Face au Public: Odetta

Universal Studios, Waterloo, Belgium. Legendary African-American folk singer Odetta (1930-2008) sang her spirituals with immeasurable sorrow and anguish. Her spiritual music expresses the horrific impact of slavery on millions of African people stolen from their homeland. For Odetta, folk musicâbe it spirituals, blues or field songsâwas a vehicle for expressing the racism and injustice experienced by black people dating back to the days of slavery. This 1964 episode of Face au Public shows the melancholy of the era.