A new documentary tells the story of the civil rights movement of the 1960s--through its music.

TOWARD THE end of the remarkable new film, Soundtrack for a Revolution, Julian Bond summarizes the civil rights movement as "ordinary people doing extraordinary things."

A persistent danger swirls around this history--the danger that the participants will be canonized, effectively placing them beyond the reach of present generations ("They were so united, so brave...so not like us"). Soundtrack, a film that tells the story of the civil rights movement through its music, reminds us that the people who waged that struggle were just as frail, just as fearful of injury and death as you and I.

But in every meeting, on every march and even behind bars, Soundtrack shows us how the songs of the civil rights movement gave ordinary people like John Lewis, Dorothy Cotton or Charles McDew--who are among the many participants to contribute on-camera interviews--the courage, the solidarity and the confidence to do such extraordinary things.

Read more