Songs My Mother Taught Me

The 20th child of a Mississippi sharecropper family and a commanding voice of the Civil Rights Movement, Fannie Lou Hamer (1917–1977) stood tall against the brutality, indignities, and intimidation of implacable racism. She harnessed her mother’s gifts of song and plain-spoken wisdom to steel her fellow seekers of social justice, the cause to which she gave her life. Songs My Mother Taught Me, a re-release of limited-edition 1963 field recordings, breathes new life into Fannie Lou Hamer’s inspiring legacy and her uncompromising call for a righteous world. 47 minutes, 32-page booklet with photos.

This recording is the eighth release in the Smithsonian Folkways African American Legacy Series, co-presented with the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. This album was originally released as a limited-edition cassette tape at the Smithsonian Institution’s Voices of the Civil Rights Movement symposium in 1983. It was compiled by folklorist, activist, and GRAMMY-winner Worth Long and produced by renowned singer, song leader, and civil rights activist Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon.

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Please enjoy a free download of the song “Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning”

Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning

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Track Listing

101	Precious Lord	Fannie Lou Hamer	6:22
102	On Being a Sharecropper	Fannie Lou Hamer	5:13
103	Run Mourner, Run	Fannie Lou Hamer	1:23
104	City Called Heaven	Fannie Lou Hamer	3:31
105	All the Pretty Little Horses	Fannie Lou Hamer	1:34
106	I’m Gonna Land on the Shore	Fannie Lou Hamer	2:29
107	Oh Lord, You Know Just How I Feel	Fannie Lou Hamer	4:04
108	I’m Going Down to the River of Jordan	Fannie Lou Hamer	2:42
109	Jesus Is My Only Friend	Fannie Lou Hamer	3:03
110	Pick a Bale of Cotton	Fannie Lou Hamer	0:44
111	Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning	Fannie Lou Hamer	1:09
112	Walk With Me	Fannie Lou Hamer	1:41
113	This Little Light of Mine	Fannie Lou Hamer	3:08
114	Mass Meeting Speech	Fannie Lou Hamer	5:08
115	Certainly Lord	Fannie Lou Hamer	1:39
116	Woke Up This Morning	Fannie Lou Hamer	2:36
117	Amazing Grace	Fannie Lou Hamer	1:27