How It Feels To Be Free
As we honor Martin Luther King Jr. this weekend and the nation prepares to inaugurate our 46th president, let us remember the Black women our Vice President-elect Kamala Harris described as “too often overlooked, but so often prove that they are the backbone of our democracy.” Specifically, let’s consider the all-too-often overlooked Black female performers, who have long used their art to challenge representations about Black people at a time when America was awakening to a new consciousness about what it means to be free. They sought to inspire Americans to see one another beyond stereotypes and showed Black audiences how to see themselves unencumbered by the burden of racism. We have made it the focus of our work to help bring to light the overlooked contributions of artists like Lena Horne, Nina Simone, Mahalia Jackson, Bernice Johnson Reagon and Marian Anderson, who advanced civil rights through the roles they played, the songs they sang and the influence they exerted over the political process and leaders.