A sampling of the vast repertoire that Black folk musicians have contributed to the folk genre and the struggle for freedom and justice. Leon Bibb, Harry Belafonte, Paul Robeson, Odetta, Eric Bibb, Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon, Toshi Reagon, to start..
Reader Comments: Memories of the Southern Freedom Movement - Mary Hamilton; The Right to Water - Trump Action Endangers Millions; Keeping Public Services Public; Fight for Health Care Access Continues; Sen. Gillibrand Takes Name Off Anti-Boycott Bill; The Crisis in Venezuela - U.S. Involvement, and The Left; Hate Speech; Questions about Israel and the U.S.; CEO Pay; Palestinian Rights curriculum; An American in China; Dissident Arts Festival; Next Up for Single Payer
When we were founded as a nation, a fierce political battle erupted over who would have the vote. It was a fight over who was included in "We the People." We have been fighting that political war ever since, and continue to fight it to this day. The issue of who has the vote continues to be a fight because those who are well-served by the status-quo want to limit the voting power of those who they fear have good reason to be dissatisfied with the way things are.
Reader Comments- Selma - the movie; Labor, Racism, PBA's Patrick Lynch, Police Police Unions; Sports, Athletes, Equality and Anti-Racism; the 1914 Christmas Truce; It's a Wonderful Life, Comrade; Prosecute those responsible for Torture; Okinawa rejects "Pivot to Asia"; Fighting Anti-Semitism and Jim Crow;
Announcements- Invisible Lives, Targeted Bodies - Impacts of Economic Injustice on Vulnerable LGBTQ Communities; Symposium: Dynamics of Possible Nuclear Extinction
It is the complexity of the movement—so often missing—that is my chief complaint about much movement historiography—at least that found within textbooks. The story of the Freedom Movement is a story of resistance. The “non-nonviolent” Chinn was attracted to and willing to support the nonviolent CORE because he recognized and valued that it was an organization resisting white supremacy. This is more important, more fundamental, than the weapons he often carried.
Bob Moses remembers; Southerners reflect; Passing the Civil Rights Act of 1964; Voter suppression now; The Right vs. democracy; Throwback: How Mississippi Burning defamed the movement
The 50th Anniversary of Mississippi Freedom Summer
Freedom Summer 50th is a five-day convening to learn from the past, evaluate our present, and strategize for the future. The international conference and youth congress will be held June 25th - 29th, 2014 in Jackson, Mississippi on the campus of Tougaloo College. Work sessions will examine each issue area and explore its context in the present-day struggle for justice not only in Mississippi, but globally.
D.L. Chandler; Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove; Rose Marie Berger
Dr. Vincent G. Harding, Civil Rights pioneer, colleague, advisor and speechwriter for Dr. Martin Luther King, died this week at age 82. He drafted King's anti-Vietnam War speech, "Breaking the Silence". As people like King and Rosa Parks became icons, Harding insisted that America could not celebrate their lives without continuing to devote ourselves to the work they and many others had done.
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