Civil Rights and the Blues Program-Related

Student Tool 34: Civil Rights and the Blues Guest Biographies

History in the First Person: Music Moved the Movement— Civil Rights and the Blues

Program-Related Activity 1—Read the Guest Biographies

This document includes short biographies for each of the guests joining us for the program as well as links to additional sources related to the guests. We encourage you to have students read the biographies and check out the web sites to learn more about the guests and their relationship to the Civil Rights movement and/or blues music.

Guests in the 10:00 a.m. Central Time Program

Dave Dennis has a long and storied involvement in the Civil Rights movement. He worked closely with Bob Moses and Medgar Evers, was a freedom rider, Field Secretary of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), and Co-Director of Council of Federated Organizations (COFO) Freedom Summer 1964. More recently Dennis has put his activism toward the Algebra Project, which is a nonprofit organization run by Bob Moses that aims to improve the mathematics education for minority children.

Additional information about Dave and his work in the Civil Rights Movement can be found at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Dennis_(activist) http://freedom50.org/dennis/ http://www.ebony.com/news-views/dave-dennis-of-the-algebra-project-on-50-years-of-acti vism-042#axzz4VVvviiWc

Video of him speaking in 1964 can be seen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJm5kBS_sEM.

Alonzo Townsend is an educator and son of legendary blues singer Henry Townsend. You can learn more about Mr. Townsend, the influence of blues music on his life and his relationship with his legendary father at the following magazine and newspaper articles: http://www.stltoday.com/entertainment/music/kevin-johnson/q-a-blues-legend-to-be-honor ed-at-reflections-of/article_b6b225e2-5446-599a-804e-1102240a6e2b.html https://s3.amazonaws.com/content.sitezoogle.com/u/163323/06867ba8ea507c3516dcb19a2 064d507b691a7ca/original/bluesletter-oct16-web.pdf?response-content-type=application/p df&scheme=&X-Amz-Expires=7200&X-Amz-Date=20170112T030915Z&X-Amz-Algorit hm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIAJUKM2ICUMTYS6ISA/2017011 2/us-east-1/s3/aws4_request&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=3ee687c7e

91758d87a3081e391f0c25408db39cb30fa3e0c3a42a8df2296d5ff

Jacqueline K. Dace is the Director of Internal Affairs for the National Blues Museum. Prior employment includes Project Manager for the new Mississippi Civil Rights Museum, Jackson, MS and Collections Manager at the DuSable Museum of African American History in Chicago, IL. She worked with the Missouri Historical Society as the Curator of African American History and was an adjunct professor at Washington University (St. Louis) for six years in the department of Afro-African American Studies. Dace has an extensive background in Public History and she’s developed and/or directed several exhibitions and research projects.

A recipient of the Who’s Who in Black St. Louis Award; the Annie Malone Children and Family Services Center Advocate; the Hollywood and the Kansas City Black Film Festival Award; and the National Arts Strategies Fellowship. In 2012, Dace was selected to participate in the inaugural Public History Institute, developed by Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance and Abolition and the National Museum of African American History and Culture at Yale University; she served as a Practitioner with the W. K. Kellogg Foundation’s Racial Equity program. In 2014, graduated from the Jackson Division of the FBI Citizens Academy. Dace is currently a member of the board for the Association of African American Museums and is a member of the Local Arrangements Committee for the American Alliance of Museums, 2017 Annual Meeting.

Learn more about Jacqueline Dace and the National Blues Museum at https://www.nationalbluesmuseum.org.

Guests in the 1:00 p.m. Central Time Program

Reena Evers-Everette, is the daughter of Medgar and Myrlie Evers, an educator, and Executive Director of the Medgar and Myrlie Evers Institute. She was eight years old when her father was assassinated. More information about her childhood, memories of her father, the impact of her father’s work, and the Medgar and Myrlie Evers Institute can be found at the web links below: http://www.eversinstitute.org http://www.clarionledger.com/story/magnolia/2015/06/01/reena-evers-everette-memories- medgar/28326495/ http://www.usatoday.com/videos/news/2013/08/13/2649037/ http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/news/2013/jan/17/reena-evers-everette/ http://www.biography.com/people/medgar-evers-9542324#tragic-death-and-aftermath https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medgar_Evers

Singer and harmonica player Big George Brock is a St. Louis blues legend. Biographical information about his early life and his life as a blues musician can be found at:

http://mississippibluesproject.org/2012/07/12/artist-profile-big-george-brock/#.WHb3XVI4 nR0 http://www.ponderosastomp.com/music_more/153/Big+George+Brock http://www.riverfronttimes.com/stlouis/best-blues-artist/BestOf?oid=2511061

Examples of his music can be heard and seen on You Tube at the links below and many other You Tube links as well. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dT5AEI3u3DQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkK4ZLn0eb8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkfbJcCnfxw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6sPpg0ZDm8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N72KW7R694U

Learn more about Jacqueline Dace and the National Blues Museum at https://www.nationalbluesmuseum.org.