Every Tone a Testimony

Various Artists

This double CD draws upon the collection at the Smithsonian Folkways archive to create a history of African American life and culture in sound—an aural history. Encompassing both the African American oral and literary traditions, these 59 tracks feature an unparalleled assembly of voices in music, oratory, poetry, and prose by historically renowned African American musicians, writers, and activists. The sounds collected here are testimony to the power, creativity, and resilience of Black expressive forms that have received recognition throughout the world. 59 tracks run two hours and 27 minutes. 40-page booklet.

Track Listing

101	The Struggle	Langston Hughes	0:22
102	Field Call	Annie Grace Horn Dodson	1:19
103	Complaint Call	Enoch Brown	0:44
104	Intro and Knee Bend	Lawrence McKiver and Doretha Skipper	2:55
105	Brother Terrapin, Slow Train to Arkansas	Rich Amerson	2:00
106	Jack and Mary and Three Dogs	Janie Hunter	5:55
107	Buck Dance (excerpt)	Joe Tucker and Scott Dunbar	1:22
108	I'm Goin' Up North	Children of East York School	1:26
109	Pharaoh's Host Got Lost	Lawrence McKiver	1:35
110	Bars Fight	Arna Bontemps	1:26
111	Earl of Dartmouth (excerpt)	Dorothy E. Washington	0:52
112	I Wonder Where My Brother Gone	Annie Grace Horn Dodson	1:20
113	Narrative (excerpt)	Dorothy F. Washington	1:03
114	Speech at Akron Convention	Ruby Dee	2:09
115	Singing Slaves	Ossie Davis	1:04
116	Steal Away to Jesus	Kinsey West	1:54
117	What to the Slave is the Fourth of July? (excerpt)	Ossie Davis	2:40
118	Why Slavery is Still Rampant (excerpt)	Ruby Dee	1:49
119	Free At Last	Dock Reed and Vera Hall Ward	1:38
120	When Malindy Sings	Margaret Walker	3:49
121	There's A Great Camp Meeting	Fisk Jubilee Singers	2:05
122	Atlanta Exposition Address	Booker T. Washington	1:17
123	John Henry	Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee	4:07
124	Banjo Player	Arna Bontemps	0:45
125	Boatman Dance	Elizabeth Cotten	1:46
126	Shine	Percy Randolph	1:07
127	Chopping in the New Ground	Inmates of Ramsey or Retrieve State Farms	1:41
128	Lynching, Our National Crime	Ruby Dee	3:47
129	A Recorded Autobiography	W.E.B. DuBois and Moses Asch	2:37
130	Listen Lord, A Prayer	Margaret Walker	2:57
131	My Heart is Fixed	Reverend Gary Davis	2:07
132	The Titanic	Lead Belly	4:08
133	Heritage	Countee Cullen	2:59
134	Jungle Drums	James P. Johnson	2:32
201	No More Auction Block	Paul Robeson	2:13
202	The Negro Speaks of Rivers	Langston Hughes	0:47
203	If We Must Die	Claude McKay	1:02
204	Ma Rainey	Sterling Brown	2:06
205	Backwater Blues	Big Bill Broonzy	2:51
206	Married Man Blues	Billie and De De Pierce	5:15
207	For My People	Margaret Walker	5:45
208	The Children of the Poor, Sonnet 2	Gwendolyn Brooks	0:51
209	Body and Soul	George "Big Nick" Nicholas, John Miller, and Dave Jackson	3:51
210	How He Delivered Me	Juanita Johnson and the Gospel Tones	2:43
211	Long Distance Calls	Muddy Waters and Otis Spann	7:00
212	Cry To Me	Solomon Burke, Marc Ribot, and the Realtones	2:16
213	Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around	The Freedom Singers	2:34
214	Birmingham 1963 - Keep Moving	Martin Luther King, Jr.	3:46
215	Black Panther Party Platform	Bobby Seale	3:02
216	Interview (excerpt)	Angela Davis	1:06
217	Together to the Tune of Coltrane's "Equinox" (excerpt)	Sarah Webster Fabio, Wayne Wallace, and Ronald Fabio	1:42
218	Nikki-Rosa	Nikki Giovanni	1:16
219	liberation/poem	Sonia Sanchez	0:39
220	Dope	Imamu Amiri Baraka	4:49
221	The Village of Brooklyn, Illinois 62059 (excerpt)	Hamiet Bluiett	3:35
222	For the Poets	Jayne Cortez	3:58
223	Shotgun Joe	The Golden Eagles	5:23
224	St. Louis Woman	Ishmael Reed	1:26
225	People Everyday	Arrested Development	3:27

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Every Tone a Testimony

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