I Woke Up This Morning With My Mind Stayed On Freedom

WARNING: RECORDINGS CONTAIN HARMFUL AND OFFENSIVE WORDS AND PHRASES CONCERNING RACE, INCLUDING EXPLICIT LANGUAGE

Recorded during the 1963 unrest during the Civil Rights Movement in Cambridge, Maryland, these audio recordings capture the unedited sounds of both protesters and segregationists. The recordings were made primarily by reporter John Goldsmith for the District of Columbia radio station WWDC.

In the first recording, there are protesters in front of the Dorchester County Courthouse singing “Woke Up This Morning (With My Mind Stayed On Freedom),” “We Shall Overcome,” “Star Spangled Banner,” and the “Pledge of Allegiance.” Also included are three speeches from different individuals, one a reverend, about injustice and racial inequality that outline their goals for desegregation. There are also moments with segregationist songs and chants as they marched through the city.

In the second recording, primarily white segregationists expressed their reasons for counter-protesting the Cambridge Movement. This recording contains explicit and offensive words and language. Some white mob members who became angry with the WWDC reporter were later arrested and identified in the third recording featuring the WWDC broadcast.

The third recording features the WWDC broadcast that used clips from the first two audio recordings and includes additional reporting about the Cambridge Movement. Many individuals heard in the first two recordings are identified in the WWDC broadcast, including Bishop Williams and one of the white rioters who was arrested.

These recordings come from the J. Millard Tawes papers (2017.060) at the Nabb Research Center and are within the Creative Commons (with restrictions).