Guy Hughes Carawan Jr. (July 28, 1927 – May 2, 2015) was an American

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fol ...

musician and musicologist. He served as music director and song leader for the

Highlander Research and Education Center The Highlander Research and Education Center, formerly known as the Highlander Folk School, is a social justice leadership training school and cultural center in New Market, Tennessee. Founded in 1932 by activist Myles Horton, educator Don West (e ...

in New Market, Tennessee. Carawan is famous for introducing the protest song " We Shall Overcome" to the American Civil Rights Movement, by teaching it to the

Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC, often pronounced ) was the principal channel of student commitment in the United States to the civil rights movement during the 1960s. Emerging in 1960 from the student-led sit-ins at segrega ...

(SNCC) in 1960. A union organizing song based on a black spiritual, it had been a favorite of

Zilphia Horton Zilphia Horton (April 14, 1910 – April 11, 1956) was an American musician, community organizer, educator, Civil Rights activist, and folklorist. She is best known for her work with her husband Myles Horton at the Highlander Folk School where s ...

(d. 1956) wife of the founder of the

Highlander Folk School The Highlander Research and Education Center, formerly known as the Highlander Folk School, is a social justice leadership training school and cultural center in New Market, Tennessee. Founded in 1932 by activist Myles Horton, educator Don West (e ...

. Carawan reintroduced it at the school when he became its new music director in 1959. The song is copyrighted in the name of Horton, Frank Hamilton, Carawan and

Pete Seeger Peter Seeger (May 3, 1919 – January 27, 2014) was an American folk singer and social activist. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, Seeger also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of the Weavers, notably ...

.Neely, Jack (2005)
Lifelong Students, Eternal Activists
''Metro Pulse'' (Internet Archive). Carawan sang and played

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

, and

hammered dulcimer The hammered dulcimer (also called the hammer dulcimer) is a percussion-stringed instrument which consists of strings typically stretched over a trapezoidal resonant sound board. The hammered dulcimer is set before the musician, who in more trad ...

. He frequently performed and recorded with his wife, singer

Candie Carawan Carolanne Marie "Candie" Carawan () (born 1939) is an American civil rights activist, singer and author known for popularizing the protest song "We Shall Overcome" to the American Civil Rights Movement with her husband Guy Carawan in the 1960s. ...

. The couple had two children, Evan Carawan and Heather Carawan. Occasionally Guy was accompanied by their son Evan Carawan, who plays

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

and

Early life

Carawan was born in California in 1927, to Southern parents. His mother, from

Charleston Charleston most commonly refers to: * Charleston, South Carolina * Charleston, West Virginia, the state capital * Charleston (dance) Charleston may also refer to: Places Australia * Charleston, South Australia Canada * Charleston, Newfoundlan ...

South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

, was the resident poet at Winthrop College (now Winthrop University) in Rock Hill, South Carolina, and his father, a veteran of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

from

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

, worked as an

asbestos Asbestos () is a naturally occurring fibrous silicate mineral. There are six types, all of which are composed of long and thin fibrous crystals, each fibre being composed of many microscopic "fibrils" that can be released into the atmosphere b ...

contractor. He described his parents "He was a poor farm boy and she was a Charlestonian blue blood". He earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics from

Occidental College Occidental College (informally Oxy) is a private liberal arts college in Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1887 as a coeducational college by clergy and members of the Presbyterian Church, it became non-sectarian in 1910. It is one of the oldes ...

in 1949 and a master's degree in sociology from

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

. Through his friend Frank Hamilton, Carawan was introduced to musicians in the People's Songs network, including

and The Weavers. Moving to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, he became involved with the

American folk music revival The American folk music revival began during the 1940s and peaked in popularity in the mid-1960s. Its roots went earlier, and performers like Josh White, Burl Ives, Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly, Big Bill Broonzy, Billie Holiday, Richard Dyer-Benn ...

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...

in the 1950s.

Career at Highlander Center

Carawan first visited the

in 1953, with singers

Ramblin' Jack Elliot Ramblin' Jack Elliott (born Elliot Charles Adnopoz; August 1, 1931) is an American folk music, folk singer and songwriter. Life and career Elliott was born in 1931 in Brooklyn, New York (state), New York, United States, the son of Florence (R ...

and Frank Hamilton. At the recommendation of Pete Seeger, he returned in 1959 as a volunteer, taking charge of the music program pioneered by

, who had died in an accident in 1956. Here is the story of how he got the Highlander position from Guy himself:

"I called Myles; I'd met him before. He said Highlander needed a musical director. My job would be to help get people singing and sharing their songs. When someone began to sing, I'd back them up softly on my guitar so they'd get courage and keep going. Sometimes in sharing a song, people find bonds between themselves that they never knew they had. I can't tell you how many pictures I have of myself standing behind other people, accompanying them on the guitar. I took the job, just for a year--that was thirty years ago"

According to his wife Candie, one of Guy's most important roles during the Civil Rights Movement — more so than introducing "We Shall Overcome" as a Freedom Song — was his desire to record and archive the evolution of the movement through song. Both Guy and Candie believe that the political usage of religious and folk music could shape movements and influence people to take action in social change, and Guy's initiative to record and preserve the already established Freedom Songs within the movement are used to inspire and to educate future leaders and activists. Movement leader Rev.

