Today, March 7, 2015, is the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, the day that the marchers on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, were brutally beaten, shedding their blood so that we could all have the right to vote. In commemoration of this event, I went back into the archives for some marching music and came across a Youtube trilogy by Odetta, the Voice of the Civil Rights Movement. For those not familiar with Odetta, her songs inspired many a marcher ... and many a sympathizer. Indeed, no one less than Bob Dylan has credited Odetta with inspiring him to become a folksinger and, for a time, the voice of his generation. You can hear Odetta's marching song trilogy at
and from 1965 you can hear Odetta sing one of the songs of her young protege at
Peace,
Everett "Skip" Jenkins
Class of 1975
P.S. While viewing Odetta's rendition of the Dylan song, I noticed that Aaron Neville sang an extended version of the Dylan song with more contemporary photos. Aaron's voice brought home Dylan's message in a way that, I think, even surpasses Odetta's version and caused me to pause and think for a while about the meaning of it all. Perhaps, after viewing the video, you will too.
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