Sadie Woods’ It Was a Rebellion is a site-specific radio broadcast for the fiftieth anniversary of the Chicago “riots” following Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s assassination in April of 1968.

“A riot is the language of the unheard.” - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr

From the days of the Civil Rights Era to Ferguson to Baltimore to downtown Chicago in wake of Laquan McDonald, the public expression of Black rage that escalates into physical confrontation or property damage is often framed as mindless barbarism by authority and mainstream media with the word “riot.” In this sonic exploration, DJ and sound artist Sadie Woods recooperates and challenges our notion of the riot and reframes it as legitimate, even loving, insurgency or rebellion. This performance commemorates Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s assassination, but also his sanitized legacy, redeeming the radical impulses and invasions in the public space that are fundamentally expressions for hope and change. Mixing music from the Civil Rights Era, news reports, speeches, ephemera, and symbolic sounds, Woods takes us on a journey that reverberate with echoes of the unheard. -Reprinted from Radius.