Odetta, Voice of Civil Rights Movement, Dies At 77

Odetta, the folk singer with the powerful voice who moved audiences and influenced fellow musicians for a half-century, died Tuesday of heart disease. She had been admitted to the hospital with kidney failure about three weeks ago. In 1961, Martin Luther King, Jr. anointed her "The Queen of American folk music".

In spite of failing health that caused her to use a wheelchair, Odetta performed 60 concerts in the last two years, singing for 90 minutes at a time. With her booming, classically trained voice and spare guitar, Odetta gave life to the songs by workingmen and slaves, farmers and miners, housewives and washerwomen, Blacks and Whites.

Coming to prominence in the 1950s, she influenced Harry Belafonte, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez and other singers who had roots in the folk music boom. With an Odetta record on the turntable, listeners could close their eyes and imagine themselves hearing the sounds of spirituals and blues as they rang out from a weathered back porch or around a long-vanished campfire a century before. Odetta called on Blacks to "take pride in the history of the American Negro" and was active in the civil rights movement. When she sang at the March on Washington in August 1963, where her great, full-throated voice carried almost to Capitol Hill.

She was nominated for a 1963 Grammy award for best folk recording for "Odetta Sings Folk Songs." Two more Grammy nominations came in recent years, for her 1999 "Blues Everywhere I Go" and her 2005 album "Gonna Let It Shine." In 1999, she was honored with a National Medal of the Arts. Then-President Bill Clinton said her career showed "us all that songs have the power to change the heart and change the world." In a 1978 Playboy interview, Bob Dylan said, "the first thing that turned me on to folk singing was Odetta." He said he found "just something vital and personal" when he heard an early album of hers in a record store as a teenager. "Right then and there, I went out and traded my electric guitar and amplifier for an acoustical guitar," he said. Harry Belafonte also cited her as a key influence on his hugely successful recording career, and she was a guest singer on his 1960 album, "Belafonte Returns to Carnegie Hall."

She continued to record in recent years; her 2001 album "Looking for a Home (Thanks to Leadbelly)" paid tribute to the great blues singer to whom she was sometimes compared. Odetta's last big concert was on October 4 at San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, where she performed in front of tens of thousands at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival. She also performed October 25-26 in Toronto.

On September 29, 1999, President Bill Clinton presented Odetta with the National Endowment for the Arts' National Medal of Arts. In 2004, Odetta was honored at the Kennedy Center in Washington with the "Visionary Award". In 2005, the Library of Congress in Washington honored her with its "Living Legend Award". On January 21, 2008, Odetta was the Keynote Speaker at San Diego's Martin Luther King, Jr. commemoration, followed by concert performances in San Diego, Santa Barbara, Santa Monica, and Mill Valley, California.

Born Odetta Holmes in Birmingham, Alabama, on December 31 1930, she moved with her family to Los Angeles at age 6. Her father had died when she was young and she took her stepfather's last name, Felious. Hearing her in glee club, a junior high teacher made sure she got music lessons, but Odetta became interested in folk music in her late teens and turned away from classical studies. Odetta is survived by a daughter, Michelle Esrick and a son, Boots Jaffre. She was divorced 40 years ago and never remarried.

One writer said “A couple of weeks ago I was listening to "Harry Belafonte Returns to Carnegie Hall" and there she was with that great voice and on another part of the double album set there was Miriam Makeba. In the last month, we have lost two huge voices both musical and political.

The Other Presidential Candidate: Cynthia McKinney

Cynthia Ann McKinney is the 2008 Green Party nominee for President of the United States. She served as a Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1993–2003 and 2005–2007. She is the first Black woman to have represented Georgia in the House.

She was born in Atlanta, the daughter of Billy McKinney, one of Atlanta's first Black policemen, and a former Georgia State Representative. McKinney once described how as a young girl she was exposed to the Civil Rights Movement through her father, an activist who regularly participated in demonstrations across the south. As a police officer, McKinney's father would challenge the racially discriminatory policies of the Atlanta Police Department that were in effect at the time by publicly protesting in front of the station, often carrying young McKinney on his shoulders. After years of protesting social injustice in this way, McKinney's father decided it would be a more effective strategy to actually make public policy than to protest it. Ms. McKinney says that it was this early experience that opened her eyes to the power of government and its potential to guarantee social justice through legislation.

