Guy Carawan facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Guy Carawan
Guy Carawan, around 1990
Background information
Birth name	Guy Hughes Carawan Jr.
Born	July 28, 1927 Los Angeles
Died	May 2, 2015 (aged 87) New Market, Tennessee
Genres	Folk music
Occupation(s)	Folk musician, musicologist
Instruments	Guitar, hammer dulcimer
Years active	1950–2015

Guy Hughes Carawan Jr. (born July 28, 1927 – died May 2, 2015) was an American folk musician and a person who studies music (a musicologist). He worked as the music director and song leader for the Highlander Research and Education Center in New Market, Tennessee.

Guy Carawan is famous for sharing the protest song "We Shall Overcome" with the American Civil Rights Movement. He taught this important song to the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in 1960. "We Shall Overcome" was a union song based on an old spiritual song. It was a favorite of Zilphia Horton, whose husband founded the Highlander Folk School. Guy Carawan brought it back to the school when he became its new music director in 1959. The song's copyright is shared by Horton, Frank Hamilton, Carawan, and Pete Seeger.

Carawan sang and played the banjo, guitar, and hammered dulcimer. He often performed and recorded music with his wife, singer Candie Carawan. They had two children, Evan Carawan and Heather Carawan. Sometimes, their son Evan, who plays the mandolin and hammered dulcimer, would join Guy on stage.

Guy Carawan's Early Life

Guy Carawan was born in California in 1927. His parents were from the Southern United States. His mother was a poet, and his father worked with asbestos. Guy described his parents as coming from very different backgrounds. He earned a bachelor's degree in math in 1949 and a master's degree in sociology from UCLA.

Through his friend Frank Hamilton, Guy met musicians from the People's Songs group. These included famous artists like Pete Seeger and The Weavers. Guy moved to New York City and became part of the American folk music revival in Greenwich Village during the 1950s. This was a time when folk music became very popular again.

Working at the Highlander Center

Guy Carawan first visited the Highlander Folk School in 1953. He went with other singers like Ramblin' Jack Elliot and Frank Hamilton. Later, in 1959, Pete Seeger suggested that Guy return to Highlander as a volunteer. Guy then took over the music program that Zilphia Horton had started before she passed away in 1956.

According to his wife Candie, one of Guy's most important jobs during the Civil Rights Movement was to record and save the songs that were part of the movement. Both Guy and Candie believed that using religious and folk music could help shape social change. Guy wanted to record and keep these "Freedom Songs" so they could inspire and teach future leaders and activists.

At a workshop in April, Guy met Candie Anderson. She was a student from California who was involved in the sit-in movement. As a couple, they traveled across the South. They held workshops to encourage people to use music in the Civil Rights Movement. They also traveled the world to inspire activists. They visited England and the Soviet Union in 1957 and even went to China. Guy and Candie got married in March 1961.

Guy and Candie Carawan lived in New Market, close to the Highlander Center. Guy stayed as the music director at Highlander until he retired in the late 1980s.

The collection of recordings and materials from Guy and Candie Carawan (from 1955-2010) is kept at the Southern Folklife Collection in the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Guy Carawan's Recordings

Guy Carawan made many recordings throughout his career. These recordings helped to document and share important folk music and songs from social movements.

Documentary Recordings

Guy Carawan recorded many projects that captured the sounds and stories of important events and people. These recordings helped to preserve history. Some examples include:

• Nashville Sit-In Story (1960): This recorded the sounds of the sit-in protests in Nashville.
• Freedom in the Air: Albany Georgia, 1961–62: This captured the voices and songs from the Civil Rights Movement in Albany, Georgia.
• We Shall Overcome, Songs of Freedom Riders and the Sit-Ins (1963): This album featured songs sung by people involved in the Freedom Rides and sit-ins.
• Birmingham, Alabama, 1963. Mass Meeting (1980): This recording included speeches by leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. and songs from the Birmingham Movement Choir.
• Been in the Storm So Long: Spirituals, Shouts, Folk Tales and Children's Songs of Johns Island, South Carolina (1967): This project recorded traditional songs and stories from Johns Island.
• China: Music from the Peoples' Republic (1976): Guy and Candie Carawan recorded music directly from China.
• Sing for Freedom (1990): This was a collection of songs from various workshops and civil rights gatherings.

Personal Recordings

Guy Carawan also released many albums where he performed his own music. These albums showed his talent as a singer and musician. Some of his personal recordings include:

• Songs with Guy Carawan, vol. 1 (1958)
• This Little Light of Mine (1959)
• Freedom Now! Songs for a New America (1968, with Candie Carawan)
• Green Rocky Road (1976)
• My Rhinoceros and Other Friends (1983, children's songs)
• Hammer Dulcimer Music (1984, with Evan Carawan)

Guy Carawan's work helped to keep folk music alive and to share the powerful songs of the Civil Rights Movement with the world.