life
and work
bernice
johnson
reagon
1942
October 4:
Bernice Johnson Reagon is born in Dougherty County, Georgia.
1959
Begins her studies at Albany State College in Albany, GA
1960
Co-founded and served as secretary of the junior chapter of NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) at Albany State College.
As student council representative, demanded that the Albany State administration address issues of safety for women students at the historically Black college who were being harassed by local white men.
Bernice Johnson Reagon next to activist Slater King when the Albany Movement was formed.
1961
Serves as Field Secretary of Albany chapter of SNCC (student non-violent coordinating committee).
Bernice Johnson Reagon performing at the iconic Caffè Lena in 1961, one of the venues that ushered folk music into the mainstream.
Eddie Brown being carried off by the Albany police, August, 1961. Photograph by Danny Lyon
Segregated drinking fountains at Albany, Georgia courthouse, Photography by Danny Lyon
Older woman standing at Shiloh Baptist Church in Albany, Georgia, 1961, Photograph by Danny Lyon
1962
Arrested for civil rights organizing activities and suspended from Albany State
Enrolled in Spelman College to study music and history, but left to Join the Albany Quintet. The quintet becomes the SNCC Freedom Singers, a group formed this year that uses music to inspire and motivate fellow civil rights activists.
Original SNCC Freedom Singers
Bernice Johnson Reagon performing alongside Cordell Reagon and the Freedom Singers. Photograph: Diana Davies
Records “Freedom in the Air” Produced by Guy Carawan and Alan Lomax (a documentary of the Albany movement.
One of the early documented recordings of Reagon is on the 1962 Freedom in the Air record, a documentary recording about the Albany Movement produced by Alan Lomax and Guy Carawan. A review of the album in the New York Times described Reagon’s voice as “splendid” saying that she “merits a recording of her own."
The Freedom Singers performing on stage, Newport Folk Festival
From left: Charles Neblett, Bernice Johnson Reagon, Cordell Reagon, Rutha Harris, July 26, 1963. Photograph: Rowland Scherman
1963
The Freedom Singers perform at the March on Washington.
Bernice Johnson Reagon performing at the Newport Folk Festival, July 28, 1963
Photograph: Rowland Scherman
1965
Releases first solo album entitled "Bernice Reagon - Folk Songs: The South."
Bernice Johnson Reagon performing civil rights songs at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965 alongside Guy Carawan, Fannie Lou Hamer, and Len Chandler perform civil rights songs at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965. Photograph: Diana Davies
1966
Accepts a position as a voice teacher at Tougaloo College in Jackson, Mississippi.
Rev. Dr Martin Luther King Jr on the campus of Tougaloo College offering signatures to a group of Tougaloo students. Photo courtesy of the Tougaloo College Archives
Organized the Southern Folk Cultural Revival Project with Ann Romaine, the first international Southern folk festival which continued for the next 25 years.
Bernice Johnson Reagon performing at The Southern Festival of Song, Vanderbilt University, held in Neely Auditorium, April 22, 1966.
Photograph by Archie E Allen
1967
Releases “The Sound of Thunder” LP
Co-founded the Harambee Singers, a choral group of black women
The Harambee Singers performing in Atlanta
1971
Became the Vocal Director at the newly founded DC Black Repertory Company with whom she wrote two operas, “Upon This Rock” “A Day in the LIfe of People.”
Arrived in Washington DC as a Ford Foundation PhD fellow to study at Howard University and successfully petitioned the history department to research Black music.
1973
Founds the all-woman, African American a cappella ensemble Sweet Honey in the Rock.
Founding members Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon, Carol Maillard, Louise Robinson, and Mie
1974
Founds and Directs the Program in African American Culture at the Smithsonian Museum of American History
Portrait taken by Dane Penland for the Smithsonian, 1974
1975
Completes "Songs of the Civil Rights Movement, 1955-1965: A Study in Culture History," her PhD dissertation at Howard University, completing her PhD in 1983.
The first pages of the 1975 Howard University yearbook, "The Bison" introducing the culture at Howard University.
1976
Sweet Honey in the Rock releases first album entitled "Sweet Honey in the Rock."
Curates the African Diaspora section of The Smithsonian Folklife Festival for its Bicentennial Year.
Photoraph: Debbie Chavis, courtesy of the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections
The DC Black Repertory Co. puts on a production of “A Day, A Life, A People,” a songtalk by Bernice Johnson Reagon.
1977
First Sweet Honey in the Rock Tour, California.
Booked by Amy Horowitz, they perform in Los Angeles, San Fransisco, Berkeley, Santa Monica, and Santa Cruz.
Performs in Hiroshima’s Peace Park at the International Peace Conference on the 33rd Anniversary of the dropping of the Atomic Bomb -- Hiroshima, Japan. Debuts ‘B’lieve I’ll Run On, See What the End’s Gonna Be.’
1978
Sweet Honey in the Rock releases "B'lieve I'll Run On...See What The End's Gonna Be."
Co-founds Roadwork with Amy Horowitz, a non-profit multi-racial coalition to “put women’s culture on the road.” Amy Horowitz, served as Bernice Johnson Reagon and Sweet in the Rock's “artist representative”, a term they developed to avoid industry designations like manager, agent, a concept that left the direction in the hands of the artist.
1986
Serves as a consultant and music composer for the Peabody Award-winning series "Africans in America: America's Journey Through Slavery.”
Releases solo album entitled "River of Life."
Publishes African Diaspora Women: The Making of Cultural Workers in Feminist Studies journal.
