The White House is getting ready to host a civil rights music review on February 10, 2010.

President and Mrs. Obama have invited Natalie Cole, Bob Dylan, Jennifer Hudson, John Legend, John Mellencamp, Smokey Robinson, Seal, the Blind Boys of Alabama, and the Howard University Choir to perform music from the movement.

A PBS television broadcast on February 11th, as well as a one hour NPR radio special on selected stations during Black History Month will feature the concert.

One of the best classic soul compilations of civil rights era music is Black Power: Music of A Revolution.

This 2 CD set was released on the Shout label in 2004.

It has one of the best collections I've seen of both message music and liberation prose from the golden age of R&B.

Here are the tracks on Disc 1 & 2:

1. "The Black Panther Party" - Huey Newton
2. "You're The Man pts. 1 & 2" - Marvin Gaye
3. "Let's Clean Up The Ghetto" - Philadelphia Int'l All Stars
4. "Change It" - Kathleen Cleaver
5. "Song To The System" - Segments of Time
6. "Right On" - Sons of Slum
7. "Tell It Like It Is" - S.O.U.L.
8. "Mighty Mighty" - Earth Wind & Fire
9. "Compared To What" - Les McCann & Eddie Harris
10. "I Don't Know What This World Is Coming To" - Soul Children
11. "Power to the People" - Huey Newton
12. "Give More Power To The People" - Chi-Lites
13. "Give The People What They Want" - O'Jays
14. "We Want Black Power" - Stokely Carmichael
15. "Say It Loud - I'm Black and I'm Proud" - James Brown
16. "Blackenized" - Hank Ballard
17. "So Much Strength" - Stokely Carmichael
18. "Fight The Power (pt. 1)" - Isley Brothers
19. "Stop Singing and Start Swinging" - Malcolm X

1. "Standing & Fighting" - Malcolm X
2. "Message From a Black Man" - Temptations
3. "Part - E, S' - Watts Prophets
4. "Violence is as American as Cherry Pie" - H. Rap Brown
5. "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" - Gil Scott-Heron
6. "When The Revolution Comes" - The Last Poets
7. "Am I Black Enough For You?" - Billy Paul
8. "Black Unity" - Stokely Carmichael
9. "My People...Hold On" - Eddie Kendricks
10. "Be Thankful For What You Got" - William DeVaughn
11. "Chocolate City" - Parliament
12. "We're a Winner (live)" - Curtis Mayfield
13. "We Got More Soul" - Dyke & The Blazers
14. "I Am Somebody (part 2)" - Johnnie Taylor
15. "Express Yourself" - Watts 103rd St. Rhythm Band
16. "Respect Yourself" - Staple Singers
17. "To Be Young, Gifted and Black" - Nina Simone
18. "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing" - Kim Weston
19. "Ain't' No Stoppin' Us Now" - McFadden & Whitehead

The number of female artists represented is light, but still, this is a powerful music and spoken word reflection of the civil rights social movement.

Listen to 15 seconds of activist H. Rap Brown's "Violence is as American as Cherry Pie."

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