Endangered Species

In Thursday's class we will listen to and discuss Dianne Reeves' song "Endangered Species" from her 1993 album Art & Survival. I usually have my homegirl RW visit the class to present as she is an ethnomusicologist. Unfortunately, her schedule didn't allow for her to visit us.

Dianne Reeves is one of the youngest female jazz vocalist to win grammy's. She did the score for the film Goodnight and Goodluck for which her last grammy was won.

Her album Art & Survival is not listed on her website, and it is the only one of her albums that has not been reissued. This album had lots of African influence after her trip throughout the continent. Her song "Endangered Species" brings to light a lot of issues that women of Color encounter, historically and currently.

If you are unfamiliar with the song, here are the lyrics:

I am an endangered species
But I sing no victim's song
I am a woman I am an artist
And I know where my voice belongs

I am a woman I exist
I shake my fist but not my hips
My skin is dark my body is strong
I sign of rebirth no victim's song

I am an endangered species
But I sing no victim's song
I am a woman I am an artist
And I know where my voice belongs

They cut out my sex they bind my feet
Silence my reflex no tongue to speak
I work in the fields I work in the store
I type up the deals and I mop the floors
I am an endangered species
But I sing no victim's song
I am a woman I am an artist
And I know where my voice belongs

My body is fertile I bring life about
Drugs, famine, and war, take them back out
My husband can beat me his right they say
And rape isn't rape you say I like it that way

I am an endangered species
But I sing no victim's song
I am a woman I am an artist
And I know where my voice belongs
I know where my soul belongs
I know where I belong

Here is the song:


I use this to discuss how women's voices are literally and figuratively silenced.