The following article appears in the Dec. '97 - Feb. '98 issue of FolkNotes.

Libba Cotton Conservancy: Preserving a Legacy

By George Koch

"God made us all. He made every one of us. He made us the way whatever he wanted us. But we're supposed to love one another and help one another. You're supposed to help people." With these words, the noted African-American folk-singer and song-writer, Elizabeth ("Libba") Cotten, addressed a crowd assembled to dedicate the "Libba Cotten Grove," a "pocket park" in Syracuse dedicated in her honor in 1983. Named a living treasure by both the City of Syracuse and the Smithsonian Institution, Libba would go on to win a Grammy the following year (and a posthumous Sammy in 1996). A Syracuse resident for the last ten years of her life, Libba's house was a gathering place for the likes of Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead, Joan Baez, the Seeger family and other names on the folk circuit. She passed away June 29, 1987, in Syracuse.

A self-taught musician and musicologist, Libba learned to play the guitar her own way - upside down and backward. Her three-fingered left-handed style where the thumb plays melody and the fingers play harmony was unique, as well as the style of music she played. Mike Seeger remembers that "Libba had a beautiful touch on the guitar; (her music was) a cross between parlor music and blues and brought out the best in both."

A song-writer from her earliest days, she wrote such folk standards as "Freight Train" (written when she was 11), "Shake Sugaree" and "O, Babe, It Ain't No Lie" and transcribed other music for the guitar. Her music was played by the likes of John Lennon, The Grateful Dead (who saw that she got royalties), Peter Paul & Mary, Taj Mahal, Joan Baez, Sweet Honey in the Rock, and Mike and Peggy Seeger.

She was most connected with the Charles and Ruth Crawford Seeger family who "rescued" her from obscurity when they hired her to be a housekeeper and discovered that she was a musician and performer in her own right. It was the Seeger family who first called her Libba and it was Mike Seeger who got her to perform on the folk circuit at the age of 67.

Her performances were as much a celebration of her audiences as it was of her music. She created an intimate venue allowing the audience to glimpse who she really was. "I just love to sing, "she said shortly before her death. "I love to get up before people and let 'em hear what I can do. It does me good to play my guitar. I love to entertain people, to sing to 'em, talk, tell little things about me, what all I used to do. That was my pleasure to do that."

In 1995 the Libba Cotten Conservancy was formed to honor the life and cultural achievements of Elizabeth Cotten "by, but not limited to, providing opportunities for education and promoting the arts and values of Elizabeth 'Libba' Cotten through multi-generational and multi-cultural events, at the Libba Cotten Grove and other sites."

Promoting the arts and values of Libba Cotten through multi-generational and multi-cultural events has been the main focus of the Conservancy, as well as stabilization of the Libba Cotten Grove on the corner of Castle and State Streets, Syracuse. Since its formation in 1995, the conservancy has 1) held semi-annual "clean-up, green-up days" at the Grove, 2) educated local school children regarding the life and legacy of Libba Cotten, 3) worked with the City of Syracuse for envisioning revitalized landscaping and better use of the Libba Cotten Grove, 4) worked with the Erie Canal Museum to enlarge the Libba Cotten exhibit at the museum, 5) begun work on a "folk" museum here in Syracuse and a non-profit coffee house on the Syracuse University campus.

The Libba Cotten Conservancy is a 501 (c) 3 not-for-profit organization made up of people from Syracuse University, Martin Luther King Magnet School and individuals and organizations located near the Libba Cotten Grove. Further information can be obtained from George Koch: 443-2439 (o); 476-5811(h); or e-mail at lutheran@summon.syr.edu.

This page maintained by Dana Cooke. E-mail me at djcooke@aiusa.com.