Joan Chandos Baez is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and activist. Her contemporary folk music often includes songs of protest and social justice. Baez has performed publicly for over 60 years, releasing more than 30 albums.
Harry Belafonte was an American singer, actor, and civil rights activist who popularized calypso music with international audiences in the 1950s and 1960s. Belafonte's career breakthrough album Calypso (1956) was the first million-selling LP by a single artist.
Zenzile Miriam Makeba, nicknamed Mama Africa, was a South African singer, songwriter, actress, and civil rights activist. Associated with musical genres including Afropop, jazz, and world music, she was an advocate against apartheid and white-minority government in South Africa.
Odetta Holmes, known as Odetta, was an American singer, often referred to as "The Voice of the Civil Rights Movement". Her musical repertoire consisted largely of American folk music, blues, jazz, and spirituals. An important figure in the American folk music revival of the 1950s and 1960s, she influenced many of the key figures of the folk-revival of that time, including Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Mavis Staples, and Janis Joplin. In 2011 Time magazine included her recording of "Take This Hammer" on its list of the 100 Greatest Popular Songs, stating that "Rosa Parks was her No. 1 fan, and Martin Luther King Jr. called her the queen of American folk music."
Holly Near is an American singer-songwriter, actress, teacher, and activist.
Shari Lynn Belafonte is an American actress, model and singer. The daughter of the late singer and actor Harry Belafonte, she began her career as a fashion model before making her big screen debut appearing in the 1982 drama film If You Could See What I Hear. She is best known for her role as Julie Gillette in the ABC drama series Hotel from 1983 to 1988. She later went to star in the Canadian science fiction series Beyond Reality (1991–1993). Belafonte also released two studio albums in the 1980s, and acted on stage in later years.
"Michael, Row the Boat Ashore" is a traditional spiritual first noted during the American Civil War at St. Helena Island, one of the Sea Islands of South Carolina. The best-known recording was released in 1960 by the U.S. folk band The Highwaymen; that version briefly reached number-one hit status as a single.
The American folk music revival began during the 1940s and peaked in popularity in the mid-1960s. Its roots went earlier, and performers like Josh White, Burl Ives, Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly, Big Bill Broonzy, Richard Dyer-Bennet, Oscar Brand, Jean Ritchie, John Jacob Niles, Susan Reed, Paul Robeson, Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey and Cisco Houston had enjoyed a limited general popularity in the 1930s and 1940s. The revival brought forward styles of American folk music that had in earlier times contributed to the development of country and western, blues, jazz, and rock and roll music.
Adegoke Odukoya, better known as Ade Bantu, is a Nigerian-German musician, producer and social activist who is the front man of the 13 piece band BANTU and the creator of the monthly concert series and music Festival Afropolitan Vibes which holds in Lagos, Nigeria. Ade Bantu is also the founder of the Afro-German musical collective Brothers Keepers. His band BANTU received the Kora Award for their album Fuji Satisfaction in 2005.
Matthew Jones was an African-American folk singer/songwriter known for being a field secretary of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and part of their The Freedom Singers in the 1960s. Jones was from Nashville, Tennessee, but also worked as a school teacher in Macon, Georgia. He was arrested 20 times for this civil rights activism.
My Song Goes Forth, is the first documentary about South Africa as apartheid was being imposed. The film features singer, actor and civil rights activist Paul Robeson singing the title song and adding a prologue that asks the viewers to interpret the remainder of the film against the producer's intentions. Alternately entitled "Africa Sings", the initial purpose of the film was as a pro-white supremacy short-subject documentary which serves as an advertisement for the birth of apartheid in South Africa but with a conflicting message in the voice-over. Primarily the documentary has been associated with Robeson and early Anti-Apartheid activism due to his re-editing and rewriting of the films' narration.
Soundtrack for a Revolution is a 2009 documentary film written and directed by Bill Guttentag and Dan Sturman. This documentary traces the story of the Civil Rights Movement and the gains achieved by young African-American activists with an emphasis on their use of the power of music. Soundtrack for a Revolution had its international premiere at the Cannes Film Festival and its North American premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival. Soundtrack for a Revolution was selected by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as part of the Oscar shortlist for the Documentary Feature category of the 82nd Academy Awards. Guttentag and Sturman were nominated for Best Documentary Screenplay from the Writers Guild of America. The film has screened at numerous festivals including Cannes, Tribeca, IDFA and Sheffield Doc/Fest.
American Film Festival is a film festival held annually in October in Wrocław, Poland. The first festival was held from 20 to 24 October 2010. The festival is organized by Stowarzyszenie Nowe Horyzonty and co-funded by the Wroclaw Municipality and Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.
Catherine Murphy is a U.S. filmmaker, activist and educator, best known for her documentary film MAESTRA about the 1961 Cuban Literacy Campaign. Her work principally focuses on social justice and literacy in the Americas. Murphy founded The Literacy Project in 2004 and Tres Musas Producciones in 2009.
Irving Fierstein was a Brooklyn-born artist whose work spanned over half a century was the son of Romanian and Polish Jewish immigrant parents and raised on New York City's lower east side. In his lifetime Fierstein created a prolific body of fine artworks including oils, acrylics, lithographs, etchings and mixed medium reflecting impressionist, cubist, and expressionist schools, many dedicated to themes about social justice.
African Film Festival, Inc. (AFF) is a non-profit cultural organization that presents an annual film festival and year-round community programs. Based in New York City, the organization was founded in 1990. The organization is dedicated to promoting greater understanding of African culture through film.
Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin is a 2003 American biographical documentary film co-produced and co-directed by Nancy Kates and Bennett Singer. The documentary recounts the life of Bayard Rustin, the African-American civil rights activist, notable for his activism for racial equality, gay rights, socialist issues, and organizing the 1963 March on Washington. Appearing in footage and interviews are Rustin, A.J. Muste, David McReynolds, Bob Dylan, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Stokely Carmichael, Lyndon B. Johnson and Robert F. Kennedy. The film premiered January 17, 2003 at the Sundance Film Festival and two days later on POV. The film earned numerous accolades at various festivals.
"Chains" is a song by American R&B recording artist Usher featuring American rapper Nas and German singer-songwriter Bibi Bourelly. It was released on October 15, 2015, as a Tidal exclusive. The song is titled “Chains”, the interactive video experience is called “Don’t Look Away”, using facial recognition technology forcing viewers to watch, to keep their eyes fixed on those of the victims.
Softie is a 2020 Kenyan film, based on the life of political activist and photojournalist Boniface Mwangi and his family. The film, directed by Sam Soko first premiered internationally at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival where it won a special jury prize for editing. Softie, which is set to premier in Kenya on October 16, 2020, also won the Best Documentary at the Durban International Film Festival (DIFF) 2020. An award that has qualified the film for consideration for the Oscar documentary shortlist for the 93rd Academy Awards ceremony.
Gina Belafonte is an American actress, film and stage producer, and civil rights activist. The youngest daughter of singer, actor, and activist Harry Belafonte, she has appeared in such films as Bright Lights, Big City, Tokyo Pop, and BlacKkKlansman (2018). Belafonte served as a producer on Sing Your Song, a 2011 documentary film about her father. She co-founded The Gathering for Justice, a nonprofit organization whose aim is to end child incarceration and eliminate the racial disparities in the criminal justice system, and is the CEO of Sankofa.org, a nonprofit founded by her father.
