Webinar: Peter Yarrow, Reggie Harris & Sonny Ochs

 They Who Sang

to End the War 1

Peter Yarrow, Reggie Harris and Sonny Ochs

Moderated by Heather Booth

View the final youtube video edited by Peter Yarrow by clicking here.

https://youtu.be/CbebUX9maDY

Originally zoomed November 7, 7 - 8:30 p.m. ET

First in a series of webinars with singers whose creative voices inspired and were shaped by the peace movement.

As a performer and activist, Peter Yarrow (of Peter, Paul and Mary) uses his music to engage and entertain but, more importantly, to help create a more just and peaceful world. Through such efforts, beginning in the early 1960’s, the music of Peter, Paul and Mary became, for literally millions of people, the genesis of their activism and a life-long commitment to advancing positive social change. Peter’s gift for songwriting has produced some of the most moving songs in the Peter, Paul & Mary repertoire including “Puff, the Magic Dragon,” “Day is Done,” “Light One Candle,” and “The Great Mandala."

Reggie Harris is an innovative guitarist, a fearlessly creative vocalist, and an engaging storyteller whose concert performances are infused with joy. It’s clear to all that he deeply loves singing and that it is more than his work. But that’s not all.

Uniquely committed to “music as a community building vehicle,” Reggie’s music shares insightful perspectives on issues of  life, history, education and human rights. In the spirit of his mentors, Pete Seeger and Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon, (founder of Sweet Honey in the Rock), Reggie is a master songleader who loves to help people discover that they can make a difference at any age, wherever they may live.  https://reggieharrismusic.com/

Sonny Ochs is a radio host, a concert producer, a major festival volunteer in many capacities, and a volunteer at folk conferences.  She is the creator of Wisdom of the Elders which is a much loved event which began in 2010 at Northeast Regional Folk Alliance and is now a monthly podcast on the NERFA webpage.  She is also Phil Ochs's sister and has produced Phil Ochs Song Nights for 39 years internationally.  She is the host of Folk Music & Other Stuff - a monthly radio show on Folk Music Notebook. Sonny was presented with a Spirit of Folk Award at Folk Alliance International in 2019.  https://www.sonnyochs.com/

Heather Booth is one of the country's leading strategists about progressive issue campaigns and driving issues in elections. She started organizing in the civil rights, anti-Vietnam war and women's movements of the 1960s. She started JANE, an underground abortion service in 1965, before Roe. There is a new HBO documentary about this called The JANES, and there is a new Hollywood film version of the story, Call JANE.

She was the founding Director and is now President of the Midwest Academy, training social change leaders and organizers. She has been involved in and managed political campaigns and was the Training Director of the Democratic National Committee. In 2000, she was the Director of the NAACP National Voter Fund, which helped to increase African American election turnout. She was the lead consultant, directing the founding of the Campaign for Comprehensive Immigration Reform in 2005.

In 2008, she was the director of the Health Care Campaign for the AFL-CIO. In 2009, she directed the campaign passing President Obama’s first budget. In 2010 she was the founding director of Americans for Financial Reform, fighting to regulate the financial industry. She was the national coordinator for the coalition around marriage equality and the 2013 Supreme Court decision. She was strategic advisor to the Alliance for Citizenship (the largest coalition of the immigration reform campaign). She was the field director for the 2017 campaign to stop the tax giveaways to millionaires and billionaires She directed Progressive and Seniors Outreach for the Biden/Harris campaign. She has been a consultant on many other issues and with many other organizations.  She is a member of the consulting firm Democracy Partners.

There is a film about her life in organizing, "Heather Booth: Changing the World." It has been shown on PBS/World Channel stations around the country.

Heather Booth with Fannie Lou Hamer in Ruleville, MS 1964, photo by Wallace Roberts

Resources

Videos 

Bring Them Home   Pete Seeger   https://youtu.be/LYfUlGORKkw

I Ain't  Marchin' Anymore Phil Ochs   https://youtu.be/8qDkC4yJxdc

Blowing in the Wind, Give Peace a Chance   Peter, Paul and Mary   https://vimeo.com/767990834

Draft Dodger Rag Phil Ochs   https://youtu.be/SCJesc99YgE

The War is Over    Phil Ochs   https://youtu.be/OGHHdZoT4F8

When I'm Gone   Phil Ochs  https://youtu.be/Greffl1UVYc

"There But for Fortune"  Phil Ochs feature length documentary  $2.99 rental

https://vimeo.com/ondemand/philochs99

Protest Music of the Vietnam War  by Anne Meisenzahl and Roger Peace

 United States Foreign Policy History and Resource Guide website, 2017, updated September 2021, http://peacehistory-usfp.org/protest-music-vietnam-war

Justin Brummer's playlist of 390+ protest songs 

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL549B0CC0FC2AC8AC

"Why Movements Need To Start Singing Again"

December 7, 2022 by Paul Engler  

https://portside.org/2022-12-07/why-movements-need-start-singing-again?utm_source=portside-general&utm_medium=email

With thanks to AVK ARTS, The Antonia and Vladimer Kulaev Cultural Heritage Fund