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Songs of Freedom and Justice: 150 Years of American History in Song |
(copyright registration
PAu3-064-494, July 10, 2006)
Ken Giles, music teacher
Shepherd Elementary
School
Washington, DC
Five students announce time-travel through 150 years
of American history in songs; then chorus sings medley: John Brown’s Body, We Shall Not be Moved,
Lift Every Voice, Johnny B Goode, This Little Light of Mine. Costumes:
1/5th in bib-overalls and white t-shirts; 1/5th
girls in long work dresses or skirts with headscarves or bonnet, and boys in
jeans and t-shirts; 1/5th in
international costumes; 1/5th in poodle skirts, bobbie socks, black
pants, loafers, white dress shirts, skinny black ties; and 1/5th in dress and church
clothes. Props will be determined in collaboration
with classroom teachers.
Student 1:
We are going to take you on a time travel through American history. We will introduce more than 30 historic
people and 25 songs that tell about history.
Starting 150 years ago, we will meet people who were in the anti-slavery
movement. For example, we will meet
John Brown and sing this song: “John
Brown’s Body.” (chorus sings)
Student 2: Then
100 years ago, because workers did not have rights, safe working conditions,
and fair pay, they came together into groups called unions. The union movement was trying to help
workers. We will meet union activists
such as Lucy Parsons and sing songs such as “We Shall Not Be Moved.” (chorus sings)
Student 3:
About 60 years ago, rhythm and blues and rock ‘n roll became
popular. We will meet Chuck Berry and
sing “Johnny B Goode.” (chorus sings)
Student 4: And 50
years ago, the civil rights movement started a campaign for equality that is
still alive in human rights efforts today.
We will meet activists such as Bernice Johnson Reagon and hear the song
“This Little Light of Mine.” (chorus
sings)
Student 5: About 80
years ago, blues and jazz became popular.
New music, art, and poetry reached national audiences. People started campaigns against racism and
in favor of equality. We will meet
James Weldon Johnson and hear his song “Lift Every Voice.” (chorus sings)
1850s-1860s: Anti-Slavery 1st
Grade costumes: girls in long work dresses or skirts with headscarves or
bonnet; boys in jeans and t-shirts
John Newton:
“Amazing Grace”
Harriet Tubman:
“Harriet Tubman” (by Walter Robinson)
Sojourner Truth:
Speech; “Steal Away”
Frederick
Douglass: “Didn’t My Lord Deliver
Daniel”
John Brown: “John Brown’s Body”
1880s-1930s: Pro-Union 2nd Grade costumes: bib-overalls and white t-shirts
Lucy
Parsons: Haymarket Demonstration on May
Day, 1886; “We Shall Not be Moved”
Joe Hill: “Joe Hill” (by Earl Robinson)
Lawrence,
Massachusetts, women strike in 1912: “Bread and Roses” (by Mimi Farina)
“Solidarity
Forever” (by Ralph Chaplin)
1920s-1930s:
Blues and Jazz 3rd
Grade costumes: dress clothes
Louis Armstrong:
“Saints Go Marchin’ In”
Huddie Ledbetter
(Leadbelly): “Bourgeois Blues”
Bessie
Smith: “St. Louis Blues” (by W.C.
Handy)
Benny Goodman,
Teddy Wilson, and Lionel Hampton: Videotape
Duke Ellington:
“It Don’t Mean a Thing If It Ain’t Got That Swing”
1920s-1940s: Fighting Racism, Supporting Equality 4th
Grade costumes: international costumes
Marian Anderson:
“He’s Got the Whole World In His Hands”
Jacob
Lawrence: painter during Harlem
Renaissance
James Weldon
Johnson: “Lift Every Voice”
Paul Robeson: “Old Man River”
Ida Wells:
Anti-lynching articles
Billie Holiday:
“Strange Fruit” (by Abel Meeropol)
Woody Guthrie:
“This Land Is Your Land”
1950s: Rhythm and Blues, Rock, Gospel 5th Grade costumes: poodle skirts, bobbie socks, black pants,
loafers, white dress shirts, skinny black ties
Chuck Berry:
“Johnny B Goode”
Ray
Charles: “None of Us Are Free”
Mahalia Jackson
and Thomas A. Dorsey: “Precious Lord”
Aretha Franklin: “Respect” (recording)
1960s-Present:
Civil Rights; Women’s Movement; Human Rights 6th Grade costumes: dress and church clothes
Freedom Singers
(Bernice Johnson Reagon): “This Little Light of Mine”
Fannie Lou
Hamer: “Go Tell it On the Mountain”
Martin Luther
King Jr.: “Oh Freedom”
Marian Wright
Edelman: Testimony about poverty and children’s health and education
“We Who Believe
in Freedom” (by Bernice Reagon, using Ella Baker’s words)
“We Shall
Overcome”
Narrator:
The anti-slavery movement began more than 200 years ago. We are going to meet John Newton, an
Englishman who wrote the song “Amazing Grace.”
