In
1956, when she was 15 years old, two important events happened in Joan Baez's
life that would change it forever - she heard Martin Luther King speaking about
civil rights and nonviolence and she bought her first guitar. Ever since then,
she's been using music to speak out for a better world. In the 1960s, Joan Baez
emerged as one of the leaders in the folk music scene, and she used her music
and popularity to help promote her passion for change. She performed many benefit
concerts for peace and civil rights organizations as well as engaging in nonviolent
activities for these causes. She performed "We Shall Overcome" at so many concerts,
protests and marches that it has come to symbolize the era. In the 1970s she began
campaigning for human rights and peace around the world. In 1979 she co-founded
Humanitas, the International Human Rights Committee, which she headed throughout
the 1980s and early 1990s. Joan Baez continues to be involved in many organizations
active in humanitarian causes.
