 history of the Civil Rights Movement, (words and music by Rev. Osby and Says Freedom, WWNorton, 1989. Blackside Productions, 1986. Bob Zellner, Fall River Music, Inc., 14) I'm Goona Sit at the Welcome BMI) 3:37 Table Books and Articles 8) Keep Your Eyes on the Prize (traditional, recorded by Flawn MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA: Recorded Williams in Elkins, West Virginia) Carawan, Guy & Candie, Sing for by Folkways in New York (1963) (traditional with new words by Alice Wine) 1:46 1:53 Freedom, The Story of the Civil Rights 1) We are Soldiers in the Army Movement told through Music, Sing Out (traditional) 2:31 9) Oh Pritchett, Oh Kelly 15) Mass meeting and prayer Publications, Bethlehem, PA, 1990. (traditional, adapted by Bertha Gober, (recorded by Guy Carawan) 3:53 2) Keep Your Hand on the Plow Rutha Harris, and Branch, Taylor, Parting the Waters, (traditional) 2: 11 16) Guide My Feet America in the King Years 1954-63. Simon Jamie Culbreath, recorded by Guy (traditional, recorded by Guy Caravan & Schuster, New York, 1988. 3) This Little Light Carawan in Albany) 2:27 in Atlanta) 2:06 (traditional) 2:12 .' BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA: Recorded by WASHINGTON, D.C: Recorded Guy Carawan in Birmingham (1963) by Ginger Productions SmithsonianIFolkways Recordings 17) I'm on My Way 26) We Shall Overcome Folkways Records was founded by published books, and a variety of other (traditional) 3:41 (Ludlow Music, BMI) 2:42 Moses Asch and Marian Distler in 1949 educational projects. 18) Rev. Ralph Abernathy to document music, spoken word, The SmithsonianIFolkways, 1:31 • instruction, and sounds from around Folkways, Cook, and Paredon record Production Credits: the world. Benefiting from their labels are administered by the 19) Yes, We Want Our Freedom Recorded and produced by Guy Carawan. experience with the Asch and Disc Smithsonian Institution's Center for (traditional, words and music by Notes by Guy and Candie Carawan. labels, -based Folkways Folklife Programs and Cultural Studies. Carlton Reece) 2:23 Mixed and mastered by Randy Kling at became one of the largest independent They are one of the means through 20) Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. Disc Mastering, Nashville, Tennessee. record companies in the world, with a which the Center supports the work of 3:41 pesign by Nancy Jean Anderson. total of nearly 2,200 albums that were traditional artists and expresses its Art direction by Scott Billington. always kept in print. commitment to cultural diversity, 21) Ninety-nine-and-a-haHWon't Do The Smithsonian Institution acquired education, and increased understanding. (traditional, words and music by Folkways from the Asch estate in 1987 You can find SmithsonianIFolkways Carlton Reece) 2: 15 -tG ens);ue that the sounds and genius of Recordings at your local record store. the artists 'Y.Puld be preserved for future SrnithsonianIFolkways, Folkways, GREENWOOD, MISSISSIPPI: Recorded generations. All Folkways recordings Cook, and Paredon recordings are all by Guy Caravan in Mississippi are now available on high quality audio available through Smithsonian! cassettes, each packed in a special box Folkways Mail Order, 416 Hungerford 22) Get on Board along with the original LP liner notes. Drive Suite 320, Rockville MD 20850. (traditional) 4:53 SmithsonianIFolkways Recordings Phone 301/443-2314; fax 301/443-1819 (Visa and MasterCard accepted). 23) No Danger in the Water was formed to continue the Folkways tradition of releasing Significant For a free catalogue, write: (traditional) 1:23 recordings with high quality The Whole Folkways Catalogue 24) Medgar Evers speaking documentation. It produces new SmithsonianIFolkways Recordin~ 1:10 titles, reissues of historic recordings 955 I:Enfant Plaza Snite 2600 from Folkways and other record labels, Smithsonian Institution 25) Keep Your Eyes on the Prize and in collaboration with other Washington D.C. 20560 (traditional) 1: 10 companies also produces instructional phone 20l/287-3262, or videotapes, recordings to accompany fax 20l/287-3699. .' i