Bernice Johnson Reagon

Reagon, who died July 16, was one of the powerful singers who helped galvanize the civil rights movement in the 1960s as a member of the Freedom Singers quartet. Originally broadcast in 1988.

Singer and civil rights worker Benice Johnson Reagon studied Euro-classical music in college, During her time in the Freedom Singers, she returned to her gospel roots. She joins Fresh Air to talk about how she combined her musical talents with her activism.

Bernice Johnson Reagon, singer, cultural historian and director of Smithsonian's Program in Black American Culture. Reagon sings contralto with Sweet Honey in the Rock, one of the country's leading a cappella groups. She's been described as a "song shaper and song preserver." In her work with the Smithsonian, Reagon tries to maintain obscure and dying Baptist choral traditions.