Then we will meet several Americans who worked to end slavery: Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, John Brown,
and Frederick Douglass.
John Newton
I was a minister
against slavery. I lived in England in
the mid-1700s. My song “Amazing Grace”
found its way into the traditional music of all churches in the United
States. But I had not always been
against slavery. Years before, as the
captain of a slave ship, my job was to take stolen men, women, and children
from Africa to America. One day, I
realized that it was wrong to steal people and make them slaves. So I turned my ship around and returned the
people to Africa. From that day on, I
fought against slavery. My song,
“Amazing Grace,” has traveled all around the world.
Harriet Tubman
I was born a
slave in Maryland around 1820. When I
was in my 20s, I escaped from slavery and followed the Underground Railroad to
freedom in the north. But I returned to
the south over and over again to help lead other slaves to freedom. I used the words of spirituals (such as
“Follow the Drinkin’ Gourd” and “Steal Away”) to help guide the slaves to
freedom. I was never caught, and I
never lost a single passenger on my Underground Railroad. I died at 90 years of age in Auburn, New
York.
Sojourner Truth
I had been a
slave, but I escaped and found freedom in the north. I often spoke to many people who were against slavery. In addition, I worked so that women could
get the same rights as men. During the Civil
War, I provided advice to President Lincoln.
Frederick Douglass
I was born a
slave but escaped to freedom in the north.
As a Black man, I started a newspaper named “The North Star” and traveled
to many meetings in the U.S. and in England against slavery. During the Civil War, President Lincoln
listened to me and allowed African American soldiers to fight for the Union
Army. After the war, I became the
federal marshal for Washington, DC. I
also served as U.S. ambassador to Haiti.
You can come visit my home, Cedar Hill, in Southeast Washington. It is open to visitors.
John Brown
I was against
slavery and tried to get guns for slaves to help them fight against
slave-owners. I organized a group of
slaves that fought at Harpers Ferry in 1858.
This was my last fight against slavery.
People all over the country heard about this fight. After I was gone, people made up a song
about my fight against slavery.
Narrator: At the beginning of the 20th century, the union
movement was trying to help workers. In
this segment of American history, we will meet union activists such as Joe
Hill, Lucy Parsons, and the women strikers in the “Bread and Roses” strike of 1912.
Lucy Parsons
I was a union
activist at the end of the 1800s and the beginning of the 1900s. I was married to Albert Parsons, a labor
organizer who was one of the “Haymarket” demonstrators in 1886. He and several other activists were executed
after the Haymarket riot. I spent the
rest of my life carrying on the union work my husband and I had shared. I also
fought for civil rights and human rights.
I lived to be 89 and died in 1942.
I wanted to help
improve wages and working conditions for the average workers, so I became a
union organizer in the early 1900s. I
was an organizer for the International Workers of the World, the IWW, also
known as the “Wobblies.” This was a
dangerous job. I wrote several songs
for the union movement that are still sung today. My last will and testament sent a message to union activists for
the next 100 years: “Don’t mourn,
organize.”
The Women Strikers in the
“Bread and Roses” Strike in Lawrence, Massachusetts
In the 1800s and
early 1900s, in the textile mills of New England, women had the worst jobs and
were paid less than men. When we, the
women millworkers of Lawrence, Massachusetts, went on strike in 1912, we
expressed our goals in a poetic way:
“We march for a better day. We
march for women and for men too. We
want bread… and roses too.”