Her political career began in 1986 when her father, a representative in the Georgia House of Representatives, submitted her name as a write-in candidate for the Georgia state house. She got about 40% of the popular vote, despite the fact that she lived in Jamaica at the time with then-husband Coy Grandison. In 1988, McKinney ran for the same seat and won, making the McKinneys the first father and daughter to simultaneously serve in the Georgia state house.

In the 1992 election, McKinney was elected in the newly re-created 11th District, and was re-elected in 1994. When her district was redrawn and renumbered McKinney was easily elected from the new 4th District in the 1996 election, and was re-elected twice without much opposition.

McKinney was defeated Denise Majette in the 2002 Democratic primary, in part due to crossover voting in Georgia's open primary election, which permits anyone from any party to vote in any party primary. McKinney protested the result in court, claiming that thousands of Republicans, knowing they had no realistic chance of defeating her in the November general election, had voted in the Democratic primary against McKinney in revenge for her anti-Bush views and her allegations of voter fraud in Florida in the 2000 Presidential Election. Another reason for her defeat may have been due to her "controversial profile, which included a suggestion that the U.S. had advance knowledge of the attacks and that President Bush may have been aware of the attack but failed to warn New Yorkers, allegedly due to his father's business interests: "It is known that President Bush's father, through the Carlyle Group, had–at the time of the attacks–joint business interests with the bin Laden construction company and many defense industry holdings, the stocks of which have soared since September 11." Other factors in her defeat were her opposition of aid to Israel and a perceived support of Palestinian and Arab causes and alleged anti-Semitism by her supporters. On the night before the primary election, McKinney's father stated on Atlanta television that "Jews have bought everybody ... J-E-W-S" in the election, referring to Dekalb County's large Jewish community. During the 2000 presidential campaign, McKinney wrote that "Al Gore's Negro tolerance level has never been too high. I've never known him to have more than one black person around him at any given time." The Gore campaign was outraged and responded by pointing out that Gore's campaign manager, Donna Brazile, was Black.

McKinney was re-elected to the House in November 2004. In Congress, she advocated unsealing records pertaining to the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., and continued to criticize the Bush Administration over the 9/11 attacks. She supported anti-war legislation and introduced articles of impeachment against President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

She was defeated by Hank Johnson in the 2006 Democratic primary, after finding herself in the national spotlight again over the March 29, 2006 Capitol Hill Police Incident. She left the Democratic Party in September 2007.

Members of the U.S. Green Party had attempted to recruit McKinney for their ticket in both 2000 and 2004. In 2004, attempts were made to convince McKinney to run on the Green Party ballot line for president and on December 11, 2007, McKinney announced her candidacy for the Green Party nomination for President of the United States in the 2008 presidential election.

Carl T. Rowan

Journalist and author Carl Thomas Rowan was one of the most prominent Black journalist of the 20th century. He was a nationally-syndicated op-ed columnist for the Washington Post and the Chicago Sun-Times newspapers. He also wrote several books. He was born August 11, 1925 in Ravenscroft, Tennessee. He was one of five children born to Thomas and Johnnie B. Rowan and was raised in McMinnville, Tennessee.

As a youth Rowan worked hoeing bulb grass for 10 cents an hour, later performing hard manual labor for 25 cents an hour when there was work available. Like many other Black youths of this era, Rowan's childhood was deeply affected by the "Jim Crow" attitudes so prevalent in the South. While the economic and social situation was miserable, Rowan was determined to get a good education. He excelled in high school, graduating from Bernard High School in 1942 as class president and valedictorian.

Rowan left McMinnville for Nashville with 77 cents in his pocket and the dream of a college education. In order to earn his tuition for college, he moved in with his grandparents and got a job in a tuberculosis hospital the summer before enrolling in the Tennessee Agricultural and Industrial State College (Tennessee State University) in the fall of 1942. He also attended Washburn University. He trained at the Naval Midshipmen School at Fort Schuyler, The Bronx and became one of the first Black Americans to serve as a commissioned officer in the United States Navy. Following his service with the Navy during World War II Rowan returned to complete his studies and graduate from Oberlin College. He earned his bachelor's degree in 1947 majoring in mathematics. He received his master's degree in journalism from the University of Minnesota, supporting himself by writing for two weekly newspapers, the Minneapolis Spokesman and the St. Paul Recorder. In 1950 Rowan married Vivien Louise Murphy, a public health nurse; they had three children Barbara, Carl Jr., and Geoffrey.

