The Songs These pages provide the lyrics used in the McComb, MS, Freedom School Play

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Then Mrs. Hamer would lead us in a song, so we could lighten ourselves and give ourselves that extra boost of energy. We would sing about anything we felt. We would sing about why we sing. We would sing about the abuses we suffered, like not being allowed to vote. We would sing of sorrow and hope. Dorothy Cotton, describing the purpose of singing in Freedom Schools Reiser, Bob and Pete Seger.   Everybody Says Freedom.   New York:  W. W. Norton & Company, 1989

 

	Dixie Freedom Is a Constant Struggle I'm On My Way Oh, Freedom This Little Light of Mine Keep Your Eyes On The Prize I'm Gonna Sit at the Welcome Table Man of Constant Sorrow I Couldn't Hear Nobody Pray We Shall Overcome Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me 'Round

 

Sanger, Kerran L. When the Spirit Says Sing! The Role of Freedom Songs in the Civil Rights Movement. Garland Publishing Inc., New York, New York (1995). Songs of the Southern Freedom Movement: We Shall Overcome! Oak Publications, New York, New York (1963).