Day 3: Monday, June 15 (by Cynthia Wells)

June 16th, 2015

Day Three: Rutha Harris

In Albany, Ga., we sat and listened and sang with Rutha Harris, one of the original Freedom Singers. Hearing her today gave me a much richer appreciation for the role that music played in sustaining the civil rights movement. Indeed, Rutha said today that she firmly believes that without music, there would’ve been no movement at all.

During the early 1960s the Freedom Singers, who were from Albany, performed all across the country raising awareness of the movement as well as funds for SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee). The role of music was no doubt influenced by the African-American church and its choral tradition, once again a testimony to the way that Christian faith influenced and sustained the movement.

The songs, whether sung in churches or in jails or on marches, helped to shape the movement and sustain it in moments of crisis. I learned that the lyrics changed to meet the circumstances, is in the spiritual “Ain’t gonna let nobody turn me ‘round”, which gives voice to the specific hurdles and reminded the leaders to stay the course toward freedom.

Ain’t gonna let nobody turn me ’round,

Turn me ’round, turn me ’round.

Ain’t gonna let nobody, turn me ’round.

I’m gonna keep on a-walkin’, keep on a-talkin’,

Marchin’ on to freedom land

Ain’t gonna let no jailhouse turn me ’round,

Turn me ’round, turn me ’round.

Ain’t gonna let no jailhouse, turn me ’round.

I’m gonna keep on a-walkin’, keep on a-talkin’,

Marchin’ on to freedom land

Ain’t let segregation turn me ’round,

Turn me ’round, turn me ’round.

Ain’t gonna let segregation turn me ’round,

I’m gonna keep on a-walkin’, keep on a-talkin’.

Marchin’ on to freedom land

Keep on a-walkin’, keep on a-talkin’,

Marchin’ on to freedom land

Music, I’ve often said, is one of the ways God speaks to me; music sustains me in times of trial. Singing today with Rutha will, I pray, be only one of many times that music will sustain me as I participate in the continuing journey we face toward justice and reconciliation.

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