Gospel singer Mahalia Jackson made a suggestion during the 1963 March on Washington − and it changed a good speech to a majestic sermon on an American dream
Known around the world as the “Queen of Gospel,” Jackson used her powerful voice to work in the Civil Rights Movement.
- Known around the world as the “Queen of Gospel,” Jackson used her powerful voice to work in the Civil Rights Movement.
- But on Aug. 28, 1963, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, something didn’t quite sound right to Jackson as she listened to King deliver his prepared speech.
- For the estimated 250,000 who joined the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom that day, they heard King deliver one of his seminal sermons.
- The other voice, the one King listened to and heeded, belonged to Mahalia Jackson.
An international phenomenon
- In 1956, she was the first gospel singer to perform at Carnegie Hall.
- The popular “Ed Sullivan Show” made Jackson a household name by frequently asking her to perform.
- But international fame did not make Jackson forget her religious upbringing and commitment to fight for equal rights.
- In “As the Spirit Moves Mahalia,” prominent Black writer Ralph Ellison wrote about the meaning of Jackson’s voice.
Mahalia and Martin
- Jackson and King first met at the National Baptist Convention in Alabama in 1956.
- King asked her if she could support his work there by singing and inspiring civil rights activists during the 381-day Montgomery Bus Boycott.
- In her own right, Jackson became a visible fixture within the Civil Rights Movement.
Jackson’s voice in a movement
- If music was the soul of the movement, strategic thinking was at its core.
- The March on Washington was considered the culminating event of the historic Civil Rights Movement.
- Till’s death and the subsequent acquittal of three white men charged with the brutal murder was one of the turning points of the movement.
- Among the building blocks of the Civil Rights Movement was music.