Dust + Dignity Podcast: Episode 13

We Shall Overcome: Songs of the Freedom Riders and the Sit-Ins

To kick off season 3 of the Dust + Dignity Podcast we thought we would do something a little different and focus on a single album. We Shall Overcome: Songs of the Freedom Riders and the Sit-Ins on Folkways Records . This 1961 recording of spirituals, gospel and new music to “express the spirit of freedom” was the result of an effort by producer and performer Guy Carawan to bring together singers representative of hundreds of thousands African American students from the south participating in sit-ins, stand-ins and freedom rides for “first class citizenship” during the civil rights movement. The songs are performed by The Montgomery Gospel Trio, comprised of three high school girls from Alabama, as well as four seminary students who call themselves “The Nashville Quartet” in an impromptu session as recorded by Moses Asch.

Additional Resources:

Smithsonian Folkways

Album Liner Notes

Featured Music:

Dotmatic – Dust + Dignity Theme
Lee Morgan – Lover Man
The Freedom Singers – Oh, Freedom
Dotmatic – The Fall (like leaves) 
Kaidi Tatham – I’m High
The Freedom Singers – This Little Light of Mine
The Chess Cadet Allstars – The Ride
The Montgomery Improvement Association – We Are Soldiers in the Army
Allmos – The Sunday Morning March (feat. Paul Grant)
The Freedom Singers – We Shall Overcome
Dotmatic – Incredibeaux