Bernice Johnson Reagon
Bernice Johnson Reagon
Bernice Johnson Reagonis a singer, composer, scholar, and social activist, who founded the a cappella ensemble Sweet Honey in the Rock in 1973...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionMusician
Date of Birth4 October 1942
CountryUnited States of America
church loud saved
I went to a church where you could not sing out loud in the service until you had been saved
sweet rocks balance
I organized Sweet Honey In The Rock in 1973. The music was sanity and balance.
running sweet years
In fact when Sweet Honey was ten years old it was too big for me to run, and I knew it, but I ran it for another thirteen years because I couldn't convince other people to really do it. And this year, I'm not running it.
teacher white black
So one of the things that happened with integration in the South is they found that the black teachers were much more educated than the white teachers.
school festivals graduates
I started graduate school in 1971, I started working at the Smithsonian in the festival in 1972. I went full-time at the Smithsonian in 1974. And I got my doctorate in 1975.
song thinking people
I learned that if you bring black people together, you bring them together with a song. To this day, I don't understand how people think they can bring anybody together without a song.
jobs community african-american
The first job I had with the Smithsonian was as a field researcher among African American communities in Southwest Louisiana and Arkansas for the festival.
wise thinking years
What would you be like if you had white hair and had not given up your principles? It might be wise as you deal with coalition efforts to think about the possibilities of going for fifty years.
moving finding-yourself lasts
If, in moving through your life, you find yourself lost, go back to the last place where you knew who you were, and what you were doing, and start from there.
people asking firsts
Well, the first time I ran into the term religion, people were asking whether you had any. You know, some people had religion and some people didn't have religion
winning african-american way
Coming up in the African-American culture, we were taught that we belonged to the universe and society was wrong in the way it dealt with us. We had to learn to express and affirm values not from the winning position.
motivational stay-strong business
Life's challenges are not supposed to paralyze you, they're supposed to help you discover who you are.
crazy humility breathing
If every moment is sacred, and If you are amazed and in awe most of the time, when you find yourself breathing and not crazy, then you are in a state of constant thankfulness, worship and humility.
peace giving people
There is nowhere you can go and only be with people who are like you. Give it up.