“Solidarity
Forever”
A
few years after the “Bread and Roses” strike, Ralph Chaplin – a union organizer
and musician – wrote the words to “Solidarity Forever.” This song eventually became the anthem of
the labor movement, and even today when union members sing it they stand up and
link arms to show solidarity.
Narrator: In the early 1900s, blues and jazz became
popular. Starting in New Orleans, the
music quickly spread to Chicago, New York, and other cities. In this segment, we will meet Huddie
Ledbetter (whose nickname was “Leadbelly”); Louis Armstrong; Bessie Smith; Duke Ellington; and the
jazz band represented by Benny Goodman, Teddy Wilson, and Lionel Hampton.
Louis Armstrong
I grew up in New
Orleans where I learned the powerful musical mix that created the blues,
ragtime, and jazz. More than anyone, I
helped popularize jazz – which started in the African American community and
spread all over the world. I played
trumpet. I sang. I improvised. I used my horn like a singer’s voice and used my voice like a
musical instrument. I became known as
“Ambassador Satch” spreading goodwill for America around the world.
Leadbelly
My name is
Huddie Ledbetter, but I was known as “Leadbelly.” I was a blues/folk singer in
the early 1900s. My songs and style
have influenced folk, blues, and rock music.
I played a big 12-string guitar, wrote most of my songs, and sang with a
strong voice. Some of my songs such as
“Goodnight Irene” and “Midnight Special” became hits after I died. In the 1940s, my wife Martha and I visited
Washington, D.C. We looked for a
rooming house where we could stay for a few days. No landlord would rent to us.
Over and over again, we were turned away. I wrote “Bourgeois Blues” about my experience in D.C.
Bessie Smith
I was known as
the “Empress of the Blues.” In the
1920s, I was considered the greatest blues singer and was the highest paid
Black entertainer in the country. My
recording of the “St. Louis Blues” with Louis Armstrong was one of the best
recordings of the 1920s, and it sold nearly a million copies.
Benny Goodman, Teddy
Wilson, and Lionel Hampton
Segregation was
still the norm in the 1930s, even in the progressive world of jazz. I am Benny Goodman, a white jazz clarinetist
and bandleader, who finally helped change that. I am Teddy Wilson, a jazz pianist who joined the Benny Goodman
band which also included Gene Krupa on drums.
And I am Lionel Hampton, a vibraphonist who also joined the Benny
Goodman band. Our band broke the color barrier, showing
audiences that race should not keep musicians apart. We proved that you could have a better jazz band with the best
players. (show video on screen)
Duke Ellington
I was born and
raised in Washington, DC, on T Street.
I learned to play piano and first wrote a blues composition while living
here in D.C. I became the most
important composer in the history of jazz.
In the 1920s, I went to New York City, organized a jazz band, and
eventually became the music leader at the Cotton Club in Harlem. I became known as the “Duke.” I took jazz into new areas, composing longer
pieces for large orchestras to play. I
traveled all over the world, bringing American jazz to a worldwide
audience.
INTERMISSION
Narrator: The 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s were a time when
musicians and artists fought racism and supported equality. This was the era of the Harlem
Renaissance. This was the time when
Black History observances began. In
this historical segment, we will meet the artist Jacob Lawrence; the poet James
Weldon Johnson; the singer and actor Paul Robeson; the opera star Marian
Anderson; the journalist Ida Wells Barnett; the jazz singer Billie Holiday; and
the folk singer Woody Guthrie.
Marian Anderson
I had a
beautiful contralto voice, and I became the first African American to join the
Metropolitan Opera Company in New York City.
I symbolized achievement for African Americans. In the late 1930s, I was not allowed to sing
at Constitution Hall here in Washington, DC.
The Daughters of the American Revolution, who own the hall, could not
bring themselves to approve a concert by America’s leading female opera star
because I was African-American. But
Eleanor Roosevelt, whose husband was President Franklin Roosevelt, loved my
singing and was committed to racial equality.
She arranged for me to sing at the Lincoln Memorial. Thousands of people came to that historic
concert.
