Hear the People Sing: A Journey Through American Folk Music – Session #3

6:00 PM in the Music Department

Hear the People Sing is a four-part deep dive into the history of American Folk Music! Music educator Olivia Johnson will guide attendees through group discussion and musical analysis, and will provide examples on the autoharp. If you can't join us for all four sessions, feel free to come for just one!

For session #3 we will explore how folk music evolved in the 1950’s-70’s. We will learn about how figures like Odetta, Paul Robeson, Joan Baez, Pete Seeger, and the SNCC Freedom Singers turned folk tunes into anthems of the Civil Rights movement. We will discuss the connection between folk music and the Vietnam War protests and the Free Speech Movement, and debate the effects of the commercialization of folk in the 1960’s.

Presenter Bio

Born and raised in South Carolina, Olivia Johnson is a musician, educator, and organizer based in Philadelphia. She is a classically trained Soprano and a self-taught autoharpist with a passion for keeping old music alive. Olivia’s dedication to justice and social change has led them to work with a variety of organizations including the Urban Leaders Fellowship, the Strother School of Radical Attention, Leadership for Educational Equity, and Spiral Q. They are also the founder of Raise Every Voice, a non-auditioned community singing group with a repertoire of folk and protest music.

Host or Publisher Music Department