This week, the White House programmed a series of evenings celebrating the music that tells the story of America. "In Performance at the White House: A Celebration of Music From the Civil Rights Movement", a concert celebrating Black History Month, captured the hardships and hopes of those fighting for equal rights in America during the 1960s.
The event brought together numerous guest speakers to showcase readings and songs from the civil rights movement, including legendary Motown singer Smokey Robinson, Bob Dylan and one of the original Freedom Singers, Bernice Johnson Reagon.
Here, Neal Conan talks with Reagon and her daughter, Toshi Reagon, about the creation, impact and influence of music during the civil rights movement.
Hear some field recordings of the music sung by the Freedom Singers for mass meetings and conferences organized during the civil rights movement below.
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Freedom Medley: Freedom Chant/Oh Freedom/This Little Light of Mine
The Freedom Singers often engaged in spontaneous singing and medleys, such as this one performed during a conference of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.
Purchase this music and learn more at Smithsonian Folkways Recordings
Go Tell It on the Mountain
Songleader and activist Fannie Lou Hamer leads a congregation in the traditional Christmas carol "Go Tell It on the Mountain" at a mass meeting in Greenwood, Miss. She transforms the message of the song into one that heralds the oncoming struggle for civil rights.
Purchase this music and learn more at Smithsonian Folkways Recordings
We Shall Overcome
This version of the theme song of the civil rights movement, led by Fannie Lou Hamer, closed a mass meeting in Hattiesburg, Miss., in 1964.
Purchase this music and learn more at Smithsonian Folkways Recordings