Remembering the Civil Rights Struggle in Brooklyn, NY‪.‬

A powerful rendition of the song, "Do You Want Your Freedom?" was sung by Sandi Blair, with Dionne Freeney on piano, to open a remarkable event in February, 2006 at the Brooklyn Public Library's central branch, Grand Army Plaza: "I Remember: Civil Rights Activism in Brooklyn 1960-1965." It was a celebration of an important chapter in the borough's history, and honored activists in as radical a civil rights group as any in the early 1960s--the Brooklyn chapter of the national organization Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). Elizabeth Harvey, Local History Librarian in the Brooklyn Collection, introduced the moderator, Dr. Brian Purnell, lecturer on African American History at Fordham University who is writing the history of Brooklyn CORE. Dr. Purnell assembled an interracial panel to discuss their activism. The panel included Arnold Goldwag, Rioghan Kirchner, Msemaji Weusi, Nandi Weusi, Dr. Ed Lewinson, Congressman Major Owens, Jerome Bibuld, Princene Hyatt, and Larry Cumberbatch. "We're sitting amongst heroes today!" Dr. Purnell declared, "The songs are history--the history of struggle, of pain, and of hope by people in Brooklyn CORE, and the fights they waged against racial discrimination."