HISTORY THIS MONTH, AND IN THE LATE 1950S, CIVIL RIGHTS LEADER REVEREND FRED SHUTTLESWORTH FELT THE BIRMINGHAM CAMPAIGN NEEDED A BOOST. SO HE ADDED MUSIC TO THE MOVEMENT. AS 米兰体育 13, GUY RAWLINGS REPORTS. THE CHOIR HE CREATED THEN IS STILL LIFTING THEIR VOICES TODAY. MARCH, MARCH, MARCH, MARCH. RAISING A JOYFUL NOISE. AIN鈥橳 GONNA LET NOBODY GURLEY LOVE. SINCE 1959. ARLEY THE ALABAMA CHRISTIAN MOVEMENT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS CHOIR PROVIDED THE SOUNDTRACK TO THE CIVIL RIGHTS ERA. PEACH PARK HAOHAO. IT WAS LATER RENAMED THE CARLTON REECE MEMORIAL UNITY CHOIR AFTER A YOUNG MILES COLLEGE STUDENT WHO COMPOSED THE MUSIC TO THE MOVEMENT. THE MUSIC PLAYED AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN THE MOVEMENT, AND IT WAS THE INSPIRATION TO GET THEM TO GO OUT INTO THE STREETS TO ACTUALLY FIGHT FOR OUR FREEDOM. MY PARENTS TOLD ME NOT TO GO AND I SAID, OKAY, I WILL NOT GO. BUT I WENT ANYWAY. REECE WROTE SONGS OF PRAISE. 000 PRIDE. I鈥橫 ON MY WAY, I鈥橫 ON MY WAY. AND PERSEVERANCE. OH, I鈥橵E GOT A JOB. THE CHOIR鈥橲 JOB WAS TO PLAY A VITAL ROLE IN THE NONVIOLENCE MOVEMENT, PROVIDING SOME EXTRA PUNCH. FIGURATIVELY, OF COURSE. SO WE WOULD SING SONGS THAT WOULD ENCOURAGE PEOPLE. WE SANG SONGS THAT WOULD FIRE THEM UP SO THAT THEY COULD GET READY TO FACE BULL CONNOR AND THE DOGS. CHOIR MEMBER JESSE SHEPHERD PARTICIPATED IN THE FAMOUS CHILDREN鈥橲 MARCH, SO WE LEFT 16TH STREET MARCHING AND SINGING OUR FREEDOM SONGS. AND OF COURSE, WE WAS MET WITH THE HOLES AND THE DOGS AND EVERYTHING ATTACKED. AND LATER ON WE WILL PUT IN THE PADDY WAGON AND TAKEN TO JAIL. AND THEY JUST TREATED US JUST LIKE WE WAS KIDS. BUT WHEN THE WHOLE WORLD SAW HOW THEY WAS TREATING US, A CHANGE CAME TO BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA. OVER THE YEARS, THE CHOIR鈥橲 MEMBERSHIP HAS CHANGED SOME TO UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE. YOU KNOW, WHEN WE ALL COME TOGETHER AND HAVE ONE COMMON GOAL, AND THAT IS TO FIRST PRAISE GOD AND TO ENCOURAGE THE PEOPLE, LET THEM KNOW THAT WE ARE IN A BATTLE THAT CAN NOBODY FIGHT BUT US. AND AFTER MORE THAN SIX DECADES, THE CARLTON REECE MEMORIAL UNITY CHOIR IS LOOKING FOR NEW SINGERS. SLASH SOLDIERS AS THE FIGHT CONTINUES. WE鈥橰E STILL FACING A LOT OF THOSE ISSUES RIGHT NOW. SONGS LIKE WE鈥橵E GOT A JOB TO DO, WE STILL HAVE A JOB TO DO AT THIS PARTICULAR TIME, TO ACTUALLY KEEP THE RIGHTS THAT WE GAINED DURING THE 1960S AND THE MUSIC ITSELF HAS, IT ACTUALLY TELLS A STORY. IT TELLS THE STORY OF THE 1960S. IT TELLS THE STORIES OF TODAY. FREEDOM IS GOING TO REIGN OVER US.
