The music of Betty Reid Soskin


A new documentary tells the story of Betty Reid Soskin — the iconic 102-year-old park ranger, famous for being assigned to the Rosie the Riveter WWII Education Center in Richmond. The documentary tells the story about a different part of her life many of us may not know about — her time as a singer.

Reid’s family was a musical family, and she and her husband opened Reid’s Records on Sacramento Street in Berkeley in 1945. While her music wasn’t known for a long time, she has recently unearthed it for the documentary “Sign my Name to Freedom” directed by Bryan Gibel.

I talked to Soskin’s daughter, Di’ara Malik Kitty Reid, to tell me about the musical side of her mother.

Di’ara will be at KALW’s San Francisco popup space at 220 Montgomery tonight — we will be screening a special preview of the documentary “Sign My Name To Freedom,”followed by a discussion with her and director Bryan Gibel.


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