Love Songs from the Liberation Wars is an original jazz opera based on the 2003 book, Civil Rights Unionism: Tobacco Workers and the Struggle for Democracy in the Mid-Twentieth Century South by former HLP director, Bob Korstad. We’re excited to share a special showcase performance taking place at the McChesney Scott Dunn Auditorium at the NCMA Winston-Salem.
Composed by D.C.-area singer/songwriter Steve Jones and directed by labor activist and cultural worker Elise Bryant, Love Songs from the Liberation Wars tells the story of a labor and civil rights struggle led by African American workers at Winston-Salem’s R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, one of the largest factories in the South. The first showing of Love Songs took place in Washington D.C. in 2017. Now, with a new, local cast, the original production team is bringing the show home to the community where this pivotal event in North Carolina labor history took place.
This one-night-only performance begins at 7 PM on June 28, 2025. Tickets are $25, and donations can be made to support the development of a full production for a wider audience. More information and a video clip of the performance are also available.
Bob Korstad is Emeritus Professor of Public Policy and History at Duke University and was a long time Hart faculty member as well as the director of the Hart Leadership Program from 1995 to 2001. His tenure marked the launch of the Hart Fellowship’s precursor, the Program in Global Leadership and Service, the establishment of Bruce Payne’s Leadership and the Arts in New York (LANY) and the merger of the Refugee Action Project and Summer Opportunities in Leadership into the Service Opportunities in Leadership (SOL).