Sing for Freedom

CANDIE CARAWAN, with her husband Guy Carawan, compiled We Shall Overcome: Songs of the Southern Freedom Movement and contributed to Freedom Is a Constant Struggle: An Anthology of the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement. They have been associated with the Highlander Research and Education Center for more than forty years. Throughout the 60's, 70's, 80's and 90's, the Carawans organized cultural workshops at Highlander and in the field, focused on civil rights, citizenship education in the Sea Islands, and coalfield and environmental organizing in Appalachia. GUY CARAWAN (1927–2015) was an educator, writer, musician, and collector who dedicated himself to preserving the culture of the South and fighting for the civil rights of its common people. He and his spouse, Candie Carawan, had a decades-long association with the Highlander Research and Education Center in New Market, Tennessee. The Carawans served as consultants to the public television productions of "Eyes on the Prize" and "History of the Song 'We Shall Overcome.'" Their books include Ain't You Got a Right to the Tree of Life? (Georgia), We Shall Overcome, and Freedom Is a Constant Struggle. JULIAN BOND has been chairman of the NAACP Board of Directors since February 1998. He is a Distinguished Scholar in the School of Government at American University in Washington, D.C., and a professor in the Department of History at the University of Virginia.

In Sing for Freedom, Guy and Candie Carawan have crafted an invaluable and indispensable guide to the songs that illuminated the soul and spirit of our freedom struggle. This richly illustrated and beautifully written book reveals the inspiring, healing, and liberating power of song in social struggle. It is a major contribution to our heritage and it should be read and treasured by freedom- and justice-loving people everywhere.