Resources for thinking about Race and Racism: Music

Mahalia Jackson was known as "The Queen of Gospel Music", and played an important role as one of the musical voices of the civil rights movement. This song is an African-American spiritual that speaks about the old testament story of Joshua going up against the walls of Jericho, but also is meant to represent the fight for African-Americans against injustice in whatever forms it has looked like systemically through the generations, from the times of slavery forward. I often like live performances better than studio cuts because they capture raw feeling, energy and spirit in a way that can't always be replicated in a studio recording. This video is of Mahalia singing the song before MLK speaks at a church. You can feel the sense of what this music does in the room, and how it embodies resilience, perseverance, and soulfulness that carries the power of generations (this is the lifeblood of traditional black gospel music). Here is an alternate version where you can hear the words more clearly

Nina Simone was a powerful communicator in her singing, piano playing, and songwriting. This is an important song that's lyrics speak for itself and voices the feelings of many of us. Here is another version of the song with Nina speaking about what her song expresses