There is nowhere you can go and only be with people who are like you. Give it up. Bernice Johnson Reagon More Quotes by Bernice Johnson Reagon More Quotes From Bernice Johnson Reagon I just don't think one person has that much to contribute to any subject Bernice Johnson Reagon subjectspersonsthinking I went to a church where you could not sing out loud in the service until you had been saved Bernice Johnson Reagon loudsavedchurch I organized Sweet Honey In The Rock in 1973. The music was sanity and balance. Bernice Johnson Reagon rocksbalancesweet The Smithsonian Festival of American Folklife, actually, was an effort to put something on the mall in Washington so American tourists could walk through America, and in their minds everything on the mall would be American Bernice Johnson Reagon effortmindamerica 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. Bernice Johnson Reagon wisehairthinking Personally I discovered that you could go through the academy as a young scholar, come out, and almost immediately have an impact on the academic environment. Bernice Johnson Reagon impactenvironmentacademic Most people come out of their Ph.D. experience trying to prove themselves, trying to get ahead, trying to get published. You're scared everybody else is going to do your research and get your topic. Bernice Johnson Reagon researchtryingpeople 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. Bernice Johnson Reagon songpeoplethinking 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. Bernice Johnson Reagon african-americancommunityjobs Welcome to prekindergarten! You will not die if you discover that there are more lines out there than just your own. In fact, you'll discover that you will have an advantage if you know more of them! Bernice Johnson Reagon linesjusticefacts 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. Bernice Johnson Reagon graduatesfestivalsschool 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. Bernice Johnson Reagon runningsweetyears At the same time all this was happening, there was a folk song revival movement goingon, so the commercial music industry was actually changed by the Civil Rights Movement. Bernice Johnson Reagon commercial-musicrightssong One of the biggest things I understood in a program like that was that it allowed more young African American scholars to do field research in the Caribbean and in Africa than had ever happened before in the history of the country and since. Bernice Johnson Reagon africaresearchcountryhistory
