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The Music of a People Music has always been a central part of life and liberation for Black people in the United States. From the work songs and spirituals sung by the slaves to the “Freedom Songs” of the Civil Rights Movement…singers and their music have brought strength, comfort and endurance through the struggle. Time will permit us to remember only a few:
Paul Robeson Paul Robeson, the son of slaves, was an athlete, an attorney, singer and actor born on April 9, 1898. Said to have one of the most powerful baritone voices of all time, he starred in both stage and film. Born just after the slave era, Robeson spoke out against racism and became a world activist. One of his most famous recordings was “Ole Man River” from the play “Showboat”. He died in Philadelphia in 1976.
Marian Anderson Marian Anderson was an African- American contralto and one of the most celebrated singers of the twentieth century. She was born in 1897 in Philadelphia, PA. Anderson became an important figure in the struggle for black artists to overcome racial prejudice during the mid-twentieth century. In 1939, the Daughters of the American Revolution blocked her from singing to an integrated audience in Constitution Hall in the Nation’s Capital. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt intervened, making it possible for Marian Anderson to perform her famous open-air concert on Easter Sunday, April 9, 1939, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. Marian Anderson died in 1993
Mahalia Jackson Mahalia Jackson was an American gospel singer, born in 1911, who possessed a powerful contralto voice. She was referred to as the “Queen of Gospel”. She became one of the most influential gospel singers in the world and was a civil rights activist. During the Civil Rights Era, she was described by entertainer/activist Harry Belafonte as “the single most powerful black woman in the United States. “I sing God’s music because it makes me feel free”, Jackson once said…”It gives me hope” A long time friend of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. she sang his favorite hymn , Precious Lord, Take My Hand at his funeral in 1968. Mahalia Jackson died in 1972.
Billie Holiday Jazz vocalist Billie Holiday was born Eleanora Fagan on April 7, 1915, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She is considered one of the best jazz vocalists of all time. Her career spanned a brief 28 years during some of the roughest and most dangerous times for Black people in this country. As an entertainer she experienced or witnessed horrible acts of treachery toward her people…. including the aftermath of lynching’s as she traveled through the segregated south. The haunting ballad “Strange Fruit” was made famous by Billie Holiday, although – contrary to popular belief – she did not compose the song.
Harry Belafonte Harold George “Harry” Belafonte, Jr . is an American singer, songwriter, actor and social activist born March 1, 1927. One of the most successful African-American pop stars in history, he was dubbed the “King of Calypso” in the 1950’s. Belafonte is perhaps best known for singing “ The Banana Boat Song” with its signature lyric “Day - O”. An early supporter of the civil rights movement; he became one of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s closest friends and confidants. It was Harry Belafonte that was responsible for the personal and financial support given to the “movement” by Hollywood acting elite and musicians from around the country. He has dedicated his life to humanitarian causes including the anti-apartheid movement and USA for Africa.
Sam Cooke Sometimes called the father of soul music, singer Sam Cooke started out as a gospel singer before reaching the top of the charts in 1957 with "You Send Me." Born Samuel Cook in Clarksdale, Mississippi, on January 22, 1931, he grew up in Chicago. He sang with the gospel group the Soul Stirrers before going on to land huge hits like "You Send Me," "Wonderful World," "Chain Gang" and "Twistin' the Night Away. His music attracted both black and white audiences. He was one of the first Black musicians to start his own record label and publishing company. Remarkably, he retained ownership of his compositions, something few musicians accomplish…even today! Cooke died tragically on December 11, 1964, in Los Angeles. Sam Cooke's " A Change Is Gonna Come " became an anthem of the 1960s civil rights movement.
Dancers & Choreographers Katherine Dunham Josephine Baker
They “danced” Our Story The Nicholas Bill “ Bojangles ” Brothers Robinson
They Set the Standard for Dance Janet Collins Alvin Ailey
Lift Every Voice and Sing James Weldon Johnson was an American author, educator, lawyer, diplomat, songwriter, and civil rights activist. Johnson is best remembered for his leadership within the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People from 1917 to 1930. He was first known for his writing, which includes poems, novels, and anthologies collecting both poems and spirituals of black culture. James Weldon Johnson wrote the poem “Lift Every Voice and Sing” in 1899 and his brother, John Rosamond Johnson, set it to music in 1900, forever known as the Black National Anthem.
Questions to Ponder Why we people stand when “Lift Every Voice and Sing” is played or sung ? Black people stand in reverence – much like standing when the National Anthem is sung. Lift Every Voice and Sing memorializes the journey that Africans and African Americans made in the United States – physically, spiritually and emotionally. It recognizes their sacrifice even as enslaved people. It also references that land and the history that they came from before being forcibly brought to this country as chattel slaves. "Lift Every Voice and Sing " was written as a poem by James Weldon Johnson for a celebration of Abraham Lincoln’s birthday in 1900. In the early 1900's, singing this song became a way for African Americans to demonstrate their patriotism and hope for the future. In calling for earth and heaven to "ring with the harmonies of Liberty," they could speak out subtly against racism and Jim Crow laws — and especially the huge number of lynching’s accompanying the rise of the Ku Klux Klan at the turn of the century. In 1919, the NAACP adopted the song as "The Negro National Anthem." By the 1920s, copies of "Lift Every Voice and Sing" could be found in black… churches across the country. Bearden, Romare and Henderson, Harry. A History of African-American Artists (From 1792 to the Present), pp. 168-180, Pantheon Books (Random House), 1993
Who started Black History Month and why is it necessary? What we know today as “Black History Month” was founded by Carter G. Woodson, Ph.D. as “Negro History Week” in 1926. Considered the “Father of Black American History”, Carter G. Woodson was a scholar, historian, journalist and author. He was a radical thinker for his time. He noted that African-American contributions "were overlooked, ignored, and even suppressed by the writers of history textbooks and the teachers who use them”. Carter G. Woodson understood that knowing the truth of your history and heritage is crucial to one’s individual and collective success in society. He once wrote: “If you can control a man’s thinking, you don’t have to worry about his actions. If you can determine what a man thinks you do not have to worry about what he will do. If you can make a man believe that he is inferior, you don’t have to compel him to seek an inferior status, he will do so without being told and if you can make a man believe that he is justly an outcast, you don’t have to order him to the back door, he will go to the back door on his own and if there is no back door, the very nature of the man will demand that you build one.” Black History should be studied and celebrated 365 days a year! Resources: Carter G. Woodson: The Mis-Education of the Negro ”; W.E. B. DuBois: The Souls of Black Folks .
Why is it important to know Black History? If you do not know the truth of “where you come from” and “what was accomplished by people that look like you throughout the ages”, you might begin to believe what popular culture, media (and, through omission) what history books imply about you: that Black people have no real culture; are intellectually inferior to other races; are the race of “slaves” and, for example, are “recent converts to Catholicism” and have no “history” in the Church. Lacking knowledge, you would be unaware, for example, that: There were great, ancient universities in Egypt and at Timbuktu in Mali, West Africa – where Greek scholars of that time went to seek knowledge in medicine, science, math and engineering; There is evidence that Africans arrived on the North American and South American Continent long before the first slaves were brought here – reportedly in 1609. Historians and archeologists have evidence that places ancient Africans in Mexico thousands of years before the birth of Christ! The slave trade “enslaved” Africans who were craftsmen, musicians, artists, engineers, and royalty! They, for many years, knew the difference between being a person who has been “enslaved” and seeing yourself as a slave! Regarding our history in Catholicism, three Popes were elected who were of African lineage or from within the Continent of Africa as early as 186 A.D.
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