Editing Bernice Johnson Reagon (section)

==Career==
===Activism===
Reagon's first demonstration had been in protest against the arrest of Bertha Gober, and Blanton Hall, organized by SNCC along with the initial arrest of the two individuals, for they planned to be arrested in a discussion during a SNCC meeting.<ref name="''Eyes on The Prize'': America's Civil Rights Years (1954–1965)" /> Reagon was an active participant in the [[Civil Rights Movement]] of the 1960s. She was a member of The Freedom Singers, organized by the [[Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee]] (SNCC), for which she also served as a field secretary. Reagon explains her first encounter with SNCC as a confusion, for she did not understand the name, or its organization, but she claims that she understood that they were for freedom and full-time.<ref name="''Eyes on The Prize'': America's Civil Rights Years (1954–1965)" /> The Freedom Singers were organized by [[Cordell Reagon]] in 1962. The group was the first of the civil rights singers to travel nationally. The singers realized that singing helped provide an outlet and unifier for protestors struggling with mob behavior and police brutality. Thanks to her roles with SNCC and the Freedom Singers, Reagon became a highly respected song leader during the Civil Rights Movement.{{cn|date=April 2024}}

Activist [[James Forman]] later said: "I remember seeing you lift your beautiful black head, stand squarely on your feet, your lips trembling as the melodious words 'Over my head, I see freedom in the air' came forth with an urgency and a pain that brought out a sense of intense renewal and commitment of liberation. And when the call came to protest the jailings, you were up front. You led the line. Your feet hit the dirty pavement with a sureness of direction. You walked proudly onward singing 'this little light of mine, 'and the people echoed, 'shine, shine, shine.{{'"}}<ref name="folkways.si.edu"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://billmoyers.com/2013/05/03/moyers-moment-1991-bernice-johnson-reagon-on-this-little-light-of-mine/|title=Bernice Johnson Reagon on 'This Little Light of Mine'|date=2013-05-03|website=BillMoyers.com|access-date=2017-01-29}}</ref>

===Academic===
In 1974, Reagon was appointed as a cultural historian in music history at the [[Smithsonian Institution]], where she directed a program called Black American Culture in 1976,<ref name="auto">{{cite web|last1=Ida|first1=Jones|title=Guide to the Bernice Johnson Reagon Collection of the African American Sacred Music Tradition, circa 1822–1994|url=http://sova.si.edu/record/NMAH.AC.0653|website=Smithsonian Online Virtual Archives|access-date=March 7, 2018}}</ref> and was later a curator of music history for the [[National Museum of American History]]. [[Ida E. Jones (historian)|Ida Jones]] from the Smithsonian Institution had stated, "Dr. Reagon collected photographs, sheet music, and other primary and secondary sources chronicling the development of African American sacred music tradition from its birth during the period of slavery through the creation of concert spiritual, gospel music, jazz, and the performance of protest song in the century following Emancipation," with relation to Reagon's initial job at the museum.<ref name="auto"/>

In 1989, she was awarded a [[MacArthur Fellowship]] which helped her to complete the major project, ''Wade in the Water: African American Sacred Music Traditions'' (1994).<ref>{{cite web|author=MacArthur Foundation|url=https://www.macfound.org/fellows/class-of-1989/bernice-johnson-reagon|title=Bernice Johnson Reagon, Class of 1989|publisher=MacArthur Foundation|access-date=July 26, 2024}}</ref> After Reagon retired from singing with [[Sweet Honey in the Rock]] in 1993, she continued to work at the Smithsonian in African American Songs of Protest as a Curator Emerita.<ref>{{cite web|author=Shay Dawson|url=https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/bernice-johnson-reagon|title=Bernice Johnson Reagon (1942-2024)|publisher=National Women's History Museum|access-date=July 26, 2024}}</ref> 

She also held an appointment as Distinguished Professor of history at [[American University]] (AU) in Washington DC from 1993 to 2003. Reagon was later named professor emerita of history at AU, and held the title of Curator Emerita at the Smithsonian.<ref>{{cite web|author=American University|url=https://www.american.edu/cas/history/faculty/emeritus.cfm|title=Emeriti Faculty|publisher=American University|access-date=July 26, 2024}}</ref>

===Music===
{{external media
| float = right
| video1 = [http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-151-0g3gx45d8p "Eyes on the Prize; Interview with Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon"] conducted in 1986 for the [[Eyes on the Prize]] documentary.}}

