The Carlton Reese Memorial Unity Choir

The Carlton Reese Memorial Unity Choir

In 1959, the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights Choir was formed to provide the music that would fuel the mass meetings and marches of Birmingham's Civil Rights Movement. The Carlton Reese Memorial Unity Choir -- named in honor of that group's late director -- brought together members of that original choir, along with additional singers, to preserve the music and the memory of the local movement. They continue to share their songs and stories with audiences of all ages today.

This performance of the choir, complete with personal testimonies and musical selections, was recorded at Birmingham's historic Sixteenth Street Baptist Church and broadcast on Birmingham Mountain Radio's The Lost Child, December 5, 2016.

The Southern Music Research Center archive also contains extended interviews with choir members Mamie Brown Mason, Eloise Gaffney, and Louisa Bevelle.