Mahalia Jackson singing & Martin Luther King Jr. preaching at Church together

Tue, 26 May 2026 15:43:52 +0000

(VIDEO): During the Chicago Movement for Freedom (ca. 1965-1967), Mahalia Jackson joined his friend Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., when he was visited a church to preach a sermon about justice and equality. Jackson, also known as the "Queen of Gospel Music", sang the spiritual "Joshua Fit / Fought the Battle of Jericho", a song based on the book of Joshua in the Bible, where it talks about the freedom the Israelites found after Egypt. Martin Luther King called "negro spirituals" as "the most original of all American music", and affirmed: "I think I can say concerning this great Gospel singer in our midst, our dear friend, my great friend Mahalia Jackson, that a voice like this comes only once in a millenia."

Like King, Jackson was a devout Christian and Civil Rights activist as well, who sang "How I Got Over" at MLK March on Washington, where she stayed behind King while he was pronouncing his historical "I Have a Dream." See Mahalia performing there: https://youtu.be/t9iQUIwAgus

As for me, you can show my video anywhere you want for educational or informing purposes, under the Fair Use law. This good quality video was taken from a documentary, but I don't remember its name. Yet, the footage shown herein is, as far as remember, originally from the Library of Congress, where you can research to see if it is in Public Domain.