The Sounds of Change

Music is an evocative tool. It can energize, soothe, inspire.

And for Mimosa Shah, a research librarian at Radcliffe’s Schlesinger Library for the History of Women in America, it served as a motivating force while curating the Schlesinger’s latest exhibition Rewrite, Organize, Remix: Visions of Feminist Organizing.

“I remember feeling nervous about writing my first narrative labels for the exhibit—and like any large project that requires thought and labor, I temporarily put it on a back burner and procrastinated by listening to music,” says Shah.  

The Schlesinger Library is famous for its extensive collections documenting the history of women in the United States—and part of that history is the pursuit of justice, whether in the spheres of the civil rights, feminist, labor, or antiwar movements, among many others. “Shouts of struggle echo through the Schlesinger Library’s collections,” reads the description of the exhibition, which brings together ephemera from a number of social justice movements dating back to midcentury.

While positively procrastinating via Spotify, Shah found herself seeking out songs that reminded her of the social movements featured in the exhibit. “I started a playlist that helped me think about what the community organizers and changemakers might have had in the background on their radio, spinning on the jukebox at a local diner, or maybe even blaring out of a speaker at a house party,” she says. She took a chance and decided to share the soundtrack to her work with her fellow librarians on the exhibition committee, Paula Aloisio, Zachary Maiorana, and Ellen Shea.

“I thought my colleagues would find the playlist ridiculous, but some have commented on how it effectively contextualizes our moment in relation to the collection items in the exhibit,” Shah says. “Incorporating songs into a themed playlist helps place the collections into a bite-sized learning moment, but with the spirit of creativity. My version of what Pat Parker, Yolanda Bako, or Margo St. James might have listened to is going to reflect my perceptions and tastes, and it’s fun to tease that out in conversation with each other. My colleague John turned me on to Against Me! and their iconic aughts ballad, ‘Baby, I’m an Anarchist!’, and I knew that had to be on the final list.”

Spanning seven decades, from the Swan Silvertone Singers’ “How I Got Over” to Meshell Ndegeocello and Jason Moran’s “Perceptions,” the playlist captures the music that might have galvanized changemakers past and present.

“In several cases, songs were selected because they were mentioned in an exhibit item, such as Sylvester showing up as the musical guest on a benefit flyer for COYOTE,” says Shah. “Eventually, I organized the songs into a rough chronological order.” She credits other great playlist creators for the inspiration: for example, Questlove, Hua Hsu, Sam Valenti (of Ghostly), and Teju Cole, who, Shah says, “approach song curation with playfulness and serious study.”

In the spirit of change and liberation, hit play!

Rewrite, Organize, Remix: Visions of Feminist Organizing opens on April 1 and is on view through October 11, 2024. Please join Mimosa Shah and others for an opening event for the exhibition on April 1, online on Zoom.

Ivelisse Estrada is the editorial manager at Harvard Radcliffe Institute.