On July 7th, 1990 Curtis Mayfield didn't expect he'd be performing his very last show at Central Park SummerStage in New York City. He was meant to perform at Wingate Field in Brooklyn on August 13th, 1990 but before the show started, Mayfield was hit by lighting scaffold blown down by an overwhelming gust of wind. It left him paralyzed from the neck down at 48-years-old.

He was unable to play guitar after the accident, but he continued to compose music and sing, and recorded one more album before his death in 1999.

That leaves the SummerStage show his last, true live performance, which happened exactly 30 years ago today. Mayfield performed a 13-song setlist full of some of his biggest hits, opening with "Superfly" and performing songs from his years with The Impressions like "It's All Right" and "I'm So Proud."

Mayfield goes down in history as one of the most social and politically conscious musicians of the times. He was a civil rights activist, pushing for justice and equality until his death. His songs "Keep On Pushing," "People Get Ready" and "We're A Winner" were all used by Martin Luther King Jr. because of how much they inspired Black marchers.

Mayfield included his protest songs during his last show, like "Freddie's Dead," "People Get Ready," "We Got to Have Peace," and "To Be Invisible." This setlist alone tells the story of not only a phenomenal soul artist, but a civil rights hero.

Check out the setlist here:

In this current resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement, we can easily look to Mayfield's music and the way he pushed for equality, and apply it to our fight for social justice today.

Listen to Mayfield's last show in it's entirety right here:

For resources on BLM, check out this blog.