Reagon grew up in a church without a piano, so her early music was ''a cappella'', and her first instruments were her hands and feet, and she explained, "that's the only way I can deal comfortably with creating music." When Reagon spoke about her upbringing in the musical culture, she explained that even her early schooling was heavily involved with music, not just the church. Reagon said that her teacher would lead the students outside to play games that entailed singing with their hands and feet, as well as their voices. There were also competitions among the students, and Reagon won first place as a child when running against the older students reciting [[Langston Hughes]]' poem "I've Known Rivers".<ref name="''Eyes on The Prize'': America's Civil Rights Years (1954–1965)" />

Reagon was a specialist in [[African-American]] oral history, performance and protest traditions. She served as music consultant, producer, composer, and performer on several award-winning film projects, notably [[PBS]] television productions such as ''[[Eyes on the Prize]]'' (1987) (in which she also appeared) and [[Ken Burns]]' ''[[The Civil War (TV series)|The Civil War]]'' (1990). Reagon was also featured in a film, ''We Shall Overcome'', which was about the song and its placement in the movement, being produced by Ginger Records and made by Henry Hampton, the creator of ''Eyes on The Prize''.<ref>{{cite web|author=American Experience|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/eyesontheprize-music-civil-rights-movement|title=Music in the Civil Rights Movement|publisher=OPB.org|access-date=July 26, 2024}}</ref> She was the conceptual producer and narrator of the [[Peabody Award]]-winning radio series, ''Wade in the Water, African American Sacred Music Traditions''.<ref>{{cite web|author=Peabody: Stories that Matter|url=https://peabodyawards.com/award-profile/wade-in-the-water-african-american-sacred-music-traditions/|title=Wade in the Water: African-American Sacred Music Traditions|publisher=Peabody Awards|access-date=July 26, 2024}}</ref> Reagon claimed: "These days, I come as a 'songtalker', one who balances talk and song in the creation of a live performance conversation with those who gather within the sound of my voice."<ref>{{cite web|last1=Reagon|first1=Bernice Johnson|url=https://www.facebook.com/Bernice-Johnson-Reagon-188881438633/|title=Bernice Reagon|website=Facebook|access-date=March 7, 2018}}</ref>

Reagon joined her first and only gospel choir when she was 11 years old, which was organized by her sister at the Mt. Early Baptist Church. She and the choir would listen to the local radio station [[WGPC]] to learn black gospel for the choir to recite. As a child, the Five Blind Guys was her favorite quartet. Reagon stated that her role models in terms of music are [[Harriet Tubman]], [[Sojourner Truth]], and [[Bessie Jones (American singer)|Bessie Jones]], because they assisted her understanding of traditional singing and the fight for justice. Reagon also saw as important to her work Deacon Reardon, a historian studying African-American sacred worship traditions, and she stated that he impacted both her spiritual and musical development.<ref>{{cite book|last=Reagon|first=Bernice Johnson|title=If You Don't Go, Don't Hinder Me: The African American Sacred Song Tradition |date=2001 |location=Lincoln |publisher=University of Nebraska Press|isbn=9780803289833 |pages=100–140|url= |oclc=44413847}}</ref>

Reagon's work as a scholar and composer was reflected in her publications on African-American culture and history, including: a collection of essays entitled ''If You Don't Go, Don't Hinder Me: The African American Sacred Song Tradition'' (University of Nebraska Press, 2001); ''We Who Believe In Freedom: Sweet Honey In The Rock: Still on the Journey'' (Anchor Books, 1993); and ''We'll Understand It Better By And By: Pioneering African American Gospel Composers'' (Smithsonian Press, 1992).

Reagon recorded several albums on [[Folkways Records]], including ''Folk Songs: The South'', ''Wade in the Water'', and ''Lest We Forget, Vol. 3: Sing for Freedom''.<ref>{{cite web|author=The Smithsonian Folkways Records|url=https://folkways.si.edu/bernice-johnson-reagon/folk-songs-of-the-south/african-american-music-gospel-historical-song/album/smithsonian|title=Bernice Reagon: Folk Songs|publisher=Smithsonian|access-date=July 26, 2024}}</ref>

In 1973, Reagon founded a six-member, all-female ''[[a cappella]]'' group called [[Sweet Honey in the Rock]]. In addition to Reagon, the original 4 women in the group were: Bernice Johnson Reagon, Louise Robinson, [[Carol Lynn Maillard]], Mie Fredericks. The only instrument they used was their voices, along with shekere and tambourine. They have toured internationally, including to Europe, Japan, Mexico, and Australia. The group's fan base is of different ethnic backgrounds, religions, and sexual orientations. Reagon's musical roots came from the rural South Baptist Church. She advocated "music's informational and transformative power to ask" and the strong effects that music has had on the Civil Rights Movement.{{citation needed|date=July 2014}}