{{Infobox person | name = Bev Grant | image = BevGrant.jpg | alt = photograph of Bev Grant singing and playing the guitar | caption = Bev Grant at a Poor People's Campaign music event at Interference Archive in 2019 | birth_place = Portland, OR | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=yes|1942|3|22}} | occupation = Musician, activist, photographer, and filmmaker }}
'''Bev Grant''' (born 22 March 1942) is an American musician, photographer, filmmaker, and activist based in New York City.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|url=https://frieze.com/article/womens-march-1968-bev-grant-and-art-protest|title=Women's March 1968: Bev Grant and the Art of Protest|last=Winant|first=Carmen|date=1 Nov 2018|journal=Frieze|issue=199 |language=en|access-date=2019-03-07}}</ref>
== Personal life == Grant grew up in Portland, Oregon, and moved to New York with her husband in the 1960s.<ref name=":7">{{Cite web|url=http://democracyuprising.com/2018/09/07/no-more-miss-america-a-collective-memory-of-liberatory-action/|title=No More Miss America: A Collective Memory of Liberatory Action {{!}} Democracy Uprising|date=7 September 2018 |language=en-US|access-date=2019-03-07}}</ref><ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newyorker.com/culture/photo-booth/a-photographers-life-changing-encounter-with-political-struggle|title=The Miss America Protests, Fifty Years Later, and a Photographer's Life-Changing Encounter with Political Struggle|last=Fry|first=Naomi|date=2018-09-28|access-date=2019-03-07|language=en|issn=0028-792X}}</ref> She later separated from her husband, was radicalized through the Anti-War Movement, and became involved in the Women's Movement as an activist, musician, and photographer.<ref name=":1" />
== Music == During her childhood in Portland, Grant sang and performed with her two older sisters. After moving to New York City in the 1960s, Grant began performing and writing music in social movements, composing her first parody song for the 1968 Miss America protests in Atlantic City.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|url=https://folkways.si.edu/magazine-summer-fall-2014-bev-grant-my-story/article/smithsonian|title=Bev Grant: My Story {{!}} Smithsonian Folkways Magazine|website=Smithsonian Folkways Recordings|language=en-US|access-date=2019-03-07}}</ref> She was involved throughout the 1970s and 1980s with the band Human Condition, which she helped create in 1972.<ref name=":2" /> They performed folk, rock, and world music and played a key role in New York City's underground music scene.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|url=https://womensworkmusic.com/performers/bev-grant/|title=Bev Grant / Womens Work|last=Hastey|first=Robin|date=2018-03-07|language=en-US|access-date=2019-03-07}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite web|url=https://singout.org/2017/07/20/bev-grant-gets-personal/|title=Folk Music Notebook {{!}} Bev Grant Gets Personal|date=2017-07-20|website=Sing Out!|language=en-US|access-date=2019-03-07}}</ref> Their first album, ''The Working People Gonna Rise!'', was recorded in 1974 with Barbara Dane at Paredon Records.<ref name=":2" /> Much of Grant's music writing has focused on the lives and labor conditions of the working poor.<ref name=":2" /><ref>Haberman, Clyde (Sept 2, 2000). "NYC: [https://www.nytimes.com/2000/09/02/nyregion/nyc-now-joe-hill-would-have-carpal-tunnel.html Now, Joe Hill Would Have Had Carpal Tunnel]." ''New York Times.''</ref>
In 1991, Grant joined the United Association of Labor Education Northeast Union Women’s Summer School as cultural director.<ref name=":2" /> She is founder and director of the Brooklyn Women's Chorus.<ref name=":3" /><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.brooklynwomenschorus.com/brooklyn-womens-chorus-cheeky-women-concert/|title=Brooklyn Women's Chorus "Cheeky Women" Concert|last=Grant|first=Bev|date=2013-03-28|website=Brooklyn Women's Chorus|language=en-US|access-date=2019-03-07}}</ref> From 2006 to 2008, Grant performed with other female musicians as part of a group called Bev Grant and the Dissident Daughters which included singers Angela Lockhart and Carolynn Murphy.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://zcomm.org/zmagazine/cheeky-woman-bev-grant-and-the-dissident-daughters-by-john-pietaro/|title=Cheeky Woman, Bev Grant & the Dissident Daughters|last=Pietaro|first=John|date=Oct 1, 2007|website=Z Magazine|access-date=March 12, 2019}}</ref> After that, she performed with Ina May Wool as WOOL&GRANT until 2015.<ref name=":2" /> She released the solo album, ''It's Personal'', in 2017''.''<ref name=":4" />
== Discography ==
