Mavis Staples, a veteran of the Civil Rights Movement and world-renowned musician, was born and raised on Chicago’s South Side. In 1948, nine-year-old Mavis joined her father and her three siblings to form the legendary gospel group, the Staple Singers. The family traveled with Dr. King on the front lines of activism throughout the 1960s. The family furnished the songbook for the Civil Rights movement, writing and performing the anthems protesters sang as they marched in Mississippi, integrated lunch counters in North Carolina, and faced police and fire hoses in Alabama. In the ensuing decades, Mavis and her family collaborated with artists from Bob Dylan to Prince, Chuck D, The Band, David Byrne, and others. As a solo artist, Mavis Staples performed at the inaugurations of American Presidents from Jimmy Carter to Barack Obama. In 2014, she sang at the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library to mark the 50th anniversary of the signing of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. In 2016, she was honored at the Kennedy Center for her lifetime of contributions to American arts and culture.
Parrhesia believed 2024 was an ideal moment to celebrate Mavis Staples’ civic and artistic achievements, inviting her to campus to introduce her life, music, and legacy of activism to a new generation of young people. With the enthusiastic support of the Provost’s Office, the Logan Center for the Arts, and the Chicago Forum, Parrhesia organized a matinee with Ms. Staples at the Logan Center on April 3, 2024, for an audience of University of Chicago undergraduates and students from Woodlawn and South Shore high schools. After a performance by Ms. Staples and her band, Professor Adam Green of the Departments of History and of Race, Diaspora, and Indigeneity gave a presentation on the Staple Singers’ role in the Civil Rights Movement. Former Chicago Tribune music critic and biographer of Staples, Greg Kot, then interviewed the artist about her life, art, and activism.