Jacob Lawrence
I was a visual artist who used bright, bold
colors to tell a story in my paintings.
My paintings had a flat appearance and told stories of Black History. My art related untold stories about working
class Blacks in America. My paintings
showed the important people and struggles in Black America. I was the first African American to achieve
international fame.
James Weldon Johnson
I was the author
and activist who wrote the lyrics to “Lift Every Voice.” My brother Rosamond Johnson wrote the music
to the song. It was the early 1920s,
and African American intellectuals were studying and teaching the history of
their people. My song was used in many
early African American history events in the 1920s and 1930s. Eventually, the NAACP declared “Lift Every
Voice” as the “Black National Anthem.”
Paul Robeson
I excelled at
everything I did. At Rutgers University,
I was an All-American football player.
I was at the top of my class in law school. I became famous for the spirituals which I sang in concerts all
over the world. I acted in movies, and
was even a Shakespearean actor. I was
able to sing in a dozen languages and knew folk songs of people around the
world. Indeed, in the 1930s, I was
probably the most famous, respected American in the world. When I sang “Ballad for Americans,” I
symbolized America, showing that anyone could achieve greatness. However, the U.S. government distrusted my
peace activism and my insistence on racial equality. I was accused of being unpatriotic. The State Department took away my passport, depriving me of the
ability to travel and earn a living.
But eventually the court ordered that my passport be returned to
me. I changed the lyrics of my
signature song “Ol’ Man River” to say that I would keep fighting for freedom
until I died.
Ida B. Wells Barnett
I worked as a
journalist and an activist for racial equality. I lived in Tennessee and courageously wrote responses to each
lynching that occurred. I fought
against segregated transportation, prejudice in the Memphis school system, and
lynching. I also fought for women’s
rights. I became the co-founder of the
NAACP.
Billie Holiday
In 1939, I was
only 24 years old but was already acknowledged by my contemporaries on the jazz
scene as a brilliant and innovative musician.
That year, I recorded “Strange Fruit,” a radical and defiant cry against
lynching. Abel Meeropol, a
schoolteacher and political activist opposed to lynching, wrote the words for
me. I sang “Strange Fruit” at Café
Society, the first interracial jazz club in New York City. Columbia, the recording company with which I
was under contract, refused to let me record “Strange Fruit.” So, I recorded it with Commodore records
instead. Millions of people eventually
heard this recording.
Woody Guthrie
I wrote nearly a
thousand songs during my life. Probably
my best-known song is “This Land is Your Land.” It was written as an answer to Irving Berlin’s “God Bless
America,” and it came to symbolize America’s openness to everyone, regardless
of race, national origin, or other identity.
Children in the 1950s and 1960s sang “This Land” so much that many first
graders thought it was the national anthem!
Narrator: The 1950s saw widespread popularity of rhythm and blues, gospel,
and rock ‘n roll. In this segment, we
will meet Chuck Berry, Ray Charles, Mahalia Jackson, and Aretha Franklin.
Chuck Berry
I am truly the
father of rock ‘n roll. I took the
blues, sped it up, and added a strong back-beat. I wrote several early rock ‘n roll hits, such as “Maybellene” and
“Roll over Beethoven.” The Beatles and
the Rolling Stones sang several of my songs on their early recordings. “Johnny B Goode” is my semi-autobiographical
song. You can count the 12-bar blues in
this song. By the way, I am still alive
and rocking in my home in St. Louis, Missouri!
Ray Charles
I was the
musician most responsible for developing soul music. I helped create a new form of Rhythm and Blues with my
gospel-powered vocals and adding plenty of flavor from jazz, blues, rock, pop
and country. The song “None of Us Are
Free” is a simple but powerful message about universal freedom.
Mahalia Jackson
I had a huge
voice, and I used that voice to sing gospel songs like “Precious Lord” by
Thomas A. Dorsey. I was gospel music’s
first superstar. I became a star in the
1950s and 1960s, inspiring Aretha Franklin and other singers who started in
their churches and then moved on to other venues.
Aretha Franklin
I grew up
listening to Mahalia Jackson and other gospel singers who came to my father’s
Baptist church. I started singing
gospel songs when I was 12 years old.
