“Redemption Song” by Bob Marley and the Wailers is one of the ultimate songs about the Black spirit and the immense determination that has gotten us through life in America. I’m talking about a specifically Black determination that has powered our resistance and carried us through life in America. A sense of Black determination that we hear in Redemption Song as well as Sam Cookie’s “A Change Gonna Come,” Maya Angelou’s “Still I Rise,” and Kendrick’s “Alright.” No matter how hard things have been we have always been certain that one day we would overcome.

 Guests:

Roger Steffens, Author, So Much Things to Say

Michael Eric Dyson, Professor, Princeton University

Credits:

Bob Marley and The Wailer's - Redemption Song 

• Writer: Bob Marley
• Label: Tuff Gong & Island Records
• Publisher: Fifty Six Hope Road Music Limited, Primary Wave/Blue Mountain

Sam Cooke - A Change is Gonna Come

• Writer: Sam Cooke
• Label: RCA Victor
• Publisher: Kegs Music Corp. 

Kendrick Lamar - Alright 

• Writer: Kawan Prather, Kendrick Lamar, Pharrell Williams & Sounwave
• Label: Top Dawg Entertainment, Aftermath Entertainment & Interscope Records
• Publisher: EMI April Music, New World Music, Warner Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, EMI Music Publishing Group, PECF, BMG Firefly, BMG, Warner/Chappell, Top Dawg Entertainment, Sony/ATV Allegro, In Thee Face Music Publishing, Hard Working Black Folks Publishing, BMG Gold Songs, Beat Bully Productions, More Water From Nazareth & EMI Pop Music Publishing

Still I Rise, Maya Angelou

Yvonne Orji, The Toure Show

#TrumpRally protesters chant "We gonna be alright", Chicago Reader