Black people have used music and singing to tell the story of hope amid pain, promise amid peril, and immovable faith amid adversity. This playlist celebrates the uniqueness of Black thought and spirituality through the years.

Our picture of the past is often incomplete: though long on the frontlines in the fight for racial justice, women’s stories have often been left out of history. Here are nine conversations with women to enrich our understanding.

Hear a rarely-heard live performance by Mahalia Jackson’s broadcast from the Morrison Hotel in 1975 courtesy of the Studs Terkel Radio Archive.

Mahalia Jackson is undoubtedly one of the most influential singers of the 20th century. Learn about how musicians and music historians are changing the conversation about the “Queen of Gospel.”