Take Me to the PilotOdetta

Odetta

Born on New Year’s Eve in 1930 in Birmingham, Alabama, Odetta Holmes grew up to become a paradoxical an actress, civil rights activist, and musician transgressing numerous genres over the course of her career spanning half a century, creating nearly thirty albums. Her most prolific period was in the 1960s, and her work and influence connected the Consciousness Movement with the Civil Rights Movement. Her identity at the intersection between the two movements was epitomized by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. consecrating her as “The Queen of American Folk Music.” She performed at benefits for the Civil Rights Movement, the 1963 March on Washington, and she marched alongside Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. for voting rights in 1965 in Selma, Alabama; in our classroom rhetoric, she certainly “showed up.” While generally classified as a folk singer, Odetta’s repertoire consisted of not only folk songs, but also blues, spirituals, prison songs, ballads, and lullabies. She emphasized expressive freedom rather than a purist commitment to a single genre.