* It's Personal (2017)<ref>{{Citation|title=♫ It's Personal - Bev Grant. Listen @cdbaby|url=https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/bevgrant3|access-date=2019-03-11}}</ref> * I Will Sing (2015), with Brooklyn Women's Chorus<ref>{{Citation|title=♫ I Will Sing - Brooklyn Women's Chorus. Listen @cdbaby|url=https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/brooklynwomenschorus|access-date=2019-03-11}}</ref> * Wool & Grant (2013), by Ina May Wool and Bev Grant as Wool & Grant<ref>{{Citation|title=♫ Wool & Grant - Wool & Grant. Listen @cdbaby|url=https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/woolgrant|access-date=2019-03-11}}</ref> * Singing Clear: Clean Earth, Air, Water 'Round Here (2012), Various Artists<ref>{{Citation|title=♫ Singing Clear: Clean Earth, Air, Water 'Round Here - Various Artists. Listen @cdbaby|url=https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/singingclearcleanearthai|access-date=2019-03-11}}</ref> * The Power of Song (2003), with Brooklyn Women's Chorus * We Were There! Songs of Women's Labor History (2002)<ref>{{Citation|title=♫ We Were There! Songs of Women's Labor History - Bev Grant. Listen @cdbaby|url=https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/bevgrant|access-date=2019-03-11|archive-date=2019-07-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190728213850/https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/bevgrant|url-status=dead}}</ref> * In Tune (1994)
== Photography == Much of Grant's alternative-press photography documents political organizing events Grant attended, and occasionally participated in, from approximately 1968 until 1972, after which point she focused more extensively on her music career.<ref name=":1" /> Included in her documentary photographs are images of the Black Panther Free Breakfast Program, the Jeannette Rankin Brigade March on Washington, the 1968 Filmore East Takeover, and of Fidel Castro speaking on the occasion of the 10th Anniversary of the Cuban Revolution. Some of her early photographs were published in underground newspapers and distributed through Liberation News Service;<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bevgrantphotography.com/about|title=About|website=Bev Grant Photography|language=en-US|access-date=2019-03-07}}</ref> many have been distributed by Getty Images<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/member-of-the-young-lords-party-member-offers-copies-of-the-news-photo/939586518|title=A member of the Young Lords Party member offers copies of the party's...|website=Getty Images|date=28 March 2018 |language=en-us|access-date=2019-03-07}}</ref> and were featured in a solo exhibition in 2018 at Osmos Gallery in New York City.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://kingstonhappenings.org/events/1960s-social-movement-photographs-by-bev-grant/|title=1960s Social Movement Photographs by BEV GRANT|last=Happenings|first=Kingston|website=Kingston NY Happenings|language=en-US|access-date=2019-03-07}}</ref><ref name=":5">{{Cite web|url=https://www.artforum.com/artguide/osmos-address-11559/1968-from-the-bev-grant-archive-160633|title=Bev Grant 1968 from the Bev Grant Archive|website=www.artforum.com|language=en-US|access-date=2019-03-07}}</ref>
Grant's photography depicts her own activism and her involvement with New York Radical Women.<ref name=":8">{{Cite web|url=https://www.thecut.com/2017/11/an-oral-history-of-feminist-group-new-york-radical-women.html|title=The Life and Death of a Radical Sisterhood|last=Press|first=Joy|date=2017-11-15|website=The Cut|language=en|access-date=2019-03-07}}</ref> Her documentation of the 1968 Miss America Protests was featured in her 2018 solo exhibition at Osmos; these photographs have become widely popular and are Grant's best known work.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://museemagazine.com/features/2018/10/19/womens-movement-anniversary-exhibits-50-year-old-photos|title=Women's Movement Anniversary Exhibits 50-Year-Old Photos|website=Musée Magazine|date=19 October 2018 |language=en-US|access-date=2019-03-07}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/fifty-years-ago-protestors-took-on-miss-america-pageant-electrified-feminist-movement-180967504/|title=Fifty Years Ago, Protesters Took on the Miss America Pageant and Electrified the Feminist Movement|last=Gay|first=Roxane|website=Smithsonian|language=en|access-date=2019-03-07}}</ref> Her press pass allowed her to take photographs inside the pageant itself, where protesters unfurled banners and released stink bombs.<ref name=":7" /><ref name=":0" /> Grant's photography was used in making the film ''She's Beautiful When She's Angry'',<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.shesbeautifulwhenshesangry.com/resources|title=Resources|website=She's Beautiful When She's Angry|language=en-US|access-date=2019-03-07}}</ref> released in 2015.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.thenation.com/article/shes-beautiful-when-shes-angry-reveals-radical-ordinary-women-1960s-feminism/|title='She's Beautiful When She's Angry' Reveals the Radical Ordinary Women of 1960s Feminism|last=McClain|first=Dani|date=2015-01-16|access-date=2019-03-07|language=en-US|issn=0027-8378}}</ref>
