Called the “true spirit-child of Woody Guthrie,” activist musician and award-winning songwriter, Pat Humphries, will perform on March 1, at 7 p.m. a the D.P. Culp Center Auditorium.
The concert will kick off ETSU’s Womens History Month celebrations and is free and open to the public. Humphries’ much acclaimed anthems, “Keep on Moving Forward (Never Turning Back),” “Common Thread,” and “Swimming to the Other Side,” are sung at peace and justice events around the world and have been translated into seven languages.
Humphries sang “Keep on Moving Forward” at the United Nations memorial honoring former congress member, Bella Abzug, and this song opened the Fourth UN World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995.
“If I Give Your Name,” by Sandy Opatow and Pat Humphries is the grand prize winner in the folk category of the prestigious John Lennon Songwriting Contest. The song sheds light on the silent suffering of family members of undocumented workers lost on 9/11 in the World Trade Center and was one of 12 grand prize winners out of 24,000 entries. Hear “If I Give Your Name” at www.pathumphries.com.
In May 2002, Humphries and “Swimming to the Other Side” were featured on NPR’s All Things Considered. In the interview, Pete Seeger said, “The powers that be can control the media (but) it’s hard to stop a good song … Pat’s songs will be sung well into the 22nd century.”
The tremendous and unprecedented response by NPR listeners made Humphries’ CD, Hands, the No. 1 seller on Amazon.com for three days following – outselling Eminem.
Humphries and her partner, Sandy Opatow, were in the process of moving to the Washington, D.C., area from New York City when the events of Sept. 11, 2001, occurred.
Since then, they have been performing at concerts, teach-ins and rallies, including leading 10,000 people in NYC singing their song “Peace, Salaam, Shalom,” less than a month after September 11th and again at an all-night peace vigil in NYC on the first anniversary.
Their songs have been featured on Pacifica Radio’s Democracy Now! with Amy Goodman. Rhythms Magazine called Hands a “powerful and energetic album. . . one of the best of 2001.”
Visit www.emmasrevolution.com for more information, including photos. Visit www.etsu.edu/womenstudies for more Women’s History Month events.
Women’s Studies co-sponsoring with Women’s Resource Center and the College of Public and Allied Health.
For more information or special arrangements for persons with disabilities, contact Dr. Amber Kinser, ETSU’s director of Women’s Studies, at 439-7571 or kinsera@etsu.edu.

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