Nina Simone was supposed to be the first Black classical pianist at Carnegie Hall. Eunice Waymon trained at Juilliard, applied to the Curtis Institute, and was denied -- she believed, with good reason, it was because she was Black. That rejection cracked something open, and what came out was Nina Simone: a singer, a pianist, a force of nature who refused to stay in any box.

Mississippi Goddam was written in an hour after the Birmingham church bombing that killed four little girls in 1963. It wasn't a protest song. It was an indictment. 'Alabama's gotten me so upset.' She performed it to a white audience that clapped politely; she told them to stop. The civil rights movement had found its soundtrack.

She left America in the 1970s, exhausted. Lived in Liberia, Barbados, Switzerland, France. The songs -- Feeling Good, I Put a Spell on You, Sinnerman -- never stopped finding new audiences. Nina Simone didn't mellow. She just waited for the world to catch up. Mississippi Goddam was written in an hour. Still burns.

Nina Simone -- trained as a classical pianist. America said no. She burned the whole thing down instead. Mississippi Goddam was written in an hour after Birmingham. Still burns.