Jazz and Civil Rights

With Good Reason · Aug 13, 2026 · 51m

The personal and professional lives of musicians such as Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, and John Coltrane cannot be divorced from the struggle for racial equality. Antonio Garcia says they contributed in significant ways to interracial understanding and social progress. Also: The composers of the Civil Rights anthem “Lift Every Voice and Sing” also created musical theater at the turn of the century that transformed the image of African American characters and performers. Paula Marie Seniors looks at the lives of the composers Bob Cole, J. Rosamond Johnson, and James Weldon Johnson, whose work…