As a little girl in North Carolina in the 1930s, Nina Simone dreamed of becoming a famous classical piano player.

She'd close her eyes as her hands tensed across the ivory keys, picturing herself on stage at Carnegie Hall in New York City.

Then, one evening in 1964, she opened her eyes, and she was on stage at Carnegie Hall.

For real this time! After playing her last piece of the evening,

everyone in the audience jumped to their feet, applauding and cheering for her outstanding performance.

The mostly white faces looked at her with approval and admiration.

Since the days of her first piano lessons, she'd release records and had hit songs.

She was a star.

This wasn't even her first time playing Carnegie Hall.

But Nina's dreams had shifted. Rather than focusing just on herself,

she dreamed of making a difference in the world and for the black community. On stage that night,

Nina's mind was on equality and the fight for civil rights. She wasn't out on the streets marching, not right then, but she was in front of a microphone.

Nina had a brand new song, one she'd never played in public before.

The song was a call to action, a civil rights anthem.

Was the audience ready for it?

Whether they were or not, neither began to play.

Then she leaned into the microphone and started to sing.

I'm DJ Switchg, and this is Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls, a fairy tale podcast about the real-life rebel women who inspire us.

On this episode, Nina Simone, the singer who changed music forever with her unique, bold voice and even bolder stands against injustice.

At six years old, everyone called Nina Simone by her birth name, Eunice Kathleen Weyman.

Sitting before the piano at her family's church, little Eunice swung her legs back and forth as she played.

She'd been playing piano for three years already, but was still too short to reach the petals.

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