He began his career in journalism as copywriter for The Minneapolis Tribune. He became a staff writer in 1950, reporting extensively on the Civil Rights Movement. Among his early pieces was a series entitled How Far from Slavery" which he wrote after returning to the South to study racial issues. The articles earned several local accolades and contributed to Rowan being the first Black person to become recipient of the Minneapolis "Outstanding Young Man" award. The articles also served as the basis for South of Freedom, his first book.

In 1961, Rowan was appointed Deputy Secretary of State by President John F. Kennedy. He was involved in the area of news coverage of increasing US military involvement in Vietnam and was also part of the negotiating team that secured the exchange of Francis Gary Powers, who was shot down over the Soviet Union. The following year, he served as a delegate to the United Nations during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Rowan became the U.S. Ambassador to Finland in 1963. In 1964, Rowan was appointed director of the United States Information Agency by President Lyndon B. Johnson. As director of the USIA he was the first Black American to sit on the National Security Council.

He accompanied then Vice President Johnson on a tour through Southeast Asia, India and Europe. Rowan became the center of controversy with the rejection of his application for membership in the prestigious Cosmos Club--whose membership qualifications included meritorious work in science, literature, the learned professions, and public service--on racial grounds. The Cosmos Club then passed a rule prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, but Rowan's nomination was never resurrected. The controversy resulted in the withdrawal of President Kennedy's application to the club when Kennedy's sponsor resigned in protest.

He then spent a year in India, Pakistan, and Southeast Asia writing columns during 1954. These led to a second well-received book: The Pitiful and the Proud, which was based upon his observations while in the Asia. A third book, Go South to Sorrow, was published in 1957. While his books received favorable acclaim, Rowan's writing skills were most commonly acknowledged for his journalism. He was the only journalist to receive the coveted "Sigma Delta Chi" award for newspaper reporting in three consecutive years: for general reporting in 1954; for best foreign correspondence in 1955; and for his coverage of the political unrest in Southeast Asia in 1956. From 1966 to 1998, Rowan wrote a syndicated column for the Chicago Sun-Times and, from 1967 to 1996, was a panelist on Inside Washington. Rowan was a 1995 Pulitzer Prize finalist for his commentaries. In 1968 Rowan received the Elijah Parish Lovejoy Award as well as an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Colby College.

Rowan received the George Foster Peabody Award for his television special "Race War in Rhodesia" and was awarded an Emmy for his documentary "Drug Abuse: America's 64 Billion Dollar Curse." His newspaper column was syndicated by the Chicago Sun-Times and reached nearly half of homes receiving newspapers in the United States. He was on numerous public affairs television programs. He also aired "The Rowan Report," a daily series of commentaries on radio stations heard across the nation. He served as a roving reporter for the Reader's Digest and regularly published articles in that magazine. He was one of the most sought-after lecturers in the United States, speaking on college campuses and at conventions of teachers, business people, civil rights leaders, and community groups.

As a national columnist and commentator, Rowan developed a reputation for being independent and often controversial. He publicly made statements, such as urging Dr. King to lessen his anti-war stance, because it was hurting the thrust of the Civil Rights movement and calling for the resignation of J. Edgar Hoover, the powerful FBI Director, citing abuses of power and corruption. While Rowan has always been a spokesperson for civil and economic rights for Black people, he has also been critical of those he feels should more aggressively address those issues affecting themselves.

Thurgood Marshall's only interview while serving on the Supreme Court of the United States was for Carl Rowan's 1988 documentary. The National Press Club gave Rowan its 1999 Fourth Estate Award for lifetime achievement. Rowan died at age 75 on September 23, 2000, in Washington, D.C. On January 9, 2001, United States Secretary of State Madeleine Albright dedicated the press briefing room at the State Department as the Carl T. Rowan Briefing room.

1968 Olympic Protests: Black Medallists Support Civil Rights Movement

It is still the most remembered medal ceremony of all time and one of the most overtly political statements in the 110 year history of the modern Olympic Games. The photographs of two Black American sprinters, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, standing on the medal podium with heads bowed and fists raised at the Mexico City Games in 1968 not only represent one of the most memorable moments in Olympic history but a milestone in America's civil rights movement.

On the the morning of October 16, 1968, Tommie Smith won the 200 metre race race in a then-world-record time of 19.83 seconds, with Australia's Peter Norman second, and John Carlos in third place. After the race was completed, the three went to collect their medals at the podium. The two American athletes received their medals shoeless, but wearing black socks, to represent black poverty. Smith wore a black scarf around his neck to represent black pride. Carlos wore beads which he described "were for those individuals that were lynched, or killed that no-one said a prayer for, that were hung and tarred. It was for those thrown off the side of the boats in the middle passage." All three athletes wore Olympic Project for Human Rights (OPHR) badges, after Norman expressed sympathy with their ideals.

