Bernice Johnson Reagon facts for kids

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Quick facts for kids Bernice Johnson Reagon

Background information
Birth name	Bernice Johnson
Born	(1942-10-04)October 4, 1942
Origin	Dougherty County, Georgia United States
Died	July 16, 2024(2024-07-16) (aged 81)
Genres	A cappella
Occupation(s)	Singer, songwriter, scholar
Instruments	Vocals
Years active	1966–2024
Associated acts	Sweet Honey in the Rock, Toshi Reagon Kwan Tauna Reagon

Bernice Johnson Reagon (October 4, 1942 – July 16, 2024) was an amazing American singer, composer, and scholar. She was also a strong social activist. In the early 1960s, she helped start a group called the Freedom Singers. This group was part of the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) during the Albany Movement in Georgia.

In 1973, Bernice Reagon created an all-female a cappella singing group. They were called Sweet Honey in the Rock. This group was based in Washington, D.C.

Bernice Reagon and other Freedom Singers saw how powerful collective singing could be. It helped bring different groups of people together. This was especially true during the 1964 Freedom Summer protests in the South.

"After a song", Reagon recalled, "the differences between us were not so great. Somehow, making a song required an expression of that which was common to us all.... This music was like an instrument, like holding a tool in your hand."

Music became a key tool for change in the early 1960s Civil Rights Movement. Bernice Reagon spent her life working for social justice through music. She did this through recordings, activism, and teaching.

She earned her Ph.D. from Howard University. She became a cultural historian, focusing on the power of music. She was also a respected professor at The American University.

Early Life and Education
Making a Difference: Her Career
Awards and Honors
Personal Life
See also

Early Life and Education

Bernice Johnson was born to Beatrice and J.J. Johnson. Her father was a Baptist minister. She grew up in southwest Georgia. Church and school were very important parts of her life. Music was a big part of both.

Bernice started school at age three. She was a very bright student. By fourth grade, she was helping to teach younger students.

In 1959, she began studying music at Albany State College. This college is now called Albany State University. She also joined the local NAACP chapter and then the SNCC. She was later expelled from Albany State. This happened because she was arrested as an activist. She then briefly attended Spelman College.

She later returned to Spelman to finish her degree in 1970. She received a special scholarship to study at Howard University. There, she earned her Ph.D. in 1975.

Making a Difference: Her Career

Activism and the Freedom Singers

Bernice Reagon was a very active participant in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. Her first protest was against the arrest of Bertha Gober and Blanton Hall. She was a member of The Freedom Singers. This group was formed by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). She also worked as a field secretary for SNCC.

Bernice Reagon explained that she first found SNCC confusing. But she understood they were fighting for freedom. Cordell Reagon organized The Freedom Singers in 1962. This group was the first civil rights singing group to travel across the country. The singers found that music helped people deal with difficult situations. It also brought protestors together. Because of her work with SNCC and the Freedom Singers, Bernice Reagon became a respected song leader.

Activist James Forman once said that Bernice Reagon's singing was very powerful. He remembered her singing "Over my head, I see freedom in the air." He said her voice brought a feeling of hope and commitment. When it was time to protest jailings, she led the way. She walked proudly, singing "This Little Light of Mine."

Working as a Scholar

In 1974, Bernice Reagon became a cultural historian at the Smithsonian Institution. She led a program called Black American Culture in 1976. Later, she became a curator of music history for the National Museum of American History.

Ida Jones from the Smithsonian said that Dr. Reagon collected many important items. These included photos and sheet music. She gathered things that showed the history of African American sacred music. This included gospel music, jazz, and protest songs.

In 1989, she received a special award called a MacArthur Fellowship. After retiring in 1993, she continued to work on African American Songs of Protest. She was a Curator Emeritus.

She also taught history at American University (AU) in Washington DC from 1993 to 2003. Later, she became a professor emerita of history at AU. She also kept her title of Curator Emeritus at the Smithsonian.

Her Music and Sweet Honey in the Rock

Bernice Reagon grew up in a church without a piano. So, her early music was a cappella, meaning singing without instruments. She said her first instruments were her hands and feet. She explained that this was the only way she felt comfortable making music.

Her early schooling also involved a lot of music. Her teacher would lead students outside to play singing games. These games used their hands and feet, as well as their voices. Bernice even won a competition as a child. She recited Langston Hughes' poem "I've Known Rivers."

Bernice Reagon was an expert in African-American oral history and protest traditions. She worked as a music consultant and producer for many award-winning film projects. These included PBS television shows like Eyes on the Prize (1987) and Ken Burns' The Civil War (1990). She also appeared in Eyes on the Prize.

She was the creator and narrator of a radio series called Wade in the Water, African American Sacred Music Traditions. This series won a Peabody Award. Bernice Reagon said she came as a "songtalker." This meant she balanced talking and singing to connect with her audience.

Bernice joined her first gospel choir at age 11. Her sister organized it at the Mt. Early Baptist Church. She and the choir listened to the local radio station WGPC to learn black gospel songs. As a child, her favorite group was the Five Blind Guys.

Bernice Reagon looked up to people like Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, and Bessie Jones. They helped her understand traditional singing and the fight for justice. She also felt that Deacon Reardon, a historian, greatly impacted her spiritual and musical growth.

Bernice Reagon wrote several books about African-American culture and history. These include If You Don't Go, Don't Hinder Me: The African American Sacred Song Tradition (2001) and We Who Believe In Freedom: Sweet Honey In The Rock: Still on the Journey (1993).

She also recorded several albums with Folkways Records. Some of these are Folk Songs: The South, Wade in the Water, and Lest We Forget, Vol. 3: Sing for Freedom.

In 1973, Bernice Reagon started Sweet Honey in the Rock. This was a six-member, all-female a cappella group. The original members were Bernice Reagon, Ysaye Maria Barnwell, Nitanju Bolade Casle, Shirley Childress Johnson, Aisha Kahil, and Carol Maillard. They mostly used their voices, along with some simple instruments like the shekere and tambourine.

The group has toured all over the world. Their fans come from many different backgrounds. Bernice Reagon believed in music's power to share information and bring change. She saw how music strongly affected the Civil Rights Movement.

Awards and Honors

In 1991, Bernice Reagon received a Candace Award.
In 1995, she received a Charles Frankel Prize. This was for her work in helping people understand the humanities. President Bill Clinton presented the award at the White House.
In 2003, she won the 9th Annual Heinz Award in the Arts and Humanities.
In April 2009, she received an honorary doctoral degree from the Berklee College of Music.
In 2000, she won the First National Leeway Laurel Award.
In 1996, Bernice Reagon won the Isadora Duncan Award.

Personal Life

In 1963, Bernice married Cordell Reagon. He was also a member of The Freedom Singers. They had two children: a daughter named Toshi and a son named Kwan. Toshi is also a singer and songwriter.

Bernice Reagon believed that challenges in life help you discover who you are. She felt that African Americans created their own world through culture. She said that black culture was the only thing black people could truly call their own. This is why she felt black culture was so powerful.

Bernice Reagon passed away on July 16, 2024, at the age of 81. Her death was confirmed by Courtland Cox, who leads the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee's Legacy Project.