C. T. Vivian Cordy Tindell Vivian (July 30, 1924July 17, 2020) was an American minister, author, and close friend and lieutenant of Martin Luther King Jr. during the civil rights movement. Vivian resided in Atlanta, Georgia, and founded the C. T. Vivian Lead ...

, a lieutenant of Martin Luther King Jr. reminisced:

I don't think we had ever thought of spirituals as movement material. When the movement came up, we couldn't apply them. The concept has to be there. It wasn't just to have the music but to take the music out of our past and apply it to the new situation, to change it so it really fit. ... The first time I remember any change in our songs was when Guy came down from Highlander. Here he was with this guitar and tall thin frame, leaning forward and patting that foot. I remember James Bevel and I looked across at each other and smiled. Guy had taken this song, "
Follow the Drinking Gourd ''Follow the Drinking Gourd'' is an African-American folk song first published in 1928. The ''Drinking Gourd'' is another name for the Big Dipper Asterism (astronomy), asterism. Folklore has it that Slavery in the United States, enslaved people i ...
" – I didn't know the song, but he gave some background on it and boom – that began to make sense. And, little by little, spiritual after spiritual began to appear with new words and changes: "
Keep Your Eyes on the Prize "Keep Your Eyes on the Prize" is a folk song that became influential during the American Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. It is based on the traditional song, "Gospel Plow," also known as "Hold On," "Keep Your Hand on the Plow," and v ...
, Hold On" or "I'm Going to Sit at the Welcome Table". Once we had seen it done, we could begin to do it.

At Highlander's April workshop, Carawan had met Candie Anderson, an exchange student at

Fisk University Fisk University is a private historically black liberal arts college in Nashville, Tennessee. It was founded in 1866 and its campus is a historic district listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 1930, Fisk was the first Africa ...

in Nashville, from Pomona College in California, who was one of the first white students involved in the

sit-in A sit-in or sit-down is a form of direct action that involves one or more people occupying an area for a protest, often to promote political, social, or economic change. The protestors gather conspicuously in a space or building, refusing to mo ...

movement. As a couple they traveled the south hosting workshops to influence people to embrace in the Civil Rights Movement's music. They also travelled the world influencing activists. They visited England and attended the

World Festival of Youth and Students The World Festival of Youth and Students is an international event organized by the World Federation of Democratic Youth (WFDY) and the International Union of Students after 1947. History The festival has been held regularly since 1947 as an eve ...

in the Soviet Union in 1957, continuing onward to the People's Republic of China. They were married in March 1961 Guy and Candie Carawan lived in New Market, near the Highlander Center. Guy remained the musical director at Highlander till his retirement in the late 1980s. The Guy and Candie Carawan Collection (1955-2010) is located in the Southern Folklife Collection of the Wilson Library of the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...

Bibliography

* * (photographs by Robert Yellin) * * * (incorporates ''We Shall Overcome!'' and ''Freedom is a Constant Struggle'' above)

Discography

Documentary Recording Projects *'' May Justus, The Carawan Recordings'', summer 1953, Horton living room in Monteagle, TN; 1961 at May's Summerfield home. Recorded by Guy Carawan; published in 2011 by Tennessee Folklore Society and Jubilee Community Arts *''Nashville Sit-In Story.''

Folkways Records Folkways Records was a record label founded by Moses Asch that documented folk, world, and children's music. It was acquired by the Smithsonian Institution in 1987 and is now part of Smithsonian Folkways. History The Folkways Records & Service ...

, FH#5590, 1960. Recorded by Guy Carawan, assisted by Mel Kaiser at Cue Studio. *''Hamper McBee, Cumberland Moonshiner.'' Prestige Records, 1965. Recorded by Guy Carawan in Knoxville, TN, April 6, 1962. *''Freedom in the Air: Albany Georgia, 1961–62.'' SNCC #101. Produced by

Vanguard Records Vanguard Recording Society is an American record label set up in 1950 by brothers Maynard and Seymour Solomon in New York City. It was a primarily classical label at its peak in the 1950s and 1960s, but also has a catalogue of recordings by a n ...

for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. Recorded by Guy Carawan. Produced by Guy Carawan &

Alan Lomax Alan Lomax (; January 31, 1915 – July 19, 2002) was an American ethnomusicologist, best known for his numerous field recordings of folk music of the 20th century. He was also a musician himself, as well as a folklorist, archivist, writer, sch ...

