In 1964 Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “The Blues tell the story of life’s difficulties, and if you think for a moment, you will realize that they take the hardest realities of life and put them into music, only to come out with some new hope or sense of triumph. Much of the power of our Freedom Movement in the United States has come from this music.” View this archived program to hear from civil rights activists and blues musicians to explore how the power of Blues music affected, and was affected by, America’s Civil Rights movement. To obtain more details about the program including related curriculum standards, program objectives and agenda, related program learning activities, and additional video and web resources related to the program including a second full-length archived program, click on Educational Material. This program is targeted to students in grades 7-12.

The National Blues Museum and HEC-TV are sponsoring this program in partnership with the Missouri Humanities Council and with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Learn more about the National Blues Museum at https://www.nationalbluesmuseum.org/. Collaborative partnership is provided by Washington University in St. Louis and their Henry Hampton Collection.