'Oh Freedom’
A Reason To Smile
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Alabama was the epicenter of the Civil Rights Movement in America in the early 1960s, and I am one of the fortunate few who can still write about it first hand. I covered the movement and its protests in many places, including Selma and Montgomery. The images of violence against nonviolent protesters are still seared in my memory. The sounds are there too. The sounds of protesters singing.
The memories are much on my mind as we mark the 60th anniversary of the historic march to Montgomery from Selma in 1965 that rightly has become recognized as a decisive turning point for the whole movement. There were many battles yet to be fought, and the fight against racial bias and segregation continues to this day. But with Selma the tide turned. The worst of the segregationists no longer had the upper hand.
It’s hard to believe it’s been 60 years since Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and thousands of civil rights activists marched across Alabama protesting the blocking of Black Americans’ right to vote. Jim Crow laws, passed after the Civil War, disenfranchised most Black people throughout the American South.
Along the 54-mile highway between Selma and Montgomery, marchers sang African American spirituals. Spirituals, which were created by enslaved people, channeled messages of hope and resilience. These songs were adopted a century later by the freedom fighters as civil rights anthems.
The spiritual “Oh Freedom” could be heard from Selma to Montgomery. This a capella version, by The Golden Gospel Singers, is especially moving as it is paired with powerful images from the time.
A fascinating side note: In 1965, Carl Benkert traveled from his home in Michigan to Alabama to witness these historic moments. And with him, he carried an audio recorder, described as a bulky, battery-operated reel-to-reel machine. Benkert captured the sounds of the movement, especially the music, which was the basis for an audio documentary called “Freedom Songs, Selma, Alabama.” The quality of the audio is amazing, even haunting. You can listen to it here on Spotify, including “Oh Freedom.” Benkert later wrote, “Music was an essential element; music in song expressing hope and sorrow; music to pacify or excite; music with the power to engage the intelligence and even touch the spirit.”
I was not there for the march that day in 1965. By that time, I had been assigned to report for CBS News from overseas. As news of the great event reached me, the sights and sounds of other civil rights marches that I had covered came rushing back. They are never to be forgotten.
Let us hope that they are never forgotten by our country.
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Stay Steady,
Dan
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