The March On Washington / August 28, 1963

10 p.m. to Midnight Host: Steve Winters

August 28 marks the 50th anniversary in one of the singular turning points in American history for civil rights and freedom — The March on Washington For Jobs and Freedom and the emergence into the public consciousness of a young black preacher, Martin Luther King Jr., who offered his legendary “I Have a Dream” speech. The march attracted an estimated crowd of 250,000 — at the time, the largest gathering of protesters to ever march in the nation’s capital — and propelled the already simmering movement for civil rights. It pressured the Kennedy and Congress to give serious attention to civil rights legislation, which culminated, sadly after Kennedy’s assassination only here months later, in passage of the landmark Civil Rights Act in 1964 which banned discrimination in employment and in public places.

This show explores in a small way the small slice of the civil rights movement’s successes and tragedies between 1960-1964 and the vital part that folk music and folk performers played in the movement, serving as a vehicle for letting the world know that the fight for equal rights and freedom crossed color lines and was a community effort.

  • Artist, "Title", Album, Label

  • Kim & Reggie Harris, “Freedom Is A Constant Struggle”, Get On Board!, Appleseed

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  • Judy Collins, “Hey Nelly Nelly”, Judy Collins #3, Elektra

  • Phil Ochs, “What’s That I Hear?”, All The News That’s Fit To Sing, Elektra

  • Jackie Washington (Landron), “Freedom School”, Jackie Washington At Club 47, Vanguard

  • Peter Paul & Mary, “Blowin’ In The Wind”, Ten Years Together, Warner Brothers

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  • Phil Ochs, “Talking Birmingham Jam”, I Ain’t Marching Anymore, Elektra

  • SNCC Freedom Singers, “Ballad Of Medgar Evers”, Freedom Is A Constant Struggle, Folk Era

  • Bob Dylan, “Only A Pawn In Their Game”, The Times They Are A-Changin’, Columbia

  • Kim & Reggie Harris, “Too Many Martyrs”, Songs Of Social Justice, University Of Rhode Island Foundation

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  • Pete Seeger, “We Shall Overcome”, We Shall Overcome/The Complete Carnegie Hall Concert, Columbia

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  • Pete Seeger, “Oh Freedom”, We Shall Overcome/The Complete Carnegie Hall Concert, Columbia

  • Martin Luther King Jr., “Excerpts from ‘I Have A Dream’ Speech, We Shall Overcome!/Documentary Of The March On Washington, Folkways

  • Magpie & Kim & Reggie Harris, “How Long”, Freedom Is A Constant Struggle, Folk Era

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  • Richard Farina, “Birmingham Sunday”, Bleecker And MacDougal, Elektra (Box)

  • Mimi & Richard Farina, “Michael Andrew And James”, The Complete Vanguard Recordings, Vanguard (Box)

  • Sweet Honey In The Rock, “Fannie Lou Hamer”, Believe I’ll Run On…, Redwood

  • Carolyn Hester, “Carry It On”, Freedom Is A Constant Struggle, Folk Era

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  • Guy & Candie Carawan, “Ain’t You Got A Right To The Tree Of Life”, Tree Of Life, Flying Fish