The Berkshires

Hope in a Hateful World

September 2021

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The Black Legacy Project launched in September 2021 in the Berkshires of western Massachusetts, known for its pastoral beauty and longstanding cultural heritage. The region’s widely unheard historical significance in Black activism and advocacy is what draws the Black LP to the Berkshires.

 

The Project celebrates the Black legacy of the Berkshires by examining and reinterpreting the works “Strange Fruit,” made famous by Billie Holiday, “My Country Tis of Thee,” written by W.E.B. DuBois, “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” by brothers James Weldon Johnson and John Rosamond Johnson, and “We Shall Overcome” made famous by Pete Seeger, all with direct ties to the Berkshires. Read more here.