Carlos had forgotten his black gloves, but Norman suggested that they share Smith's pair, with Smith wearing the right glove and Carlos the left. When "The Star-Spangled Banner" played, Smith and Carlos delivered the salute with heads bowed, a gesture which became front page news around the world. As they left the podium they were booed by the crowd. Smith later said "If I win, I am American, not a Black American. But if I did something bad, then they would say I am a Negro. We are Black and we are proud of being Black. Black America will understand what we did tonight."

Teammates at San Jose State University, Smith and Carlos were stirred by the suggestion of a young sociologist friend Harry Edwards, who asked them and all the other Black American athletes to join together and boycott the games. The protest, Edwards hoped, would bring attention to the fact that America's civil rights movement had not gone far enough to eliminate the injustices Black Americans were facing. Edwards' group, the Olympic Project for Human Rights (OPHR), gained support from several world-class athletes and civil rights leaders but the all-out boycott never materialized. Still impassioned by Edwards' words, Smith and Carlos secretly planned a non-violent protest in the manner of Martin Luther King, Jr.

While the protest seems relatively tame by today's standards, the actions of Smith and Carlos were met with such outrage that they and their families received death threats. Those that opposed the protest cried out that the actions were militant and disgraced Americans. Supporters, on the other hand, were moved by the duo's actions and praised them for their bravery.

International Olympic Committee president Avery Brundage deemed a domestic political statement unfit for the so called non-political, international forum the Olympic Games was supposed to be. In an immediate response to their actions, he ordered Smith and Carlos suspended from the U.S. team and banned from the Olympic Village. When the US Olympic Committee refused, Avery threatened to ban the entire U.S. track team. This threat led to the two athletes being expelled from the Games.

Smith and Carlos were largely ostracised by the U.S. sporting establishment in the following years and in addition were subject to criticism of their actions. Time magazine showed the five-ring Olympic logo with the words, "Angrier, Nastier, Uglier", instead of "Faster, Higher, Stronger". Back home they were subject to abuse and they and their families received death threats.

Smith continued in sports, going on to play football with the Cincinnati Bengals, before becoming an assistant professor of Physical Education at Oberlin College. In 1995 he went on to help coach the U.S. team at the World Indoor Championships at Barcelona. In 1999 he was awarded a Sportsman of the Millennium award. He is now a public speaker.

Carlos' career followed a similar path to Smith. He initially continued in sports, equaling the 100m world record the following year. Later he played football with the Philadelphia Eagles before a knee injury prematurely ended his career. He fell upon hard times in the late 1970s and in 1977 his wife committed suicide. In 1982 Carlos was employed by the Organising Committee for the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles to promote the games and act as liaison with the city's Black community. In 1985 he became a track and field coach at a high school in Palm Springs, California a post which he still holds. While at the time of the incident, they were ostracised, their actions are now seen as heroic, and as an important part of the Civil Rights Movement.


An interesting side note to the protest was that the 200m silver medallist in 1968, Peter Norman of Australia (who is White), participated in the protest that evening by wearing a OPHR badge and was not banned from the games. Norman, who was sympathetic to his competitors' protest, was reprimanded by his Country's Olympic authorities and ostracized by the Australian media. He was not picked for the 1972 Summer Olympics, despite finishing third in his trials. He kept running, but contracted gangrene in 1985 after tearing his Achilles tendon, which nearly led to his leg being amputated. Depression and heavy drinking followed. He died on October 3, 2006. Tommie Smith and John Carlos were pallbearers at his funeral.

San Jose State University honored former students Smith and Carlos with a twenty foot high statue of their protest in 2005. In January 2007, History San José opened a new exhibit called Speed City: From Civil Rights to Black Power, covering the San Jose State University (the mecca of track in the 1960s and 70s) athletic program "from which many student athletes became globally recognized figures as the Civil Rights and Black Power movements reshaped American society."

On March 3, 2008, in the Detroit Free Press editorial section, an editorial by Orin Starn entitled "Bottom line turns to hollow gold for today's Olympians" lamented the lack of social engagement of modern sports athletes, in contrast to Smith and Carlos.
The Sydney Film Festival in mid-2008 will feature a documentary about the protest. It is called "Salute" and has been directed and produced by Matt Norman, an Australian actor and film-maker and Peter Norman's nephew.