"Freedom Road" poem by Langston Hughes as sung by Josh White

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post showcases a recording of Josh White's performance of the song "Freedom Road", a vocalization of Langston Hughes' 1944 poem of the same name. This post also includes the words to this poem/song, background information about that composition, as well as information about Langston Hughes and about Josh White.

The content of this post is presented for cultural, historical, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Langston Hughes and Josh White for their creative legacies. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the publisher of this sound file on YouTube.

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INFORMATION ABOUT LANGSTON HUGHES
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Langston_Hughes
"James Mercer Langston Hughes (February 1, 1902 – May 22, 1967) was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist. He was one of the earliest innovators of the then-new literary art form called jazz poetry. Hughes is best known as a leader of the Harlem Renaissance."...

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From http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/83
..."[Langston] Hughes, who claimed Paul Lawrence Dunbar, Carl Sandburg, and Walt Whitman as his primary influences, is particularly known for his insightful, colorful portrayals of black life in America from the twenties through the sixties. He wrote novels, short stories and plays, as well as poetry, and is also known for his engagement with the world of jazz and the influence it had on his writing, as in his book-length poem Montage of a Dream Deferred (Holt, 1951). His life and work were enormously important in shaping the artistic contributions of the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s. Unlike other notable black poets of the period—Claude McKay, Jean Toomer, and Countee Cullen—Hughes refused to differentiate between his personal experience and the common experience of black America. He wanted to tell the stories of his people in ways that reflected their actual culture, including both their suffering and their love of music, laughter, and language itself."...

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INFORMATION ABOUT JOSH WHITE
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josh_White
Joshua Daniel White (February 11, 1914 – September 5, 1969), known as Josh White, was an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, actor, and civil rights activist...

White grew up in the Jim Crow South. During the 1920s and 1930s, he became a prominent race records artist, with a prolific output of recordings in genres including Piedmont blues, country blues, gospel, and social protest songs. In 1931, White moved to New York, and within a decade his fame had spread widely; his repertoire expanded to include urban blues, jazz, traditional folk songs, and political protest songs. He soon was in demand as an actor on radio, Broadway, and film.

White also became the closest African-American friend and confidant to president Franklin D. Roosevelt. However, White's anti-segregationist and international human rights political stance presented in many of his recordings and in his speeches at rallies resulted in the McCarthyites assuming him to be a Communist. Accordingly, from 1947 through the mid-1960s, White became caught up in the anti-Communist Red Scare, and combined with the resulting attempt to clear his name, his career was damaged.

White's musical style influenced many future generations of musical artists,[list of artists given]"...

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE POEM/SONG "FREEDOM ROAD"
From https://chnm.gmu.edu/episodes/mobilizing-african-americans/ “That’s Why I’m Marching”: Mobilizing African Americans for War
"Many African Americans were understandably ambivalent about World War II. Black Americans who had committed themselves wholeheartedly to the “war for democracy” returned from World War I to find the Klan marching in Washington and segregation undiminished. Now the government asked them to risk their lives in a war against Nazi racism abroad, while in many parts of their own country American law forced them into separate and distinctly unequal facilities. Even the armed forces, within which African Americans were supposed to strike their blows for democracy, maintained strict segregation, with African Americans generally relegated to service and support jobs. Why should they fight to secure for foreigners’ rights that they could not enjoy at home?

..."African-American leaders constantly reminded their fellow citizens, and themselves, that this was their country too; they had shaped its history in profound ways. They walked a difficult line. Often patriotic, they nevertheless found America’s institutionalized and pervasive bigotry increasingly hard to endure. Langston Hughes, the distinguished poet and writer, hoped that African-American participation in a war against racism abroad might undermine racism at home. In 1944 he contributed the lyrics to the folksinger Josh White’s song “Freedom Road.” The lyrics call for an end to fascism and a new beginning of race-blind justice. White described it as “a rousing plea for true democracy.” Franklin Roosevelt considered Josh White, best known for his religious songs, his favorite singer; White’s brother Billy served as Eleanor Roosevelt’s chauffeur. The recording session for “Freedom Road” was sponsored by the CIO as part of a collection, Citizen CIO, aimed at building support for the war among union members and working-class Americans generally"...
-snip-
"CIO" = initials of the labor union "Congress of Industrial Organizations". In 1955 that labor union combined with The American Federation of Labor to form AFL-CIO, "a national trade union center, the largest federation of unions in the United States, made up of fifty-seven national and international unions,[3] together representing more than 11 million workers (as of June 2008, the most recent official statistic)." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AFL%E2%80%93CIO

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WORDS TO THE POEM/SONG "FREEDOM ROAD"
"Josh White, a singer most famous for religious songs and folk tunes, here joins with poet Langston Hughes in the song “Freedom Road,” in which he attempts to link the war abroad to the struggle for racial justice at home.

That’s why I’m marching, yes, I’m marching,
Marching down freedom’s road.
Ain’t nobody gonna stop me, nobody gonna keep me,
From marching down freedom’s road.

Hand me my gun, let the bugle blow loud,
I’m on my way with my head a-proud,
One objective I’ve got in view,
Is to keep a hold of freedom for me and you.

That’s why I’m marching, yes, I’m marching,
Marching down freedom’s road.
Ain’t nobody gonna stop me, nobody gonna keep me,
From marching down freedom’s road.

Ought to be plain as the nose on your face,
There’s room in this plan for every race,
Some folk think that freedom just ain’t right,
Those are the very people I want to fight.

That’s why I’m marching, yes, I’m marching,
Marching down freedom’s road.
Ain’t nobody gonna stop me, nobody gonna keep me,
From marching down freedom’s road.

Now, Hitler may rant, Hirohito may rave,
I’m going after freedom if it leads me to my grave.
That’s why I’m marching, yes, I’m marching,
I’m marching down freedom’s road.

United we stand, divided we fall,
Let’s make this land safe for one and all.
I’ve got a message, and you know it’s right,
Black and white together unite and fight.

That’s why I’m marching, yes, I’m marching,
Marching down freedom’s road.
Ain’t no fascists gonna stop me, no Nazis gonna keep me,
From marching down freedom’s road.

Words by Langston Hughes, music by Emerson Harper, “I’m Marching Down Freedom Road,” 1942. Recording: That’s Why We’re Marching: WWII and the American Folk Song Movement , Smithsonian/Folkways 1996."

Source: https://chnm.gmu.edu/episodes/mobilizing-african-americans/

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FEATURED EXAMPLE: Freedom Road - Josh White



ABevs1, Published on Mar 24, 2012

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