Between 1933 and 1937 folklorist Lawrence Gellert collected songs from Southern black singers in North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. Out of this material he compiled albums and songbooks that evidenced the political and protest nature of traditional African American music. “Negro Songs of Protest” was illustrated by Gellert’s brother Hugo, a socially conscious artist and Communist, and was published by the American Music League in 1936.   

This image accompanies the audio recording of Josh White’s “Chain Gang Boun,” one of twenty songs you can listen to in the exhibit Labor Sings! Songs from the 1930s and 1940s, featuring highlights from the extraordinary compact disc collection by Ron Cohen and Dave Samualson, Songs for Political Action.