Just as the Freedom Ride trip was a call to action for its students, we hope that this Web site prompts you to want to explore the subjects of history and race relations more fully. The following songs, sites, and books offer a wealth of information and source material and are a great place to begin your own Freedom Ride.

Songs
Web sites
Books

Songs

Sample songs from the Freedom Ride trip, with comments from Professor Craig Werner:

"Woke Up This Morning With My Mind on Freedom," the SNCC Freedom Singers

As we embarked on the trip, students learned the songs that the marchers sung as they confronted the forces arrayed against them. Songs like this helped us sense at least something of how crucial it was, and is, to share a message and a rhythm.

"Roll Jordan Roll," The Fairfield Four

In Nashville, Isaac "Dicky" Freeman, the greatest living bass singer, talked to us about growing up in Jim Crow Alabama and taught us to sing this song. Even though Mr. Freeman kept his distance from the Movement, his music gave strength to the community that supported its goals.

"A Change Is Gonna Come," Sam Cooke

No song better captures the underlying vision of the Movement as it moved from the black South into the mainstream of American culture.

"Starting All Over Again," Mel and Tim

In Hattiesburg, Mississippi, we heard the widow and son of Vernon Dahmer describe the horrifying night when he suffered mortal injuries while defending his family against white supremacist attacks. Usually heard as a song about recovering from a failed relationship, this song took on special meaning in connection with the Dahmers inspirational example, which has culminated in Mrs. Dahmer's election as voting commissioner in Hattiesburg.

"So What," Miles Davis (with John Coltrane)

In New Orleans, the Freedom Riders toured the French Quarter, arriving in the lobby of a hotel which had once been home to the slave market. As we sat amidst the luxury, and observed the continuing split between the affluent (and mostly white) clientele and the mostly black staff, Miles' trumpet, and Coltrane's supremely angry sax solo, provided ironic commentary over the hotel's sound system.

"We Shall Overcome," Charles Haden and Hank Jones

The most difficult moments of the Freedom Ride occurred at the Destrehan Plantation outside New Orleans, where the official tour represses all mention of the slave revolt and subsequent trials which we had studied. As the bus pulled into the Plantation in the rain, this meditative rendition of the Movement classic was playing over the intercom.

"Last Fair Deal Gone Down," Robert Johnson

As the bus wound its way through the Mississippi Delta, Robert Johnson's haunting blues provided commentary on the deep history of the land and its people.

"The Dark End of the Street," James Carr, Clarence Carter and Aretha Franklin

In Oxford, Mississippi, we listened to music writer John Floyd talk about the tangled racial history of Memphis music. The radically different tones of these three renditions of a deep soul classic capture the tension between blues despair and gospel affirmation in the Southern tradition.

"Love and Happiness," Al Green

The incredible energy unleashed in Al Green's church in Memphis is almost impossible to recreate, but the live recording of Love and Happiness comes close.

"We Shall Overcome," SNCC Freedom Singers

When we reached our last stop at the Highlander Center, the Freedom Riders gathered around the camp fire, soaked in the spirit of a place where so much positive work had been conceived, and raised our voices in singing the song that justly remains the touchstone of what the Movement was about.

Web sites

Civil Rights Movement
African-American History
Race Relations

Civil Rights Movement

Historic Places in the Civil Rights Movements:
http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/civilrights/
The National Park Service's story of the civil rights movement, centered around places listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

National Voting Rights Museum
http://www.voterights.org/
Information and exhibits from Selma's museum on the right to vote.

National Civil Rights Museum Virtual Tour
http://www.criminal-justice-careers.com/crime/national-civil-rights-movement.html
Comprehensive history of the keystone events of the movement.

Seattle Times: Photo tour of the civil rights movement:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/mlk/movement/PT/phototour.html
Exhibit of national and Seattle-area photos from civil-rights protests and events.

Voices of the Civil Rights Era
http://www.webcorp.com/civilrights/index.htm
Audio clips from John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Malcolm X.

For more options on the history of the civil rights movement, see list at:
http://dmoz.org/Society/History/By_Region/North...

African-American History

Africans in America
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/home.html
A collection of images, documents, stories, biographies and commentaries depicting America's journey through slavery.

The Black History Museum.
http://www.afroam.org/history/history.html
A black history exhibit developed and maintained by AFRO America.

Race Relations

How Race Is Lived in America
http://www.nytimes.com/library/national/race/
Series of New York Times articles on race as defined through daily experiences. (free registration required)

Race Relations Background Reports
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/race_relations/race...
PBS's Online Newshour concerning issues of race.

Just Facts: Racial Issues
http://www.justfacts.com/racial_issues.htm
Provocative data on discrimination, income differences, affirmative action, slavery, and politics.

Tolerance.org
http://www.tolerance.org/
A project of the Southern Poverty Law Center to promote racial justice and combat hate.

For more options on contemporary race relations, see list at:
http://dmoz.org/Society/Issues/Race-Ethnic-Religious...

Books

"I've Got the Light of Freedom," Charles M. Payne (University of California Press, 1996)

A history of the freedom struggles and organized protest in Mississippi.

"Soul by Soul: Life Inside the Antebellum Slave Market," Walter Johnson (Harvard University Press, 2001)

An examination of how the slave trade became established and prospered in the American South before the Civil War.

"Sweet Soul Music: Rhythm and Blues and the Southern Dream of Freedom," Peter Guralnick (Little, Brown & Co., 1998)

A historical review of 1960s soul music and its connections to civil rights in the South.

"A Change is Gonna Come: Music, Race, and the Soul of America," Craig Werner (Plume, 1999)

Explores how music, history, and pop culture intertwine through the stories and music of artists from Motown to Nashville and everywhere in between.

"Radio Free Dixie: Robert F. Williams and the Roots of Black Power," Timothy Tyson (University of North Carolina Press, 2001)

Biography of a sometimes overlooked civil-rights pioneer who pushed for social change and resisted oppression.

"Ben Tillman and the Reconstruction of White Supremacy," Stephen Kantrowitz (University of North Carolina Press, 2000)

History of Tillman's life and role in the re-establishment of white supremacy in the post-Civil War South.