Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2013

In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr....

In 1961 the Freedom Riders set out to protest segregation in interstate travel, leaving from Washington, D.C. into the Deep South. Their buses were ambushed and burned; their bodies beaten by mobs, the Klan and Southern police.

Many of them ended up in Mississippi’s Parchman Penitentiary, charged with trespassing. Voices rose out of the cells, expressing their determination, often singing “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Round.”

The Roots perform the song (above)  for the soundtrack to the film Soundtrack For a Revolution. It features contemporary artists singing traditional Civil Rights-era freedom songs. Available HERE