“I’ve never been afraid when I am singing,” said Rutha Mae Harris. “Without the songs of the movement, personally I believe that there wouldn’t have been a movement.” The power of her contralto voice was thrilling and legendary.

Rutha Mae Harris has never been afraid to sing in front of a crowd. Even as a 22-year-old facing the 250,000 people who had gathered at the Lincoln Memorial in August 1963 for the historic march on Washington, she felt excited rather than scared. After all, at earlier protests, she had faced police pointing batons, fire hoses and even guns, and each time, when she sang, her terror faded away.

Rutha Mae Harris has never been afraid to sing in front of a crowd. Even as a 22-year-old facing the 250,000 people who had gathered at the Lincoln Memorial in August 1963 for the historic march on Washington, she felt excited rather than scared. After all, at earlier protests, she had faced police pointing batons, fire hoses and even guns, and each time, when she sang, her terror faded away.

Rutha Mae Harris' mother used to shush her because she sang so much. "She said, 'Girl, you sing all the time," Harris said. "You sing in your sleep." Harris, 72, never stopped singing, and it gained her a place on the stage of history. Her rich soprano voice -- that voice -- became one of the sounds of the civil rights movement.

King learned from his mistakes and honed his protest strategies.

During the Civil Rights Movement of the early 1960s, The Freedom Singers traveled across the country to raise funds for the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee. Their songs spread a message of determination and hope.