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 soundan 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.
RELATED LESSON PLAN
"The Underground Railroad:A Musical Journey to Follow the Drinking Gourd"
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 |