Bernice Johnson Reagon

The purpose of this blog is to look closely at interviews with American musicians who by their works (songs) have fought social and political injustices.

I live in Kosovo, a place where you could and can meet injustice in every step you take. Living in my own land, a place that my ancestors worked really hard for, and not being able to practice my rights has motivated me to even sacrifice myself just so the next generations in my home country do not have to go through what my grand parents, parents and I went through. So, since I love music and my major is going to be political sciences, this is a great class that combines my major interests.

Therefore, by taking this course I will strengthen my knowledge about other social and political issues, and they will, hopefully, guide me to fulfill my goal of helping my country so one day Albanians will live without the fear that Serbians are going to come back and keep a sword under the pillow they sleep on.

The video I am going to talk about is by Bernice Johnson Reagon :

http://www.folkways.si.edu/explore_folkways/bernice_reagon.aspx

Bernice Johnson Reagon was a singer, song leader, civil rights activist, and scholar. Also, she contributed a lot to the African American culture.

Bernice was part of the African American struggle for civil rights. Her hometown is Albany, and that is where her work started. She said that first she did not know how to fight. She was too scared to pass the boundaries, because an inner voice would tell her that that is dangerous and she would get killed. But she overcame that and realized that if she would not cross that line she would never meet herself.

She found inspiration in the songs elders would sing at mass meetings and community gatherings, and music became more meaningful to her.

In the 1950s, she helped to organize the multi-racist performances in the segregated South.  She claims that putting black and white musicians in the stage, in the South, in the 1960s was really scary. BUT, that action made a very important statement: Songs could pull together people from different races at times when other means of communication were ineffective. She writes: “It was the first time that I knew the power of song to be an instrument for the articulation of our community concerns."

As we can see the issue she addresses is the struggle for Civil Rights. When I first started talking about this blog I talked about the fact that because my country was under the Serbian oppression we, Albanians of Kosovo, did not have all the rights we deserved and we lived with the fear that the Serbians would kill us at any moment. So, when I watched this video it reminded me of my self, my country and my story. I never thought that music was this effective on these issues .                    This video gave me hope that my interest in politics, and my passion in music can be combined together and make the world aware of our situation, and so other countries can help and support us on achieving our dream. I hope we will fully breathe the freedom in the air, too.

For more information about Bernice Johnson Reagon and her contributions she had made, go to:

http://www.bernicejohnsonreagon.com/freedomsingers.shtml