The Song of Hiawatha

The Song of Hiawatha: The Life and High Times of the First Black Hippie is a feature-length documentary portrait of Hiawatha Bailey — political activist, musician, and legendary Detroit countercultural figure, frequently referred to as “the first Black hippie.” With rare archival images and new interviews, the film traces Bailey’s journey to Detroit in the 1950s, leading to his emergence in the radical, artistic, and musical underground of Detroit and Ann Arbor in the 1960s and 1970s. Featuring appearances by Hiawatha Bailey, Iggy Pop, Patti Smith, Wayne Kramer, John Sinclair, Cheetah Chrome, Leni Sinclair, Niagara Detroit, Pun Plamondon and many more. A fresh look at the intersections of counterculture, punk, and political history, this portrait of an American original features music by The MC5, The Rationals, Cult Heroes, Static, Pure Hell, and new scoring by Elan Portnoy of The Fuzztones.“Bailey gets to relive his fascinating history in this compelling documentary with a distinctively psychedelic sheen. — Steve Bloom, Rolling Stone