Stories from "Freedom In Our Time" - Joan Baez

Joan Baez was very active in the anti-war movement of the sixties and seventies. However her first significant influences date back to 1958 when she attended a Youth Conference at Asilomar. This was the first time she met Martin Luther King, Jr. and heard him speak.

Civil rights

In 1958, Baez first heard Martin Luther King Jr. speak about nonviolence, civil rights and social change in a speech that brought tears to her eyes.  Several years later, the two became friends, with Baez participating in many of the Civil Rights Movement demonstrations that King helped organize.

When she was a senior in high school, Baez met anti-war activist Ira Sandperl and through their interests in various philosophies and political causes they developed a friendship. In 1965 they founded together the Institute for the Study of Non-violence in Carmel Valley, California with Sandperl running the general operations and funding coming from Baez.

The early years of Baez's career saw the Civil Rights Movement in the U.S. become a prominent issue. Her performance of "We Shall Overcome", the civil rights anthem written by Pete Seeger and Guy Carawan, at the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom permanently linked her to the song.  Baez again sang "We Shall Overcome" in Sproul Plaza during the mid-1960s Free Speech Movement demonstrations at the University of California, Berkeley in Berkeley, California, and at many other rallies and protests.

Her recording of the song "Birmingham Sunday" (1964), written by her brother-in-law, Richard Fariña, was used in the opening of 4 Little Girls (1997), Spike Lee's documentary film about the four young victims killed in the 1963 16th Street Baptist Church bombing.

In 1965, Baez announced that she would be opening a school to teach nonviolent protest.  She also participated in the 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches for voting rights.

Stories From the Civil Rights Movement - On Whose Shoulders We Stand

In this group you will find stories from remarkable people of all colors and ethnic backgrounds. Americans who played a role in the Civil Rights Movement of the past century. We are currently focused on capturing video stories, first person narratives from Black Lives That Matter. Ordinary Black Americans who have who have demonstrated extraordinary effort toward building their communities. To quote Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman, we are in search of "On whose shoulders we stand" and moving forward, "What we stand for." If you are so inspired, please contact me to share your story.

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