Bernice Johnson Reagon, civil rights activist and founder of Sweet Honey in the Rock, dies

Gallaudet University mourns the passing of Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon, H-'06, on July 16. She was 81 years old.

Dr. Reagon was a civil rights activist. She co-founded The Freedom Singers, a touring group and later led the African American a cappella ensemble Sweet Honey in the Rock. Among the group's members were Ysaye M. Barnwell, a former Clerc Center employees, and Dr. Shirley Childress, a CODA (child of deaf adults) who was both a performer and American Sign Language interpreter. As such, Sweet Honey in the Rock's performances were always accessible to members of the Deaf community. The group performed on the Gallaudet University campus several times.

The daughter of a Baptist minister, Bernice Johnson's activism began when she was a student at Albany State College in Albany, Georgia, a town that Washington Post writer Harrison Smith described as a "white supremacist stronghold." She was jailed and expelled from Albany State, but segued to touring with her Freedom Singers group. Years later, she earned her bachelor's degree from Spelman College in Atlanta and her Ph.D. from Howard University in Washington, D.C. During her career, she taught at Howard and became an administrator with the Smithsonian Museum of American History. She was also a scholarly advisor to the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. In 1989, she was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship.

Throughout her life, Dr. Reagon was known first and foremost as a musician and musical organizer, and as someone who embraced all people and made her music accessible. In recognition of this sustained commitment, in 2006 Gallaudet University awarded Dr. Reagan the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa.

Donate to the Dr. Shirley Childress Memorial Scholarship Fund.

Read more about Dr. Reagan on her website.