Bernice Johnson Reagon

“The movement taught me that singing is not just about entertainment. It’s about survival, identity, and expression of power.”– Bernice Johnson Reagon(Children’s Defense Fund) – When Bernice Johnson Reagon, the founder of the beloved Black female a cappella group Sweet Honey in the Rock, passed away in July, the world lost a signature voice. Throughout her life Bernice used her voice as an expression of power. She was a longtime friend and Children’s Defense Fund champion, including hosting benefit concerts for CDF, and when over 200,000 parents, grandparents, child advocates, religious leaders and others of every race, age, faith and discipline from all walks of life gathered together for the 1996 Stand for Children rally at the Lincoln Memorial, she led us all in song. A constant thread throughout her life was showing and teaching others what it meant to be a song leader.Related Stories She grew up in a close-knit community in Albany, Georgia, where her father was a pastor, surrounded by extended family and immersed in the Black church and Black culture – and intuitively aware of how central music was to both. As she said: “Growing up in Albany, I learned that if you bring Black people...