Mary Travers: Social Justice Songbird
January 2010
Mary Travers
Social Justice Songbird
“We’ve always been involved with issues that deal with the fundamental human rights of people, whether that means the right to political freedom or the right to breathe air that’s clean.” – Mary Travers
The passing of Mary Travers in September 2009 marked a loss not only for the folk music community she helped create, but also for the many causes that she championed. As a founding member of Peter, Paul and Mary, Travers injected her music with messages of peace and hope, helping songs such as “Blowin’ In The Wind” and “If I Had a Hammer” to become synonymous with the anti-war and civil rights movements of the 1960s. When Peter, Paul and Mary reunited after splitting in 1970, Travers continued to back a variety of causes: opposing nuclear energy in the late ‘70s, taking on homelessness and South African apartheid in the ‘80s, and more recently performing in opposition to gun violence against children, for the rights of strawberry pickers in California, and to raise awareness about world hunger. Mary Travers used her voice as an instrument for social justice, singing on behalf of those going unheard.
An interesting part of Travers’ story is that both her parents were journalists. While they spent much of their lives telling stories through the printed word, Mary Travers told stories through music. The function of storytelling in movement building is a very rich vein; longtime organizer Marshall Ganz – who helped put together Obama’s grassroots organizing model – has done some interesting work in the area of narrative and movement building that I think is relevant: http://j.mp/3Fpgiz
Fantastic! I haven’t heard of Mr. Ganz – I look forward to reading the essay and checking it out. Thank you for sharing it. I was also unaware of her family background. That certainly makes a lot of sense given the nature of her music.
I certainly agree that stories of all kinds are integral for movements. They allow us to connect to them – to give us something tangible to grab and make our own.