Bernice Johnson Reagon

Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon is a singer, composer, scholar, mother, and social activist, who founded the a cappella ensemble Sweet Honey in the Rock in 1973. The daughter of a Baptist minister, Reagon was born and raised in southwest Georgia where music was an integral part of life.

Reagon was an active participant in the civil rights movement of the 1960s. She is a specialist in African-American oral history, performance and protest traditions, and holds the title of Curator Emeritus from the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History.

Reagon was featured in (1992) in the Emmy-nominated PBS documentary The Songs Are Free: Bernice Johnson Reagon with Bill Moyers. She has served as music constultant, producer, composer, and performer on several award-winning film projects, was the conceptual producer and narrator of the Peabody Award-winning radio series, Wade in the Water, African American Sacred Music Traditions. She is also a published author and editor of several books.

In 1995 Reagon received a Charles Frankel Prize for her contributions to the public understanding of the humanities. The award was presented at the White House by President Clinton.