Editing Sweet Honey in the Rock (section)

==Musical career==
Sweet Honey in the Rock was founded in 1973 by [[Bernice Johnson Reagon]], who was teaching a vocal workshop with the [[Washington, D.C.]] Black Repertory Company. It was going to be group of 10 to 13 people, (women and men) but because of life getting in the way for a lot of people, the group officially started with only 4 women, who were [[Bernice Johnson Reagon]], Louise Robinson, [[Carol Lynn Maillard]], and Mie Fredericks. And after singing 5 songs together they said "This is it!" <ref name="Sweet Honey in the Rock/Biography1"/> In December 2002 [[Bernice Johnson Reagon]] announces to all the members of sweet honey, that she will be retired from the group after the 30th anniversary year (2003), and she told the order members that if they wanted to continued without her she will support and accept that, but if not then 2003 would be Sweet Honey in the Rock's final year. the other members of sweet honey decided to continue singing and performing shows without her, and they did 3 days of auditioning with 10 different women, who either was a substitute/former singer or someone that the members knew personally, after 3 days they decided to pick 2 singers to rejoin Sweet Honey in the Rock. Louise Robinson (who is the 2nd member of sweet honey and one of the original member of the group, who stayed from 1973 to 1976,) and Arnae Batson (Who is the 22nd sweet honey singer, who had been a substitute singer seen 1994.) By 2004 [[Bernice Johnson Reagon]] started to leave the group and come back to perform with sweet honey sometimes between 2004 and 2006, before completely retiring in 2006. <ref>{{Cite web |last1=Ruehl |first1=Kim |date=16 January 2018 |title=We Who Believe In Freedom Shall Not Rest |url=https://www.npr.org/2018/01/16/577690049/we-who-believe-in-freedom-shall-not-rest |access-date=1 September 2022 |website=[[NPR]]}}</ref> The name of the group was derived from a song, based on [[Book of Psalms|Psalm 81:16]], which tells of a land so rich that when rocks were cracked open, honey flowed from them.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Otten |first1=Liam |date=17 September 2008 |title=Sweet Honey in the Rock begins 2008-09 OVATIONS! |url=https://source.wustl.edu/2008/09/sweet-honey-in-the-rock-begins-200809-ovations-series/ |access-date=10 June 2020 |website= |publisher=[[Washington University in St. Louis]]}}</ref> Johnson has said that this first song in which four women blended their voices was so powerful, that there was no question what the name of the group should be. The ensemble's most powerful messages are proclaimed through an enormous catalog of songs addressing the world's woes. They are currently occupied with immigration injustices, congressional greed and lack of compassion for citizens, the environmental imbalance, racial issues and women's issues.<ref name="Hayes">{{cite journal |last1=Hayes |first1=Eileen M. |title="Not Your Mother's Racial Uplift: Sweet Honey in the Rock, Journey, and Representation: Sweet Honey in the Rock: Raise Your Voice." |journal=Women & Music |date=2006 |volume=10|pages=71–79 |doi=10.1353/wam.2007.0004 |s2cid=194046194}}</ref>

Sweet Honey in the Rock has received several [[Grammy Award]] [[nominate|nomination]]s, including one for their children's album, ''[[Still the Same Me]]'' which received the Silver Award from the National Association of Parenting Publications. They contributed their version of [[Lead Belly]]'s "Grey Goose" from the compilation album ''[[Folkways: A Vision Shared]]'' which won the [[Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Grammy awards for Sweet Honey In The Rock|date=23 November 2020|url=https://www.grammy.com/grammys/artists/sweet-honey-rock}}</ref>

[[File:Sweet Honey in the Rock at the White House 2-18-09.jpg|thumb|Performing at the [[White House]] in September 2009]]
Their vocals appeared in a number of animated counting cartoons on the [[Public Broadcasting Service|PBS]] series ''[[Sesame Street]]'', and the group was the subject of the 2005 documentary ''[[Sweet Honey in the Rock: Raise Your Voice]]''.

The group has ventured through 25 vocalists since its creation. Embarking on a new chapter in their musical journey, Sweet Honey In The Rock now includes four core vocalists—Louise Robinson, [[Carol Lynn Maillard]], (both founding members), [[Nitanju Bolade Casel]], and [[Aisha Kahlil]]. [[Shirley Childress Saxton|Shirley Childress Johnson Saxton]], an American Sign Language Interpreter, performed live with the group from 1980 until she died in 2017.<ref name=Hayes />