. *''We Shall Overcome, Songs of Freedom Riders and the Sit-Ins.'' Folkways Records, FH#5591, 1963. Includes Nashville Quartet and Montgomery Trio. Recorded in New York City. *''Birmingham, Alabama, 1963. Mass Meeting.'' Folkways Records, FD#5487, 1980. Includes Martin Luther King Jr.,

Ralph Abernathy Ralph David Abernathy Sr. (March 11, 1926 – April 17, 1990) was an American civil rights activist and Baptist minister. He was ordained in the Baptist tradition in 1948. As a leader of the civil rights movement, he was a close friend and ...

, Birmingham Movement Choir. Recorded by Guy Carawan in Birmingham, AL. *''The Story of Greenwood, Mississippi.'' Folkways Records, FD#5593, 1965. Includes

Bob Moses Robert Moses (1888–1981) was an American city planner. Robert Moses may also refer to: * Bob Moses (activist) (1935–2021), American educator and civil rights activist * Bob Moses, American football player in the 1962 Cotton Bowl Classic * Bob M ...

, Fannie Lou Hamer, Medgar Evers, Dick Gregory. Recorded by Guy Carawan in Greenwood, MS. *''Sea Island Folk Festival: Moving Star Hall Singers.'' Folkways Records, FS#3841, 1966. Includes Alan Lomax speaking at festival. Recorded and produced by Guy & Candie Carawan. *''Been in the Storm So Long: Spirituals, Shouts, Folk Tales and Children's Songs of Johns Island, South Carolina.'' Folkways Records, FS#3842, 1967. Recorded and produced by Guy & Candie Carawan. *''Earl Gilmore: From the Depths of My Soul.''

June Appal Recordings June Appal Recordings is a record label that was founded by Jack Wright and established by Appalshop to record and distribute music of and from central Appalachia. Artists with June Appal include Buell Kazee, Morgan Sexton, Lee Sexton, Carla Gov ...

, JA0022, 1967. Produced and edited by Guy Carawan for June Appal Recordings. Includes Rupert Oysler on harmonica. Recorded by Jack Wright and Jeff Kiser. *''Come All You Coal Miners.''

Rounder Records Rounder Records is an independent record label founded in 1970 in Somerville, Massachusetts by Marian Leighton Levy, Ken Irwin, and Bill Nowlin. Focused on American roots music, Rounder's catalogue of more than 3000 titles includes records by Al ...

, #4005, 1974. Includes

Nimrod Workman Nimrod Workman (November 5, 1895 – November 26, 1994) was an American folk singer, coal miner and trade unionist. His musical repertoire included traditional English and Scottish ballads passed down through his family, Appalachian folk songs ...

, Sarah Gunning, George Tucker, Hazel Dickens. Recorded by Roger and Lucy Phenix at Appalachian Music Workshop at Highlander Center, October 1972. Produced by Guy Carawan. *''George Tucker, Kentucky Coal Miner.'' Rounder Records, #0064, 1975. Collected and recorded by Guy Carawan in Beaver, KY. *''China: Music from the Peoples' Republic.'' Rounder Records, #4008, CD, 1976. Recorded in China by Guy and Candie Carawan. *''Sing for Freedom, Southwide Workshop.'' Folkways Records, FD#5488, 1980. Produced by Guy & Candie Carawan, Highlander Center. Recorded at the Gammon Theological Seminary in Atlanta, GA, at a workshop with Freedom Singers, Birmingham Movement Choir, Georgia Sea Island Singers, Doc Reese,

Phil Ochs Philip David Ochs (; December 19, 1940 – April 9, 1976) was an American songwriter and protest singer (or, as he preferred, a topical singer). Ochs was known for his sharp wit, sardonic humor, political activism, often alliterative lyrics, and ...

