In Memoriam: Odetta Holmes, 1930-2008
Dec. 6th, 2008 06:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thatcrazycajunWith thanks to ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
kradical for the sad news: The legendary folksinger and activist known worldwide simply by her first name, Odetta, has passed away of the same thing that got poor Forry Ackerman yesterday, and much sooner—cardiac failure. She died in New York, NY at 77; the full story is on Daily Variety's website here.
Seems fitting that the woman hailed as "the voice of the civil rights movement" (anointed "the queen of American folk music" by no less than Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.!) should go only weeks after we elected our first African-American president; she must have felt her work was finally done. But what a sorrow for her to miss the Inauguration Day festivities! What a sorrow, period. Rest easy, little mother, and say hi to Miriam Makeba for us when you get up there.
kradical for the sad news: The legendary folksinger and activist known worldwide simply by her first name, Odetta, has passed away of the same thing that got poor Forry Ackerman yesterday, and much sooner—cardiac failure. She died in New York, NY at 77; the full story is on Daily Variety's website here. Seems fitting that the woman hailed as "the voice of the civil rights movement" (anointed "the queen of American folk music" by no less than Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.!) should go only weeks after we elected our first African-American president; she must have felt her work was finally done. But what a sorrow for her to miss the Inauguration Day festivities! What a sorrow, period. Rest easy, little mother, and say hi to Miriam Makeba for us when you get up there.