Eventually, I combined gospel words with blues rhythms and helped create
Soul Music. I became known as the
“Queen of Soul.” My songs crossed over
all of the popular music charts, reaching a very large audience.
Narrator: The modern Civil Rights Movement began in the
1950s and continued in the following decades.
In fact, the basic goals of the Civil Rights Movement have become the
goals of the women’s movement and human rights efforts throughout the world. In this final historical segment, we will
meet Bernice Johnson Reagon and the Freedom Singers; Fannie Lou Hamer; Martin
Luther King, Jr.; Marian Wright Edelman; and Ella Baker.
Bernice Johnson Reagon and
the Freedom Singers
During the Civil
Rights Movement of the 1960s, a group of activists from the south came together
to sing civil rights songs. We rewrote
labor union songs to criticize segregation, and we rewrote spirituals to focus
on freedom and equality. We called
ourselves The Freedom Singers and we took our songs to demonstrations in the
south and to concerts in the north, raising money for the civil rights
movement. I, Bernice Johnson Reagon,
was one of the original Freedom Singers.
When I eventually moved to Washington, DC, I founded the
African-American women’s a capella group “Sweet Honey in the Rock.” Sweet Honey expanded the topics addressed by
songs to include women’s rights and human rights in general. I recently retired as head of “Sweet Honey
in the Rock,” but the singing group continues to be very active.
Fannie Lou Hamer
I was a sharecropper
in Mississippi, where I worked for years in the cotton fields. I finally decided to speak up for voting
rights and equal rights for all people.
In 1964, I led the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, which
challenged the all-white traditional Democratic Party at the presidential
nominating convention in Atlantic City.
I spoke to the credentials committee, telling them that I had waited all
my life for equality and I was “sick and tired of being sick and tired.” I often sang “Go Tell it On the Mountain.”
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr.
I was first and
foremost a minister. In 1956, I was the
head of a successful, year-long boycott in Montgomery, Alabama, to end
segregated seating on public buses. “I
Have a Dream” was the title of the speech I gave at the 1963 March on
Washington. In 1964, I was presented
the Nobel Peace Prize. I was a leader
of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 1960s. One of my favorite songs was “Oh Freedom.”
Marian Wright Edelman
I was the first
African American woman lawyer admitted to the Mississippi Bar. In the 1960s, I directed the NAACP Legal
Defense and Education Fund Office in Jackson, Mississippi. I am the president and founder of the
Children’s Defense Fund, the nation’s strongest voice for children and
families. Even today, I continue to be
a strong advocate for disadvantaged Americans.
Bernice Reagon and Ella
Baker
After I created
the singing group “Sweet Honey in the Rock,” I, Bernice Johnson Reagon, wrote
many songs about people and struggles for freedom and justice. My song “We Who Believe in Freedom” is a
tribute to Ella Baker. I am Ella Baker,
a mentor to many during the Civil Rights Movement. The words of the song are my words, written shortly after the
nationwide publicity about the murders of civil rights activists Andrew
Goodman, James Chaney, and Michael Schwerner.
While the nation mourned the brutal murders of these three young men,
less attention was paid to the bodies of African Americans discovered during
the search for the three activists. In
other words, there was not equality even in death. I said, “We who believe in freedom cannot rest until it comes for
all.”
Closing song: “We Shall Overcome”
“We Shall
Overcome” comes from gospel songs. One
source is a 1903 song by Reverend Charles Tindley of Philadelphia containing
the repeated line “I’ll overcome some day.”
Another source is a song containing the line, “Deep in my heart, I do
believe, I’ll overcome some day.” In
Charleston, South Carolina, in 1946, striking employees of the American Tobacco
Company – mostly African-American women – were singing hymns on the picket
line. A woman named Lucille Simmons
sang a slow “long meter” version of the song as “We’ll Overcome.” Zilphia Horton, a white woman and one of the
founders of the Highlander Folk School, learned it from her. The next year, she taught it to Pete
Seeger. The song spread orally and
became an anthem of southern African-American labor union and civil rights
activism. Please stand, cross your arms
and hold hands, and sing with us.