, and Len Chandler. *''They'll Never Keep Us Down: Women's coal mining songs.'' Rounder Records, #4012, 1983. Includes Hazel Dickens, Sarah Gunning, Florence Reece, Phyllis Boyens, Reel World String Band. Dedicated to Sarah Gunning who died November 14, 1983. Produced by Guy & Candie Carawan for Rounder. *''Sing for Freedom.'' Smithsonian Folkways, SF#40032, CD, 1990. A compilation of material from the six LPs. Selected by Guy & Candie Carawan. *''Been in the Storm So Long.'' Smithsonian Folkways, SF#40031, CD, 1990. A compilation of material from the two LPs. Selected by Guy & Candie Carawan. *''Coal Mining Women.'' Rounder Records, #4025, CD, 1997. Selections from two previous coal LPs. Conceived and selected by Guy and Candie Carawan. Personal Recordings *''Songs with Guy Carawan'', vol. 1,

, FG 3544, 1958. *''Mountain Songs & Banjo Tunes, Topic records U.K., 10T24, 10" LP 1958 *''Guy Carawan Sings: Something Old, New, Borrowed and Blue'', Folkways Records, FG 3548, 1959. *''This Little Light of Mine'', Folkways Records, FG 3552, 1959. *''The Best of Guy Carawan'', Prestige International, #13013, 1961. *''A Guy Called Carawan'', E.M.I. Records, Middlesex, England, SX 6065, 1965. *''Freedom Now! Songs for a New America'' (with Candie Carawan), Plane Records, Germany, #55301, 1968. *''The Telling Takes Me Home'', Cur Non Records, cnl 722, 1972. *''Sitting on Top of the World & Mountain Songs'' (double album), Intercord Xenophon, Germany, Int. 181.012, 1974. *''Sitting on Top of the World'', American version (with Candie Carawan), self-produced, 1975. *''Green Rocky Road'',

, JA 0021, 1976. *''Jubilee'',

, JA 0029, 1979. *''Songs of Struggle and Celebration'', Flying Fish Records, FC 27272, 1982. *''My Rhinoceros and Other Friends'', (children's songs), A Gentle Wind, GW 1023, 1983. *''High on a Mountain'', self-produced (cassette only), 1984. *''Hammer Dulcimer Music'' (with Evan Carawan), Flying Fish Records, FF 329, 1984. *''The Land Knows You're There'', Flying Fish Records, FF 391, 1986. *''Old Blue & Other Favorites'', self-produced (cassette only), 1990. *''Tree of Life (Arbol de La Vida)'', Flying Fish Records, FF 525, 1990. *''Homebrew'' (The Carawan Family), Flying Fish Records, FF 609, 1992. *''Sparkles & Shines,'' Ponder Productions, 1999. Included on Albums with Others *Several albums released in England in the late 1950s, including ''America at Play'' with Peggy Seeger. *''Songs for Peace'', Folk Freak Records, FF 4010, 1983. *''I'm Gonna Let it Shine: A Gathering of Voices for Freedom'', Round River Records, RRR 401, 1990. *''Freedom is a Constant Struggle: Songs of the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement'', Folk Era, FE 1419, 1994. *''Die Burg Waldeck Festivals 1964–1969 - Chanson Folklore International'', 10-CD box, Bear Family Records, BCD 16017 JC, 2008 *''Classic Protest Songs from Smithsonian Folkways'', Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, SFW40197, 2009.

References

Video references

*''We Shall Overcome'', Ginger Group Productions, 1988; PBS Home Video 174, 58 min.

, Bernard Lafayette, Julian Bond, and

Bernice Johnson Reagon Bernice Johnson Reagon (born Bernice Johnson on October 4, 1942) is a song leader, composer, scholar, and social activist, who in the early 1960s was a founding member of the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee's (SNCC) Freedom Singers in t ...

comment on Guy Carawan's role in teaching the song "We Shall Overcome." *''The Telling Takes Me Home'', Heatcar Productions
heatcar productions , Video Production, Editing and Media Education
, 2005; produced, directed and edited by Heather Carawan, 29 min. Music and memory tell the story of Guy and Candie Carawan, activists and folk singers who have carried their work from the deep south of the Civil Rights Movement into today's daunting struggle for peace. Interweaving past and present, the filmmaker integrates her own reflections on growing up in a rich musical and political landscape with her parents' views on race relations, community organizing, and the sustaining power of song.

External links

SNCC Digital Gateway: Guy Carawan
Documentary website created by the SNCC Legacy Project and Duke University, telling the story of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee & grassroots organizing from the inside-out *
Guy and Candie Carawan Homepage

Southern Folklife Collection, UNC Chapel Hill
Highlander Center, official web site

Heatcar Productions, official web site, Heather Carawan

Profile of Guy Carawan from the Association for Cultural Equity
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carawan, Guy 1927 births 2015 deaths American folk musicians Hammered dulcimer players History of civil rights in the United States American folk guitarists Guitarists from Los Angeles American male guitarists 20th-century American guitarists People from New Market, Tennessee 20th-century American male musicians