Synopsis
While students are probably told Civil Rights marchers sang We Shall Overcome, there is not much focus on the import role music played in the fight to secure equal rights for African-Americans. This series tells three important stories about the role of music on the road to equality.
Episodes
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![Of Thee We Sing: Civil Rights on the B-Side]()
Of Thee We Sing: Civil Rights on the B-Side
18/02/2015 Duration: 14minThe Baylor University’s Black Gospel Music Restoration Project has a massive collection of phonograph records made by African Americans in the '40s, '50s and '60s. The curator, Dr. Robert Darden, found that on the flip side of many of these 45 RPM records, there are Civil Rights songs that no one has ever heard.
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![Of Thee We Sing: Strange Fruit]()
Of Thee We Sing: Strange Fruit
11/02/2015 Duration: 12minThe lynching of black men in the American South was an all-too-familiar occurrence in the 1930s, even though it rarely made news. So when Billie Holiday had a hit record with the song Strange Fruit, it brought attention to this important issue in unusual ways.
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![Of Thee We Sing: Marian Anderson]()
Of Thee We Sing: Marian Anderson
04/02/2015 Duration: 15minOn Sunday, April 9th, 1939, a huge, mixed race crowd gathered at the Lincoln Memorial to witness an extraordinary event. At a time when African-Americans were not allowed vote, go to school or use the same toilet as white people, black contralto Marian Anderson stood in front of 75,000 people and sang classical music – a sign of Civil Rights victories to come.
