Bernice Johnson Reagon: Black Women’s issues

Speech by Bernice Johnson Reagon, given November 11, 1980 at Barnard College’s Reid Lectureship Women’s Issues Luncheon, titled “My Black Mothers and Sisters: On Beginning a Cultural Autobiography.” Tape begins with Reagon singing a poem by June Jordan. She speaks of Black women’s roles in her mother’s generation, the courageous actions of Fannie Lou Townsend Hamer [1917-1977] to register to vote, the Civil Rights Movement, and the need to act in the 1980s. She is a founder of Sweet Honey in the Rock (a Black singing group) started in 1973. 47:00 red leader followed by Question and Answer section. Reagon explains the start of Sweet Honey in the Rock and her work at the Smithsonian Institute on Black American Culture (collecting spirituals and gospel music). Not self-contained. Some edits during speech.