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Five Freedom Songs for Your MLK Day Playlist
Music is integral to the movement. Take a listen.
Music, as TV One highlights in its new special, Unsung Presents: Music & The Movement, has been a huge part of the fight for justice and equality. Just as love songs, party anthems and classic cuts can accentuate our moods, the same songs can also help bond us together as a collective as we fight to be heard, seen and, most importantly, respected. These five songs are prime examples of how music has done just that. Add them to your freedom playlist for MLK Day and beyond.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, STEVIE WONDER, 1980
Today it’s hard to imagine a time when we didn’t celebrate the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Holiday. And Stevie Wonder is a huge reason why. When he created “Happy Birthday,” which appeared on his Hotter Than July album, released in 1980, the fight to make Dr. King’s birthday a national holiday had been going since his assassination in 1968. Congressman John Conyers from Michigan introduced the concept just four days after his assassination, but…
