Joan Baez: the voice that kindled a thousand protests: Joan Baez's remarkable soprano voice, pure as silver and soft as velvet, has thrilled music lovers since the 1959 Newport Folk Festival. More than just a blast from the past, her music continues to move and inspire - Leader Of The Past

Latino Leaders: The National Magazine of the Successful American Latino, Feb-March, 2003 by Charles Dews

Her first three albums went gold and stayed at the top of the charts for almost two years. Anyone who came of age in the sixties and wasn't mightily affected by the style and message of these three albums simply wasn't listening. The first time I heard Baez's remarkable voice, however, wasn't on an album. It was in a tiny, "dark, and slightly spooky coffee house in, of all places, Oklahoma City. It must have been 1963, for that was the year my own life of activism began, and Joan Baez was, in large part, my inspiration.

Her sublime version of the traditional "Kumbaya" stirred hearts. "What Have They Done to the Rain" gave clear reasons for opposing foolish armed overseas adventures. Her rendition of "We Shall Overcome" became the anthem of a movement that abhorred violence and supported equal rights for everyone. Baez sang to support Mexican farmworkers, people whose language had not previously been understood or taken into account in the corridors of power in the United States.

Baez's ballads told us the stories of our collective past. They made us remember and think. Her songs became the expression of the conscience of an era. Our values sprang from her songs; they informed us and inspired us, just as her life has continued to inform and inspire people to dais day.

And what a life it has been. Joan Baez, daughter of a Mexican physicist and Anglo mother, became deeply involved in the civil rights movement in 1962, when she conducted a musical tour of Southern colleges and universities, and insisted upon a strict no-discrimination policy for audiences. Time magazine featured her on its cover on November 23, 1962.

In 1964 Baez performed for President Lyndon Johnson in Washington, DC, and asked him to withdraw US troops from Vietnam.

In March of 1965 she participated in the great civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, along with Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., and thousands of other brave US Americans.

In December of 1966 she performed at a benefit for striking farm workers in California and took part in a Christmas vigil at San Quentin Penitentiary to rage the commutation of death sentences for 64 prisoners.

In 1976 Baez traveled to Northern Ireland and marched with the Irish Peace People, calling for an end to the violence plaguing that country. The list could continue up to the very day you read this article.

Joan Baez is a Latina with universal appeal and importance. She has remained true to her values during a long and brilliant career that has not been without its troubles and frustrations. Baez is an example to all freedom and justice loving people around the planet. She is a true US American hero, and a citizen of the world.