IN PERFORMANCE AT THE WHITE HOUSE
A CELEBRATION OF MUSIC FROM THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT
On February 9, 2010, during Washington, D.C.'s worst snow storm on record, President Obama and the First Family joined Vice president Joe Biden, Cabinet members and other special guests, as well as students from around the country, to commemorate Black History Month with "In Performance at the White House: A Celebration of Music from the Civil Rights Movement." The television special, produced by The GRAMMY Museum, AEG Ehrlich Ventures, WETA and the National Black Programming Consortium (NBPC), brought together talented musicians and performers including Smokey Robinson, Yolanda Adams, Natalie Cole, John Mellencamp, Bernice Reagon and the Freedom Singers, Jennifer Hudson, The Blind Boys of Alabama and Joan Baez, to sing songs that both fueled and inspired the American Civil Rights Movement. The program made history when singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, on his first-ever trip to the White House sang "The Times They Are a-Changin'," his 1964 protest song that became an anthem for the civil and political unrest of the 1960s.
In addition to the evening concert, The GRAMMY Museum produced three days of educational activities in Washington, D.C. One of the programs, "Music that Inspired the Movement," took place in the State Dining Room of the White House. Over 120 students from Chicago, Cleveland, Denver, Los Angeles, New York and Washington, D.C. attended.
To watch the education program, please go here.