Anthem: Social Movements and the Sound of Solidarity in the African Diaspora
"An extraordinary, innovative and generative book. Shana Redmond reveals how musical anthems served as powerful sources of inspiration and as crucial mechanisms for social mobilization in twentieth century Black freedom struggles around the world. She presents fascinating portraits of individual performer-activists including Paul Robeson, Miriam Makeba, and Nina Simone, while delineating the largely unknown social histories of significant songs such as "Lift Every Voice and Sing," "Old Man River," "We Shall Overcome," and "Nkosi Sikilel' iAfrika." More than any previous scholar, Redmond shows how musical practices and performances enabled people of African origin all around the world to establish themselves as an aggrieved and insurgent people struggling for freedom and justice."-George Lipsitz,author ofHow Racism Takes Place“Anthem is truly a tour de force. Deeply-researched, brilliantly conceived, and beautifully written, the book reveals how ‘anthems’ register both a collective sense of history and a vision of the future for aggrieved groups—not just people of African-descent. Anthem will stand as the model for transnational scholarship for years to come.”-Robin D. G. Kelley,author ofAfrica Speaks, America Answers: Modern Jazz in Revolutionary Times