Profile: Bernice Johnson Reagon |
"Today whenever women gather together it is not necessarily nurturing. It is coalition building. And if you feel the strain, you may be doing some good work."
-- Bernice Johnson Reagon
Bernice Johnson Reagon was born in 1942 in Albany, Georgia. She entered Albany State College in 1959, but was expelled in 1961 after being arrested while protesting with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). She then briefly attended Spelman College before quitting to join the Freedom Singers civil rights music group. The group sang at political gatherings and jails around the South and appeared at the 1963 March on Washington. After leaving the Freedom Singers in 1964, Bernice spent the remainder of the decade bearing her two children, daughter Toshi (also an accomplished musician) and son Kwan Tauna, as well as recording and releasing two solo albums. During this time, she also began her study of traditional African-American folk music and storytelling.
Bernice then finished her degree in non-Western history at Spelman College, moved to Washington, D.C., and became involved in Black Nationalism. She became the director of the D.C. Black Repertory Theater. Then, in 1973, she co-founded the legendary black gospel group Sweet Honey in the Rock. During her first years in Sweet Honey, she earned her doctorate in history at Howard University.
Over the course of the next three decades, Bernice was involved in multiple black pride and African-American history activities. Her work with Sweet Honey continued, and the group toured, put on festivals, and released many albums (and continue to do so today). She started work with the Smithsonian Institutions as a cultural historian in 1974, and in 1983 was promoted to curator at the National Museum of American History, where she had previously begun the museum's program in Black American Culture. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, she was appointed professor emeritus at American University and won a MacArthur Fellowship.
Bernice was also involved in many well-known radio, television, and film projects dealing with African-American history and culture, including the Eyes on the Prize series, NPR's Wade in the Water, the television series We Shall Overcome, and the film Beloved. In 1995, she won a Charles Frankel Prize for humanities, presented by President Clinton. In 2003, she won a Heinz Award for the Arts and Humanities.
Now in her 60s, Bernice has retired from Sweet Honey in the Rock. However, she has continued her work in African-American culture and music in the 2000s, most recently writing music and libretto for the play The Temptation of St. Anthony, playing some concerts with her daughter, Toshi Reagon, and lecturing.
To hear examples of the musical work of Bernice Johnson Reagon and Sweet Honey in the Rock, please see http://www.bernicejohnsonreagon.com/ and http://www.singers.com/sweethoney.html.
Sources:
Bernice Johnson Reagon 2006 Bio Statement
Sweet Honey in the Rock
PBS African American World
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Grace Mitchell |
| About the author: |
| Grace Mitchell lives in Austin, Texas with her partner, dogs, and cats. She is heavily involved in dog rescue. She is a university number cruncher, nearly-finished graduate student, and intermittent junk seller. |
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