Music often provides the soundtrack to our lives, but in "Soundtrack for a Revolution" (UNC-TV, 9 tonight), music was a sustaining force during the civil rights struggle.

Through interviews and archival footage, the 2009 documentary shows how the non-violent protesters used music -- most mined from slavery and the black church -- to say the things they couldn't say, get through the worse moments, and elevate their spirits during the imprisonments, violence and triumphs during the civil rights movement.

Some of the most pivotal songs are re-interpreted by modern acts ranging from North Carolina's Anthony Hamilton to legendary folk singer Richie Havens to Brit soul singer Joss Stone.

U.S. Rep. John Lewis, (D-GA) will speak at N.C. Central University next week as part of the university's Martin Luther King Convocation.

Lewis, a giant of the civil rights movement, will speak Thursday, Jan. 13 at 9:45 a.m. in the McDougald-McLendon Gymnasium.

The event is part of a weeklong observance of the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
While a student at Fisk University, Lewis organized sit-ins at segregated lunch counters in Nashville, Tenn. In 1961, he participated in the Freedom Rides, which challenged segregation at southern bus terminals.

In 1963, he became head of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, which helped shape student activism during the civil rights movement.

Later in life he got into politics, first with the Atlanta City Council and later in the U.S. House of Representatives, to which he was first elected in 1986.