Every American has seen the iconic images of the Civil Rights movement and read the stories of the courage of activists facing down the racists of the former Confederacy.
But there’s a reason the definitive history of that movement — “Eyes On the Prize” — is named after a song. Music was an integral part of the movement. But how important is it today? Is the tradition being carried forward? And how?
That was the topic of “Freedom Singers Then and Now,” a virtual panel hosted by D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton on Wednesday night.
“Without the songs of the Civil Rights movement, there wouldn’t have been a movement,” said Rutha Harris, one of the original Freedom Singers.
Carol Maillard, one of the founders of Sweet Honey in the Rock, said her group was originally directed by another Freedom Singer, Bernice Johnson Reagon, who focused on “giving us a full expression of the voice, full expression of us as children in church, on the political scene, growing up, whatever.”
They formed in 1973 at the Last Colony Theatre, in D.C. — so named because of the District’s lack of home rule — “And at that point in time, we weren’t thinking of ourselves as a group that was going to go on and have social consciousness. We weren’t thinking like that. We just wanted to sing together. … There was just culture and beauty and Black folks, just everywhere.”
Eventually, “We realized that the music that we offer is music that really does heal the soul. It’s music that propels people into action.”
The music of the Freedom Singers, Sweet Honey and more inspired the next generation, such as Dr. Eric Poole, the director of Howard University’s choir and bands. “These songs are forever relevant,” Poole said, “because we would take these wandering verses and wandering refrains” from spirituals and folk songs and fit them to the current events, gaining and spreading perspective and strength.
How about go-go?
Go-go, the music of D.C., doesn’t sound much like the freedom songs of the 1960s, but the co-founders of Don’t Mute DC explained that they were participating in the tradition.
For Ron Moten, the connection between music and the Civil Rights Movement was personified by Shelly “The Playboy” Stewart, a Birmingham, Alabama, DJ, who would pass along information on meetings and marches in the early 1960s, particularly children’s marches. “[He] sent out all the messages through the music to let young people know when to jump out the windows.”
He said he thought of Stewart when he organized protests against the D.C. Control Board that “shut down Thomas Circle” in 1995. “Our voices were heard,” Moten said. “We didn’t win, but we showed young people the power that they had.”
The Don’t Mute DC movement started with a protest against the silencing of go-go music in front of a Metro PCS store in Shaw, which became a symbol of the gentrification of D.C.
Moten said his movement had the same kind of energy and diversity as the Civil Rights movement, and has won victories such as school and hospital funding, a halfway house in D.C. and more. “I can go on and on about all the good things that happened just because people took a stand and got one victory. And people realized the power and responsibility that they have to stand up for what’s right.”
“The music we’re talking about sounds a lot different than the spirituals,” said co-founder Dr. Natalie Hopkinson, “…but that is what ignited people in the streets and got people in power to listen.”
“When I talk to groups of small children, I’m like, this is your legacy. If you’re from D.C., those drums are your legacy. And they’re our superpower. … Everybody talks about Chocolate City in past tense, and we are still here; we are still the largest ethnic group; we still have an incredible legacy that we haven’t even begun to preserve, and really even understand.”
Between the pandemic and the protests against police brutality over the past few years, “There are all these new opportunities for us to reassert our place,” Hopkinson said. “And I believe that music, our music, Black music, will continue to be the engine that powers that movement, to make sure that we continue to have a voice.”
Moving forward
During the question-and-answer period at the end of the panel discussion, most of the questions centered on the theme of carrying the tradition forward, and whether that’s even possible anymore.
”When I see protests, and see marches [today], I don’t hear a lot of singing,” Mailliard said. “I hear people chanting phrases, but [I miss] the singing part that galvanizes, and touches the heart and brings the energy.”
Harris agreed: “The Black Lives Matter movement … I didn’t hear any songs. You must have songs. Songs must be sung; they will keep you from being afraid if you’re on a march and this policeman is coming up to you and telling you he’s gonna hit you with a billy club.”
OnRae LaTeal said, “I do think there’s room for us to be able to have more artists who are making more explicit music that’s rooted and grounded in social justice practices.” She spent much of 2020 recording audio and video from the protests in D.C. and setting protesters’ songs and chants to trap beats. From there sprang the Freedom Futures Collective, and the album “We Keep Us Safe.”
She and the Don’t Mute DC founders said the music industry isn’t interested in freedom music, but the advantage of modern times is the proliferation of other ways to get one’s music out, such as streaming services and social media.
Jordyn Jones, 17, a student at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts who’s going on to study musical theatre in college, said, “My entire life has been engulfed in music.”
A resident of the Ivy City section, she said, “I’ve seen violence; I’ve seen gentrification.” But one thing stays the same: “Music is something that never disappears. … It just evolves and changes.”
That said, she added, “There’s a huge disconnect between elders and young people about justice, about beliefs, about just about the history of our culture, and our people as a whole. And I think that to close that gap would make a lot of things different and would help a lot of different views.”
Hopkinson, of Don’t Mute DC, said young people need the same encouragement the previous generation got: “I think if we give the young people the space … they’re going to innovate. We’re going to hear all kinds of incredible new music that will power the next movements to take us into the next battles.”
Her co-founder Moten agreed: “In D.C., we have all these pretty buildings, but how many of them are being used for young people to have fashion shows, talent shows, and all the things that we had coming up?”
He added, “This group of young people is gonna kick some you-know-what, because they’re not scared of nothing. They just need to know how to use that courage they got the right way, and be given the platforms.”
