![(Ella Baker was a civil rights leader who led in many organizations, including SNCC founded in April 1944 [Danny Lyon])](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b099de_b112bfda23db4d6f90bf48780a25b7d5~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_120,h_81,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,blur_2,enc_auto/b099de_b112bfda23db4d6f90bf48780a25b7d5~mv2.jpg)
It’s apropos (and disgusting) that Miss. Gov. Tate Reeves declared April Confederate Heritage Month. So many things happened in April besides whatever would compel someone to dedicate a month to people who lost a war. Here are a couple of things we could be commemorating this month:
In April 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated (it was really a lynching but we’ll get into that some other day)
The AME denomination was established as the first independent Black denomination in the nation in April 1816
Muhammad Ali was stripped of his title on April 28, 1967 because of his political activism
The United Negro College Fund was established on April 25,1944 (yes, they just got their first Black chairman of the board; again, later)
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee was founded in April 1960
The last episode of “The Cosby Show” aired in April 1992 (for the purposes of this exercise, repeat after me: Heathcliff, Heathcliff, not Bill Cosby).
This list just scratches the surface.
So where do we go from this moment of frustrating declarations from Gov. Reeves? André 3000 rapped it best, “Yes, we done come a long way / like them slim-ass cigarettes / from Vir-gin-ya / we gone continya.”
And continya we shall, but continuing is always easier with a little bit of music. So, we put together this playlist full of tunes to soothe your soul, give you something to groove to, and honor the real and important things that have happened in the month of April: