Maria Bauman will perform Give Your Hands to Struggle at Over My Head, I Hear Freedom in the Air: A Celebration of the Life and Legacy of Bernice Johnson Reagon on behalf of Urban Bush Women.
A one-night-only celebration of the profound legacy of Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon, Over My Head, I Hear Freedom In the Air brings together live music and personal testimonies, to honor one of America's most singular creative and intellectual voices, curated by her daughter and collaborator Toshi Reagon.
Performer, composer, historian, and founder of the a cappella ensemble Sweet Honey in the Rock, Dr. Reagon spent more than five decades at the intersection of art and activism. A child of Southwest Georgia, Dr. Reagon came of age singing in the Civil Rights Movement, first as a member of the SNCC Freedom Singers in the 1960s. A leading authority in African-American cultural history and a Presidential Medal honoree, Dr. Reagon produced more than two dozen albums and co-composed three operas with Toshi Reagon: including Octavia E. Butler's Parable of the Sower. The evening features appearances by artists and activists including Angela Davis, Lizz Wright, Alexis Pauline Gumbs, and The Original SNCC Freedom Singers; presented in collaboration with Wise Reagon Arts.
Urban Bush Women’s Give Your Hands to Struggle (choreographed by Founding Artistic Director Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, with music by Bernice Johnson Reagon) is a tribute to civil rights leaders whose work contributed to a better future for all of us. The title is based on a speech by Adam Clayton Powell, “What’s in Your Hand.”
Maria Bauman
UBW BOLD Facilitator, MBDance Artistic Director
Featured Artists
Toshi Reagon, Angela Davis, Lizz Wright, Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Helga Davis, Carl Hancock Rux, The Original SNCC Freedom Singers: Rutha Mae, Harris and Charles Neblett, The Vinsons, Jessica Johnson & Sonjesa Folasade Johnson, Juliette Jones, Ariel Horowitz, The Sacred Sound Featuring Carla Duren, Morley, Josette Newsam, Jason Walker, Fred Cash, Kim Jordan, Allison Miller, Adam Widoff, Urban Bush Women with featured soloist Maria Bauman.