Have you seen the most recent exhibit on display in Fashion Windows at 618 S. Michigan? If not, you should hurry over for The Staple Singers and the Civil Right Movement: A Fashion Window Display.
This excellent exhibit features garments selected from Columbia College Chicago’s Fashion Studies Collection, focusing on clothing styles from the civil rights era, along with materials from the archives of the Center for Black Music Research, illustrating the vital role the Chicago-based Staple Singers played in the civil rights movement.
But don’t stop there! You can check out the music of the Staple Singers at the library on CD or streaming from the library website. Or take a deep dive into the history by checking out the book, I’ll Take You There: Mavis Staples, the Staple Singers, and the March Up Freedom’s Highway by Greg Kot.
If you are looking for a short introduction to the Staple Singers, try one of these articles:
50 Years Before Beyonce’s Black Lives Matter Anthem, Mavis Staples Led A Movement
Chicago Stories: The Staple Singers
Interview: For Mavis Staples, The Music of the Civil Rights Era Couldn’t Be More Relevant Today
