[Verse 1] I grew up in the South where some stories weren’t told Where history got whitewashed and the hard truths weren’t exposed I never learned about those nine who walked through angry crowds My mama told me what happened when the textbooks left it out [Chorus] Freedom ain’t freedom if it don’t reach every hand It’s more than words on paper, more than what was planned From Galveston to Little Rock, the lesson still stands Freedom ain’t freedom if it don’t reach every hand Some stories took too long to tell, some truths took years to learn The echoes of the past still give us reasons for concern The promise of America is bigger than one man Freedom ain’t freedom if it don’t reach every hand [Verse 2] The older that I get, the more I understand Not everybody starts from the same place in this land Some folks got their freedom late, some still fight to be heard And history keeps echoing long after the final word [Chorus] Freedom ain’t freedom if it don’t reach every hand It’s more than words on paper, more than what was planned From Galveston to Little Rock, the lesson still stands Freedom ain’t freedom if it don’t reach every hand Some stories took too long to tell, some truths took years to learn The echoes of the past still give us reasons for concern The promise of America is bigger than one man Freedom ain’t freedom if it don’t reach every hand [Bridge] My mama taught me some truths that never made the page Some lessons aren’t found in classrooms, they get passed from age to age The more I learn our history, the more I understand Freedom ain’t something given, it’s something we demand [Final Chorus] Freedom ain’t freedom if it don’t reach every hand It’s more than words on paper, more than what was planned From Galveston to Little Rock, the lesson still stands Freedom ain’t freedom if it don’t reach every hand Some stories took too long to tell, some truths took years to learn The echoes of the past still give us reasons for concern The promise of America is bigger than one man Freedom ain’t freedom if it don’t reach every hand Yeah, freedom ain’t freedom if it don’t reach every hand
