Welcoming his invitees to the East Room of the White House on Tuesday, President Barack Obama stated that the civil rights movement was fuelled and sustained by music. The transformed grand ballroom, which resembled a concert hall, featured an event with an all-star line up of top performers who paid tribute to such music.
In the audience were members from President Obama’s Cabinet, Congress, civil rights leaders and students who listened to Queen Latifah’s version of ‘What’s Going on’, a Marvin Gaye classic and Yolanda Adams who sang Sam Cooke’s ‘A Change is Gonna Come’ amongst many others. This was just one of many efforts made by the President to open up the White House to what he called America’s soundtrack.
Other performers included Natalie Cole, Smokey Robinson, Jennifer Hudson, Bob Dylan, John Legend, Joan Baez, John Mellencamp, Blind Boys of Alabama and Seal. The line up also featured The Freedom Singers and the Howard University Choir.
President Obama also said that activists were strengthened by protest songs, inspired by spirituals and their bases were broadened by artists of hope. He went on to say that such work is what laid the foundation for a more just America that encouraged him to make history in 2008.
Music, President Obama said, helps to create faith in a movement, even when leaders are jailed and their churches are bombed. “It’s hard to sing when times are rough. The hymns helped … advance the cause of the nation,” said President Obama.