Folk singer Odetta died on Tuesday, December 2nd, according to NPR:
Odetta’s folk songs made her a symbol of the civil rights movement. She performed at the Civil Rights March on Washington in 1963 and sang “O Freedom.” Her ballads and songs became, for many, the soundtrack to the American civil rights movement. Manager Doug Yeager says Odetta died Tuesday of heart disease at the age of 77.
If you’d like to hear her sing, your University Library has some recordings, including Odetta sings ballads and blues (1st-floor Media Center CDs, M1630.18.O43 O43 2005). It includes “O Freedom.” Just search the Library Catalog to find other recordings.
You can learn more about Odetta using the Library’s article databases and reference sources. For example, search Biography Reference Bank (H.W. Wilson) database via Ebscohost to get Odetta’s entry in Current Biography. Search the Reference Universe database to find resources in the Reference Collection that have information about Odetta, such as the Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History, 2nd ed. (2nd-floor Reference Collection, E185 .E54 2006).
Please ask a librarian for assistance in finding additional materials.
