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Coffee Break

9:30 Coffee Break: Songs for Selma

by Steve Seel and Jill Riley

March 09, 2015

Martin Luther King Jr leads march to Montgomery
On March 30, 1965, American civil rights campaigner Martin Luther King (1929 - 1968) and his wife Coretta Scott King lead a voting rights march from Selma, Ala., to the state capital in Montgomery.
William Lovelace/Getty Images

Yesterday, an estimated 70,000 people marched across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala., to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Selma-to-Montgomery march. The original march in 1965 was a catalyst that led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act, a landmark piece of U.S. federal legislation that prohibits racial discrimination in voting.

Among the people in Selma this weekend for the commemorations is The Current's Production Manager, Derrick Stevens. With a family tree that is firmly rooted in the Alabama city, Derrick writes, "Selma is in my blood, and my blood is in Selma." Before he left for Alabama, Derrick put together a playlist of songs to capture the spirit of the Selma-to-Montgomery commemorative march.

Let's build on Derrick's idea. For today's 9:30 Coffee Break, what songs that capture the spirit of civil rights and equality do you want to hear? Request your songs for Selma.

Songs Played


Sam Cooke - "A Change is Going to Come"
James Brown - "Say it Loud I'm Black and I'm Proud"
Nina Simone - "I Wish I Knew How it Would Feel to be Free"
Gil Scott-Heron - "The Revolution Will Not be Televised"
Public Enemy - "Fight the Power"
Marvin Gaye - "What's Going On"