== Film == As a member of Newsreel, Grant caught several important events on film, including the 1968 Miss America pageant for the Newsreel film ''Up Against the Wall Ms. America''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.twn.org/catalog/pages/cpage.aspx?rec=900&card=price|title=Up Against the Wall Ms. America (Newsreel #22) Available from Third World Newsreel|website=www.twn.org|access-date=2019-03-07}}</ref> Her work as an activist and filmmaker gave her contacts within, and filming access to, groups including the Young Lords, the Black Panther Party, and the Poor People's Campaign.<ref name=":6">{{Cite web|url=https://womenwhatistobedone.files.wordpress.com/2018/09/2018-osmos-gallery-early-press-release-exhibit-1968-from-bev-grant-archives.pdf|title=1968 from the Bev Grant Archive|last1=Gingeras|first1=Alison|last2=Rabinowitz|first2=Cay-Sophie|date=September 2018|publisher=Osmos|format=Press Release}}</ref> She contributed the theme song to the 1971 film, ''Janie's Janie'', which is considered "an important early film of the women's movement."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.twn.org/catalog/pages/cpage.aspx?rec=1324&card=price|title=Janie's Janie (Newsreel) Available from Third World Newsreel|website=www.twn.org|access-date=2019-03-07}}</ref>
== Activism == As an activist, Grant attended her first anti-war demonstrations in New York City and was radicalized at a meeting of Students for a Democratic Society at Princeton in 1967.<ref name=":0" /> Grant was a member of New York Radical Women, and she participated in and photographed a wide range of related political events including the 1968 demonstrations against the Miss America pageant in Atlantic City and the October 31, 1968 hex on Wall Street by Florika Remetier, Peggy Dobbins, Susan Silverman, Judith Duffett, Ros Baxandall, and Cynthia Funk of W.I.T.C.H., the Women’s International Terrorist Conspiracy from Hell.<ref name=":6" />
Grant has articulated the important connection between the Civil Rights Movement and the Women's Movement she took part in, noting that many women's liberation organizers had participated in Civil Rights organizing and brought valuable skills and knowledge from that work.<ref name=":7" /> Her conceptualization of the way women's oppression as a result of larger oppressions led to her later activism as an anti-imperialist.<ref name=":7" />
== Awards and exhibitions ==
* 2006 Honorary BAXten Arts and Artists in Progress Award for work as director of Brooklyn Women's Chorus.<ref>"Bev Grant, director of the Brooklyn Women's Chorus, received an Honorary BAXten Arts and Artists in Progress Award on November 2." ''Sing Out!'', Spring 2007, p. 13. ''Academic OneFile''</ref><ref>"Brooklyn Arts Exchange." ''American Theatre'', Jan. 2007, p. 24. ''Academic OneFile''</ref> *2017 Joe Hill Award from the Labor Heritage Foundation in recognition of Grant's artistic work in support of labor organizing.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.laborheritage.org/art-exhibition/|title=The Joe Hill Award|date=2009-01-12|website=Labor Heritage Foundation|access-date=2019-03-07}}</ref> * 2017 ASCAP Jay Gorney songwriter award for the song "We Were There".<ref name=":8" /><ref name=":9">{{Cite web|url=http://www.ascapfoundation.org/news/2017/2017-ascap-foundation-jay-gorney-award|title=Veteran Social Activist Receives 2017 ASCAP Foundation Jay Gorney Award|website=www.ascapfoundation.org|language=en|access-date=2019-03-07}}{{Dead link|date=July 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> * Grant's song “Inez” is included in the Smithsonian/Folkways “Best of Broadside” collection.<ref name=":9" /> * ''1968 from the Bev Grant Archive'', Osmos Gallery 2018, was the first solo exhibition of Grant's documentary photographs.<ref name=":5" /><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Fry|first=Naomi|date=Fall 2018|title=Bev Grant|url=https://www.newyorker.com/goings-on-about-town/art/bev-grant|journal=New Yorker}}</ref>
== References ==
<references />
== External links ==
* [https://folkways.si.edu/the-human-condition-with-beverly-grant/working-people-gonna-rise/american-folk-struggle-protest/music/album/smithsonian Working People Going to Rise!] by The Human Condition available from Smithsonian/Folkways * [https://folkways.si.edu/what-now-people-vol-1/american-folk-struggle-protest/music/album/smithsonian What Now People vol 1] including "Inez" by The Human condition available from Smithsonian/Folkways * Photos including Getty Images available: https://www.bevgrantphotography.com/ * Selected videos available: http://www.bevgrant.com/videos/
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Grant, Bev}} Category:American women's rights activists Category:Feminism in New York City Category:American folk singers Category:American women photographers Category:1942 births Category:Living people Category:21st-century American women Category:American women human rights activists