Ep 6, Black Women's Liberation Movement Music, Overview by the Author


Episode Date: March 13, 2025

How did Black women use music to fight for freedom?

Book: Black Women's Liberation Movement Music

In this episode of The Cause: Conversations on Music, History, and Democracy, Dr. Reiland Rabaka explores the themes of his recent book, Black Women's Liberation Movement Music: Soul Sisters, Black Feminist Funksters, and Afro-Disco Divas. From the raw soul of Aretha Franklin to the boundary-pushing funk of Betty Davis, this episode highlights the Black women artists who used music as a tool for activism, empowerment, and cultural transformation.

ðŸ´ø Listen now and explore the sounds of liberation. See the Spotify playlist link below to hear the music that shaped a movement.

From the Publisher:

Black Women’s Liberation Movement Music argues that the Black Women’s Liberation Movement of the mid-to-late 1960s and 1970s was a unique combination of Black political feminism, Black literary feminism, and Black musical feminism, among other forms of Black feminism.

The Breakdown - The Music That Shaped A Movement

Nina Simone (full albums):

  • Folksy Nina
  • Broadway Blues and Ballads
  • Pastel Blues
  • The High Priestess of Soul
  • Nina Simone & Piano
  • Wild is the Wind
  • The High Priestess of Soul
  • Nina Simone Sings the Blues

Nina Simone (songs)

  • Children Go Where I Send You
  • Black is the Color of My True Love’s Hair
  • Under the Lowest
  • Work Song
  • House of the Rising Sun
  • Brown Baby
  • Zungo
  • Mississippi Goddam
  • Old Jim Crow
  • Strange Fruit
  • Sinnerman
  • The Ballad of Hollis Brown
  • Images
  • Four Women

Aretha Franklin:

  • Hard Times
  • God Bless The Child
  • Nobody Knows the Way I Feel This Morning
  • If I Had a Hammer
  • A Change is Gonna Come
  • Ain’t Nobody (Gonna Turn Me Around)
  • People Get Ready
  • Son Of A Preacher Man
  • When The Battle Is Over
  • Young, Gifted and Black
  • Border Song (Holy Moses)
  • Bridge Over Troubled Water
  • Respect
  • Do Right Woman, Do Right Man
  • Satisfaction
  • (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman
  • Chain of Fools
  • Think

Chaka Kahn:

  • Tell me something good
  • I’m a woman, I’m a backbone
  • I’m every woman

Betty Davis (full albums):

  • Self Titled album
  • They Say I’m different
  • Nasty Gal

Disco Divas

Donna Summers:

  • Love to love ya
  • Hot stuff
  • Bad girls

Gloria Gaynor

  • I will survive

Diana Ross

  • I'm coming out

Grace Jones

  • Slave to the rhythm

Did we forget something for this playlist?Ìý Suggest additions at thecaaas@gmail.com