Bernice Johnson Reagon was multifaceted: a singer, songwriter, civil rights activist, historian, college professor, and documentarian.
Born in Georgia during the dawning of the modern Civil Rights Movement, she recognized the power of music in activism and co-founded the Freedom Singers. The ensemble performed across the South and at the 1963 Newport Folk Festival.
In 1973, she formed another a cappella group, Sweet Honey in the Rock, which started as a quartet and expanded to five members with Reagon remaining until her retirement in 2004.
She wrote "Ella's Song" in 1988 as a tribute to civil rights pioneer Ella Baker, who was active in the NAACP and other civil rights organizations.
You can go here to watch Sweet Honey in the Rock perform "Ella's Song," and please check out the comments too. Here's a good one: "This group Sweet Honey in the Rock taught me the meaning of a cappella (without instruments) their harmony was amazing...It was a JOY to see them perform live. I sing this song when feeding the birds and they always respond!"
Reagon's many accomplishments included earning a doctorate in 1975 and becoming a cultural historian at the Smithsonian Institution, focusing on music history. She also produced a 26-part series titled "Wade in the Water: African American Sacred Music Traditions."
The image in this video's thumbnail is a photo in the public domain of Reagon. It's available on Wikipedia.
This tribute is one of 41 stories that Sheldon Zoldan, a longtime journalist, has written and recorded in honor of the music notables who passed away in 2024. He's written tributes for other years as well. You can listen to the ones from 2023 on Everyday Creation. We'll have the 2022 tributes available later this year.
Sheldon also is the creator of Song of the Day, a story that he sends by email to a list of subscribers. To get on his subscriber list, email shzoldan@comcast.net with the subject line ADD ME TO SOTD.
This is Kate Jones. Thank you for listening to Everyday Creation, available on YouTube and in podcast directories including Apple, Audible, iHeart and Spotify.
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