Voices of Change: How the Carlton Reese Memorial Unity Choir amplified the Civil Rights Movement
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Updated: 10:00 PM CST Feb 20, 2025
In the late '50s, civil rights leader the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth felt the Birmingham campaign needed a boost. So, he added music to the movement. The choir he created then still lifts their voices today, raising a joyful noise since 1959. Later renamed the Carlton Reese Memorial Unity Choir after a young Miles College student who composed the music for the movement, the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights Choir provided the soundtrack to the civil rights era. "The music played an important role in the movement, and it was the inspiration to get them to go out into the streets, to actually fight for our freedom," said Valencia Reese-McCurdy, Reese's daughter and an active member."My parents told me not to go. And I said, OK, I will not go. But I went anyway," she continued. The choirs' job was to play a vital part in the nonviolent movement, providing some extra punch鈥攆iguratively, of course. "We would sing songs that would encourage people," said choir director Eloise Ford Gafney. "We sang songs that would fire them up so that they could get ready to face Bull Connor and the dogs."Choir member Jessie Shepherd participated in the famous children's march."We left 16th Street marching and singing our freedom songs," she said. "And, of course, we was met with the hoses and the dogs and everything attacked. And later on, we was put in the paddy wagon and taken to jail. And they just treated us just like we wasn't kids. But when the whole world saw how they was treating us, a change came to Birmingham, Alabama." After more than six decades, the Carlton Reese Memorial Unity Choir is looking for new singers/soldiers as the fight continues. "We're still facing a lot of those issues right now," Reese-McCurdy said. "Songs like we've got a job to do. We still have a job to do. At this particular time, to actually keep the rights that we gained, during the 1960s. And the music itself, it actually tells a story. It tells the story of the 1960s. It tells the stories of today. Freedom is gonna reign."
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — In the late '50s, civil rights leader the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth felt the Birmingham campaign needed a boost.
So, he added music to the movement. The choir he created then still lifts their voices today, raising a joyful noise since 1959.
Later renamed the Carlton Reese Memorial Unity Choir after a young Miles College student who composed the music for the movement, the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights Choir provided the soundtrack to the civil rights era.
"The music played an important role in the movement, and it was the inspiration to get them to go out into the streets, to actually fight for our freedom," said Valencia Reese-McCurdy, Reese's daughter and an active member.
"My parents told me not to go. And I said, OK, I will not go. But I went anyway," she continued.
The choirs' job was to play a vital part in the nonviolent movement, providing some extra punch鈥攆iguratively, of course.
"We would sing songs that would encourage people," said choir director Eloise Ford Gafney. "We sang songs that would fire them up so that they could get ready to face Bull Connor and the dogs."
Choir member Jessie Shepherd participated in the famous children's march.
"We left 16th Street marching and singing our freedom songs," she said. "And, of course, we was met with the hoses and the dogs and everything attacked. And later on, we was put in the paddy wagon and taken to jail. And they just treated us just like we wasn't kids. But when the whole world saw how they was treating us, a change came to Birmingham, Alabama."
After more than six decades, the Carlton Reese Memorial Unity Choir is looking for new singers/soldiers as the fight continues.
"We're still facing a lot of those issues right now," Reese-McCurdy said. "Songs like we've got a job to do. We still have a job to do. At this particular time, to actually keep the rights that we gained, during the 1960s. And the music itself, it actually tells a story. It tells the story of the 1960s. It tells the stories of today. Freedom is gonna reign."
![Big Mama Thornton Performs](https://kubrick.htvapps.com/htv-prod-media.s3.amazonaws.com/images/gettyimages-80809840-1-67b79a4f5c4f2.jpg?crop=1.00xw:0.792xh;0,0&resize=136:* "Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton performs circa 1958. (Photo by BMI/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)")
