We Stood Up
Remix for Educators
Thinking about teachers’ needs for flexible, easy-to-search materials, we have created a remix for educators, organizing We Stood Up songs and interviews into three parts. Part 1 features leaders, artists, and children thinking about freedom. Part 2 contains memories and meditations on the civil rights movement. Part 3 points to the future— legacies and visions of freedom, opportunity and equality. See below for this annotated remix, featuring a reordered playlist, brief track-by-track descriptions of content, context, and themes, and quick links to lyrics and transcribed texts of each recording.
We Stood Up
Remix
Part 1 Thinking About Freedom
TRACK 1 ABRAHAM LINCOLN’S ‘MAY OUR CHILDREN’ (1:19)
SNAPSHOT: This track begins with a brief recitation of a quotation from an Abraham Lincoln speech, which is immediately followed by a short conversation in which the narrator, other adults, and children begin to pose questions about freedom, equality, and civil rights.
CONTEXT: As he boarded a train in Frederick, Maryland, on October 4, 1862, in the middle of the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln was surrounded by soldiers and townspeople, all eager to hear words of hope from the president. He said: “May our children and our children's children to a thousand generations continue to enjoy the benefits conferred upon us by a united country….” People of all ages want to know about the hard work and courage of those who have stood up to make Lincoln’s words a reality. How have brave Americans worked to bring freedom, opportunity, and equality to all people in this country?
TEXT: ABRAHAM LINCOLN’S ‘MAY OUR CHILDREN’ AND TRANSCRIPT- THE ‘VALUE OF FREEDOM’
TRACK 2 FREEDOM, OPPORTUNITY, EQUALITY ( 2:27)
SNAPSHOT: This is an original song which lists some American documents (Emancipation Proclamation, 13th Amendment, Declaration of Independence) and says that these helped moved the nation toward freedom, opportunity, and equality for everyone.
THEMES: Freedom, opportunity, and equality are a work in progress.
TRACK 3 WHAT DOES FREEDOM MEAN? PART 1: JULIAN BOND, JOHN LEWIS, AND ANDREW YOUNG: (2:54)
SNAPSHOT: The narrator and children define “civil rights,” and then three lions of the fight for civil rights in the US—Julian Bond, John Lewis, and Andrew Young—reflect on what freedom means to them.
THEMES: Slavery and Jim Crow denied people freedom; freedom allows us to work together to improve all lives; freedom obligates us to figure out who we are.
TEXT: TRANSCRIPT- WHAT DOES FREEDOM MEAN? PART 1: JULIAN BOND, JOHN LEWIS, AND ANDREW YOUNG
TRACK 4 FREE TO BE (2:25)
SNAPSHOT: In this song, the singer and a children’s chorus sing of struggles and sacrifices in the fight for freedom and civil rights. Some civil rights leaders are named, along with achievements.
THEMES: Freedom, responsibility, legacy. “We” and “us” are stronger than “I.”
TEXT: LYRICS- "FREE TO BE"
TRACK 5 WHAT DOES FREEDOM MEAN? PART 2: FRANKLIN MCCAIN, SHIRLEY FRANKLIN, ISAIAH TIDWELL (2:29)
SNAPSHOT: Three prominent leaders and fighters for civil rights in the US—Franklin McCain, Shirley Franklin, and Isaiah Tidwell—reflect on what freedom means to them.
THEMES: Fighting for equal rights and freedom goes beyond race. Freedom is physical and mental. It is about both doing and thinking.
TEXT: TRANSCRIPT- WHAT DOES FREEDOM MEAN? PART 2: FRANKLIN MCCAIN, SHIRLEY FRANKLIN, ISAIAH TIDWELL
TRACK 6 I KNOW WHY THE CAGED BIRD SINGS (1:31)
SNAPSHOT: The great-granddaughter of Maya Angelou recites this famous poem by Dr. Angelou, based on the image of the caged bird first represented in Paul Laurence Dunbar’s poem.
THEMES: Confinement, racism, oppression
TRACK 7 THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION (:58)
SNAPSHOT: Brief introduction before a reading of one key sentence, with musical background and chorus.
THEMES: Solemnity, power, and permanence of being “forever free.”