This recording features Toshi Reagon as co-producer, becoming the first of a life-long collaboration between Toshi Reagon and Bernice Johnson Reagon of producing and creating albums, soundtracks and operas together
1987
Publishes Let the Church Sing "Freedom"
in Black Music Research Journal
1988
Sweet Honey in the Rock releases
"Live at Carnegie Hall."
In 1988, Trinity College hosted a conference titled “We shall not be moved: the life and times of the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee, 1960-1966.” The following videos, and conference program document the proceedings of this conference.”
1989
Dr. Reagon is awarded the MacArthur Fellowship in recognition of her accomplishments in Music and African American Culture.
"In all of her areas, Dr. Reagon’s contribution in the field of Black music and culture is unique; she (alone) has achieved the synthesis of serious, scholarly, analytical endeavor, combining it with creative songwriting, stylistic analysis of performances and creation of new performing genres, styles and programs… In each area of endeavor, she has ploughed new ground, drawing on her knowledge of Black history and cultural style, to provide perceptive analysis in galvanizing new creative productions. Thus in all honesty, it is not possible to compare Dr. Reagon with others because she has created her own field and those who follow her are far behind.”
Releases "All for Freedom," Sweet Honey in the Rock’s first release for young people and families.
1992
Publishes "We'll Understand It Better By and By: Pioneering African American Gospel Composers."
"By eloquently and forcefully making a case for a spiritual core within African American gospel music, Reagon has paved the way for similar approaches to the investigation of appropriate genres in Western music." (American Music)
Sweet Honey in the Rock releases
"In This Land."
Sweet Honey in the Rock collaborates with Sesame Street, creating the soundtrack for “African Numbers”
1995
Serves as the Conceptual Producer and Narrator for the 26 part NPR series "Wade in the Water: African American Sacred Music Traditions."
Sweet Honey in the Rock releases
"Sacred Ground."
In a ceremony at the White House, Dr. Reagon receives the Charles E. Frankel Prize for Contributions to the Public Understanding of Humanities presented by President Bill Clinton
"For nearly 35 years, Bernice Johnson Reagon has helped preserve, celebrate and illuminate the rich heritage of African American music and culture in a variety of ways; as a civil rights activist, as a singer-composer, as a historian and museum curator. Her multiple career works are linked by an unswerving dedication to recovering, recording, and interpreting African American vocal music for the appreciation of all Americans.”
1997
Sweet Honey in the Rock releases "Selections 1976-1988."
Collaborates on "Voices of the Civil Rights Movement: Black American Freedom Songs 1960-1966" with the Smithsonian.
Releases solo album "Give Your Hands to Struggle."
This 2-CD set features selections from Sweet Honey in the Rock’s recordings spanning 1976-1988. The repertoire of this powerful a capella ensemble of Black women singers covers an unprecedented range of original and traditional songs. Their sound is earthy, solid and refreshing, with an excited range of vocal styles and harmonic blends.
This reissue of Give your Hands to Struggle, originally released of Paredon Records in 1975, features Reagon’s vocal power in stunning, multi tracked harmony with itself. There are twelve resequenced and remastered songs here - eleven from the original recording and one previously unreleased track, “We’ve Come a Long Way to Be Together."
1998
Sweet Honey in the Rock releases "Twenty Five."
"As with previous Sweet Honey recordings, "Twenty-Five" is an intensely political and moral statement, what once might have been termed protest music, save that it celebrates as often as it dissents. The moral positions are stark, debatable, and prone to generate both intense approval and opposition in listeners, but neither response to this engaged and engaging music can detract from Sweet Honey in the Rock's glorious vocal arrangements and performances."
- Jim Foley
2000
Awarded the First National Leeway Laurel Award.
"Bernice Johnson Reagon is a spirit voice who speaks to us in the intimate language of our personal selves, stirring feelings of pains and joys past, stimulating tempting, decisive present moments - the promise of a secret tomorrow - hope for making a just public future in our national and world communities."
2001
Publishes "If You Don't Go, Don't Hinder Me: The African American Sacred Song Tradition."
“How do you survive leaving everything you know to try to reconstruct your life and future in a new way? What do you carry with you on your journey to the new place?
Migration looms large as a theme in twentieth-century African American life. Bernice Johnson Reagon uses this theme as a centering structure for four essays that examine different genres of African American sacred music as they manifested themselves throughout the twentieth century and within her own life.”
2003
Receives the Heinz Award for the Arts and Humanities.
"Dr. Reagon’s life’s work has been centered on telling the story of Black cultural power and traditions. She has used her unique gifts to broaden public understanding and appreciation of the Black experience in the United States."
Writes the book, libretto and music for "The Temptation of Saint Anthony," an opera that holds its world premiere at the Opéra Garnier in Paris.
Sweet Honey in the Rock releases "The Women Gather" and "Alive in Australia."
The Temptation of St. Anthony is a music-theater piece based on the novel by Flaubert from 1874. It was a collaboration between Bernice Johnson Reagon and Robert Wilson.
2004
Officially retires from Sweet Honey in the Rock.
2010
Performs at the Obama White House commemorating Black History Month -- “In Performance at the White House: Songs of the Civil Rights Movement”
2013
World Premiere
Zinnias: The Life of Clementine Hunter
Libretto and Music Composition Bernice Johnson Reagon and Toshi Reagon
Concept, Direction, Set and Light Design Robert Wilson
Music Direction and Orchestration Toshi Reagon
Book Jacqueline Woodson
Alexander Kasser Theater, Montclair State University
2017
World Premier of Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Sower, The Arts Center, NYU Abu Dhabi.
An opera based on the novels Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents by Octavia E. Butler
Created by Toshi Reagon and Bernice Johnson Reagon
Words and music by Toshi Reagon and Bernice Johnson Reagon
Directed by Eric Ting
