After A Violent Winter, The 'Summer Of Soul' Was A Musical Moment Of Healing
On the surface, the new concert film Summer of Soul may easily read as a black alternative to the well-documented four days of Woodstock â the predominantly white music festival that got so much attention in August of 1969. But Woodstock, while avowedly anti-war and anti-imperialist, was also synonymous with sex, psychedelics, and rock & roll.
Each weekend from June 29 to August 24 in 1969, thousands of Harlem residents flocked to what is now Marcus Garvey Park. The stage featured extraordinary artists from the sisterly harmonies of The Staple Singers to headlining sets by B.B. King and Steve Wonder. Unlike Woodstock, these concerts were no sybaritic celebration of hippie counterculture, but a direct response to the profound losses and violence endured by Black activists and progressives that preceded that summer.
Non-violent and legislative attempts to dismantle institutionalized racism had led to a devastating series of
