Jane Sapp is a nationally admired cultural worker, musician, educator, folklorist, and activist whose approach to social transformation is rooted in the African American musical, cultural, spiritual and human rights traditions. Through her singing, documenting local culture and stories, song-writing workshops, and other expressive work with diverse communities and youth, Jane actively engages people in creative cultural processes that help them understand and see not only the challenges faced by their communities, but their assets as well.

Over the past five decades, Jane has been one of the central leaders in the practice of cultural work and grassroots education, emphasizing the critical role of arts and culture in struggles for social justice – in Southern communities such as Birmingham, Selma, and Greene County, Alabama; Little Rock, Arkansas; New Orleans, Mississippi, and throughout the Northeast; as well as in organizing centers such as the Highlander Research and Education Center, Penn Community Center, and the Southern Partners Fund. Jane now needs time to reflect on her life’s work and to make her knowledge accessible to communities around the world and to future generations. She is creating an archive to preserve some of her learning and the wisdom of her activism. She has also been approached by communities seeking her mentorship and people who want to learn from her in person, directly.

The Jane Sapp Legacy Project: Preserving, Animating and Extending the Legacy of Jane Wilburn Sapp is envisioned as a 3-year initiative, undertaken from July 2022 through June 2025, with fiscal sponsorship from The Highlander Research and Education Center. It is a multi-part effort to honor, extend, and codify Jane’s eldership--enabling some of her work to be archived, some to be experienced with communities of current activists, and some to amplify the expression of her music both current and past.

In Jane’s possession is a wealth of material documenting her own cultural work practice and her organizing in the American South in the years after the Civil Rights Movement. When properly organized and archived, these papers, photographs, videos, flyers, etc., will become a rich resource for artists and cultural workers, students and researchers, educators and activists.

Through residencies, workshops, class presentations and performances, Jane has been cultivating a relationship with Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts over the past twenty-five years. Her book Let’s Make a Better World: Stories and Songs of Jane Sapp was published by Brandeis University Press. As an outgrowth of this longstanding relationship, she is now working with the Brandeis library to arrange for an archive of her works. Legal aspects of this arrangement have been finalized, and the university has already begun to receive materials.

With assistance, Jane is gathering, sorting and contextualizing papers, flyers, letters, photographs, audiotapes and videotapes, and locating materials in the collections of universities, community centers, and libraries where she has worked over the last several decades. The collection will be contextualized in terms of the emergence of Jane’s approach to cultural work and social transformation; the creation of Southern Partners Fund and its role in affirming and strengthening resilience in communities in the US south; the empowerment of young people; and the national and international scope of Jane’s work. A video will be produced to introduce users to the collection.

Through workshops, residencies, institutes, recorded conversations and consultancies, Jane is working with young people and adults. Through these activities, she will educate a new generation of cultural workers and organizers, revitalize past cultural work, and importantly, also enable a younger generation of activists and community workers to connect with, learn from, and be inspired by Jane’s work and music. Activities are already underway with the People’s Music Network and the Encampment for Citizenship. Future possibilities include work with communities in Selma, AL; Little Rock, AR; Atlanta, GA; Springfield, MA, and more.

Jane is at work on a song cycle, a collection of six to eight new songs that have both social and personal meanings, and speak to the current moment. It will feature current works that honor her own ancestors and her relationships with her late husband, Hubert, her grandmother, and her granddaughter. Jane already has completed arranging and performing several new works. These and more new works will be produced in a studio with additional voices and instruments, culminating in the distribution of a digital version of the entire song cycle.

Michael Carter, elementary school principal, Oklahoma City, OK. carter.m413@gmail.com

Cynthia Cohen, director, Program in Peacebuilding and the Arts, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA. cecohen@brandeis.edu

Catherine Hoffman, organizer and peace activist, Cambridge, MA. catherinebhoffman@gmail.com

Rose Johnson, Southern Partners Fund, Gainesville, GA. newtown193@gmail.com

JoAnne Silver Jones, anti-racist educator and facilitator, Santa Cruz, CA. joanne.jones1@comcast.net

Rev. Dr. Eric H.F. Law, founder and innovator, Kaleidoscope Institute for diverse and sustainable communities, Pasadena, CA. kscope@kscopeinstitute.org

Cynthia Johnson Oliver, lawyer, minister and writer, Arlington, VA. cjohnsonoliver@gmail.com

Amelie Ratliff, non-profit organizer and consultant, Boston, MA. amelie.ratliff@gmail.com

Robert Sapp, educator/administrator, Washington, D.C. robertsapp021@gmail.com

For more information, please contact Advisory Group member Amelie Ratliff at amelie.ratliff@gmail.com or 617-529-6894.

You may make a tax deductible donation to the Jane Sapp Legacy Project here.

Under development.