Bernice Johnson Reagon Quotes

Powerful Bernice Johnson Reagon for Daily Growth

About Bernice Johnson Reagon

Bernice Johnson Reagon, born on November 4, 1942, is an influential African-American musician, scholar, and social activist whose work spans across several decades. Born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, she was raised in the segregated South, where she developed a deep understanding of Black culture, history, and the struggle for civil rights. Reagon attended Spelman College, graduating in 1964 with a Bachelor's degree in music education. During her time at Spelman, she became active in the civil rights movement, working closely with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and joining the Freedom Singers, a musical group that traveled the South performing freedom songs for rallies and protests. In 1968, Reagon co-founded the Cultural Alliance of Southern African Americans (CASAA), an organization dedicated to preserving the cultural heritage of African Americans in the South. She also served as the artistic director for the Black Women's United (BWU) from 1970 to 1983, where she produced the acclaimed "Songs of the Freedom-Fighters" series. Reagon's major works include her groundbreaking album "Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around," released in 1965, and her seminal book "To Avoid Being Discovered: Afro-American Pioneers in Radio," published in 1985. In the 1980s, she co-founded the Black Men's Chorus of Atlanta and the Black Women's Songbook Collective. Throughout her career, Bernice Johnson Reagon has been a powerful voice for African American culture, history, and social justice. Her work continues to inspire generations, and her legacy as a scholar, musician, and activist remains significant in American society.

Interpretations of Popular Quotes

"When you get, give. When you learn, teach."

This quote by Bernice Johnson Reagon emphasizes the importance of reciprocity in life. "When you get" implies receiving knowledge, resources, or opportunities. The instruction to "give" when one has received signifies sharing these same things with others. Similarly, "when you learn" indicates acquiring new skills or insights, and the call to "teach" suggests passing on this acquired knowledge for the benefit of others. Essentially, it is a reminder that growth and progress should not be self-centered but rather a cycle where individual gains are shared and used to uplift others. This quote underscores the idea that interdependence fosters personal development as well as community growth.

"We who believe in freedom cannot rest."

This quote by Bernice Johnson Reagon emphasizes that the pursuit of freedom is a continuous, ongoing effort. It suggests that those who advocate for freedom must never settle or become complacent; instead, they should remain vigilant and persistent in their quest to uphold and expand the principles of freedom and justice. The quote underscores the importance of continued activism, perseverance, and commitment to the ideals of a free society.

"I'm tired of being unfree."

This quote reflects a deep-seated desire for personal autonomy, self-expression, and freedom from constraints that restrict one's true potential or happiness. It can be seen as an expression of frustration, dissatisfaction, or disillusionment with the status quo, indicating a yearning for emancipation and self-determination. The quote may also evoke a sense of solidarity and collective empowerment among those who share similar feelings, encouraging them to work towards change together.

"If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem."

This quote emphasizes personal responsibility and the importance of taking active roles in addressing issues and problems within a community or society. It suggests that being passive or indifferent toward social, political, or environmental challenges contributes negatively to their resolution. In other words, if individuals do not contribute constructively to solutions, they become part of the obstacles hindering progress and positive change.

"The master's tools will never dismantle the master's house." (This quote is often misattributed to Bernice Johnson Reagon, but it was actually coined by Audre Lorde and shared by Bernice in a lecture.)

This quote emphasizes that the means or methods used by those who have power (the "master") cannot be used to bring about their own downfall or dismantle their systems of oppression. In other words, those seeking change must develop new strategies and perspectives independent from the ones used by those in power, as the old tools are inherently biased towards maintaining the status quo. It's a call for marginalized communities to create their own solutions and dismantle structures of oppression using unique and transformative approaches.

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

Song, Commercial, Same Time, Revival

Life's challenges are not supposed to paralyze you, they're supposed to help you discover who you are.

- Bernice Johnson Reagon

Challenges, Help, Discover, Paralyze

I think the Civil Rights Movement changed that trajectory for me. The first thing I did was leave school. I was suspended for my participation in Movement demonstrations in my hometown, December, 1961.

- Bernice Johnson Reagon

Participation, I Think, Trajectory

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

Fact, Big, Other, Thirteen

I came out of the Civil Rights Movement, and I had a different kind of focus than most people who have just the academic background as their primary training experience.

- Bernice Johnson Reagon

Focus, Different Kind, Had, Primary

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

Started, Full-Time, Festival, Graduate School

When I started graduate school I was interested in the culture of the Civil Rights Movement.

- Bernice Johnson Reagon

Started, Rights Movement, Graduate School

Well, the first time I ran into the term religion, people were asking whether you had any. You know, some people had religion and some people didn't have religion.

- Bernice Johnson Reagon

Asking, Some, Had, Ran

It makes sense that whatever the topic is, it's more compelling if you can provide the audience with a range of perspectives, and you can cross disciplines. And you don't have to control what people take out of it.

- Bernice Johnson Reagon

Audience, More, Compelling, Perspectives

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

Southwest, Researcher, Communities

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

Prove, Going, Everybody, Scared

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

Young, Country, Before, Scholars

I was at the Smithsonian for twenty years, and I'm still at the Smithsonian as a curator emeritus, and I still plan to figure out what that means for me at this point in my life.

- Bernice Johnson Reagon

My Life, Still, Means, Twenty

If every moment is sacred, and If you are amazed and in awe most of the time when you find yourself breathing and not crazy, then you are in a state of constant thankfulness, worship and humility.

- Bernice Johnson Reagon

Thankfulness, Constant, Worship

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

Young, Through, Discovered, Scholar

But I'm a historian. I wasn't interested in just being a producer, I was interested in doing research and presenting that research to a general public.

- Bernice Johnson Reagon

Doing, Being, Historian, General Public

So one of the things that happened with integration in the South is they found that the black teachers were much more educated than the white teachers.

- Bernice Johnson Reagon

One Of The Things, South, Integration

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

Through, Festival, Could, Smithsonian

If I had been at a University I don't think I would have been able to have the experience I had in my Smithsonian work. I don't think I have been as successful.

- Bernice Johnson Reagon

Think, University, Been, Smithsonian

When the culture is strong, you've got this consistency where black people can grow up in these places with this voice just resonating about our special-ness in the universe. And I always say you're in trouble if you get too far away from that core that grounds you.

- Bernice Johnson Reagon

Strong, Voice, Resonating, Grounds

The voice I have now, I got the first time I sang in a movement meeting, after I got out of jail... and I'd never heard it before in my life.

- Bernice Johnson Reagon

Voice, My Life, Before, Meeting

I organized Sweet Honey In The Rock in 1973. The music was sanity and balance.

- Bernice Johnson Reagon

Music, Balance, Rock, Organized

And I used to think that proof that I had religion was whether I knew how to sing all of the songs.

- Bernice Johnson Reagon

Think, How, Whether, Proof

I went to a church where you could not sing out loud in the service until you had been saved.

- Bernice Johnson Reagon

Saved, Loud, Been, Sing

There is nowhere you can go and only be with people who are like you. Give it up.

- Bernice Johnson Reagon

Give, Go, Like, Nowhere

I just don't think one person has that much to contribute to any subject.

- Bernice Johnson Reagon

Think, Person, Subject, Contribute

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