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Video clips
"Meeting the rest of yourself"
Questions for discussion and reflection
Reagon tells us that a change occurred in her singing voice because she had gone to jail for protesting injustice. She also describes a moment during one of the mass meetings when she changed the words of a "spiritual", a traditional African American religious song, and made the song a "freedom song". Instead of Over my head/I see trouble in the air, Reagon sang Over my head/I hear freedom in the air. Why do you think she was able to change the song this way and what did it mean to her? How did Reagon's singing connect with her other activities in the civil rights movement?
She says “And I tell people if you don’t sometimes walk through trouble, you’ll never get to meet the rest of yourself.” Based on the aspects of the story you have heard, explain in your own words what you think “meeting the rest of yourself” means. Have you had a similar experience? What was it like, and what caused it?
Reagon seems to imply that there is a part of ourselves that exists already but which we do not yet know. Do you agree?
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