According to Kerran L. Sanger, “The success or failure of the civil rights movement depended on the drawing together of African Americans in support of the cause.” This meant that unity is key, and in order for African Americans to gain their rights through the civil rights movement, they needed to work together. One of the most important means of drawing activists who were already part of the movement together as well as recruiting more protesters was through freedom songs. Songs such as “We Shall Overcome,” “Keep Your Eyes one the Prize,” and “Oh Freedom” were important freedom songs that emphasized the importance of unity in order to reach freedom and equality. Freedom songs, during the civil rights movemen, were very important in uniting activists as well as motivating protestors to keep on pushing towards freedom and equality. Freedom songs are transformations of traditional and popular black music. Music of the civil rights movement was molded based on classic African American music brought to the new world by slave trade. The words and melodies of these traditional songs were altered to fit the circumstances of the time, and through this, songs for liberation were formed and activists were given the ability to tell their stories through music. Spiritual, gospel, and popular songs have been adapted into freedom songs in order to fit the circumstances of the times during the civil rights movement. Music was crucial to the movement. Although each song had its own impact and importance, “We Shall Overcome” stood out to be recognized as one of the most influential song of the civil rights movement. This song came to be known as the anthem of the civil rights movement according to numerous sources. The origins of freedom ... ... middle of paper ... ...erefore, without freedom songs, it would have been difficult for the protesters to win their battle for civil rights. Bibliography Appleton, Clyde R. "Singing in the Streets of Raleigh, 1963: Some Recollections." Foundation for Research in the Afro-American Creative Arts 3, no. 3 (1975): 243-52. Accessed January 21, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1214010 . Denisoff, Serge. "Protest Songs: Those on the Top Forty and Those of the Streets." American Quarterly 22, no. 4 (1970): 807-23. Accessed January 21, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2711871 . Reagon, Bernice Johnson. "Let the Church Sing 'Freedom.'" Black Music Research Journal 7 (1987): 105-18. Accessed January 21, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/779452 . Sanger, Kerran L. When the Spirit Says Sing!: The Role of Freedom Songs in the Civil Rights Movement. New York: Garland, 1995.
James Weldon Johnson, noted author, civil right activist, and composer, in his poem “Lift Every Voice and Sing” describes the hardships of African Americans in the 1900’s. Johnson’s purpose is to encourage African Americans so that they can make it through the hard times. He adopts a powerful tone in order to inspire his African American readers. James Weldon Johnson uses powerful diction and imagery in “Lift Every Voice and Sing” to show his audience how to face hardships with unity, hope, and perseverance.
“We Shall Overcome” was a popular song of comfort and strength during the civil rights movement; it was a rallying cry for many black people who had experienced the racial injustices of the south. The song instilled hope that one day they would “overcome” the overt and institutional racism preventing them from possessing the same rights as white citizens. Anne Moody describes several instances when this song helped uplift her through the low points of her life as a black woman growing up in Mississippi in the 1950s and early 1960s. By the end of her autobiography “Coming Of Age In Mississippi” (1968), she saw a stream of excessive and unending violence perpetrated by white people and the crippling effects of poverty on the black people of
The African-American civil rights movement was a cruel time for the African American race to endure due to the harsh discrimination and segregation that they faced. This movement fought for the rights and the equality of African Americans in the United States. With all that was going on, African Americans turned to music for motivation, courage, inspiration and strength to overcome the difficult obstacles that they would soon face. “Non-violence marchers faced beating, hosing, burning, shooting, or jail with no defense other than their courage and songs” (Hast 45). “It's been a long, a long time coming/ But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will” (Cooke, Sam. A Change Is Gonna Come). Music was their greatest hope for change in the near future and is the thing that kept them fighting for what they deserved. They came together with each other due to the lyrics of many different songs that kept the civil rights movement alive and known. Music painted a vision that they could picture and look forward to; it was a dream that they could fight for. “Music empowered African Americans to hold tight to their dream of racial equality” (Jeske). A genre of music that bought society together during this movement was folk.
When you think of a happy song, you typically don't think about freedom. When were on this topic happiness is getting any small taste of freedom. Many songs I used in as my sources sang about someone getting free, or rebelling just for a moment of freedom. In these songs they fill you in in all the emotions and thoughts. They give great, yet short descriptions that paint a big image in your
Weisbrot, Robert. Freedom Bound: A History Of America’s Civil Rights Movement. New York: Plume, 1991
The topic of Freedom can be seen throughout Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech. In the speech, Dr. King repeats the words “we will never be satisfied…” in other words, this means that he is fighting for freedom for all the African Americans’ and he also refers to the constitution that states all American citizens, including black men and women would be guaranteed all the rights to life. These statements Martin Luther King Jr. made led to all African Americans to have the same amount of rights as the Americans. Also, it’s the country’s promise to give all rights to every American including black men (his quote used
McPherson, James M. Battle Cry of Freedom: the Civil War Era. New York: Ballantine, 1988.
African-American music is a vibrant art form that describes the difficult lives of African American people. This can be proven by examining slave music, which shows its listeners how the slaves felt when they were working, and gives us insight into the problems of slavery; the blues, which expresses the significant connection with American history, discusses what the American spirit looks like and teaches a great deal from the stories it tells; and hip-hop, which started on the streets and includes topics such as misogyny, sex, and black-on-black violence to reveal the reactions to the circumstances faced by modern African Americans. First is about the effect of slave music on American history and African American music. The slave music’s
According to Albert Murray, the African-American musical tradition is “fundamentally stoical yet affirmative in spirit” (Star 3). Through the medium of the blues, African-Americans expressed a resilience of spirit which refused to be crippled by either poverty or racism. It is through music that the energies and dexterities of black American life are sounded and expressed (39). For the black culture in this country, the music of Basie or Ellington expressed a “wideawake, forward-tending” rhythm that one can not only dance to but live by (Star 39).
The pursuit of freedom, recognition, and protection under the Constitution has been a struggle for African Americans. Their journey has been filled with slavery, physical and psychological torture, and persecution. While most of their hardships were experienced in the South, the North was not considered a safe haven unless an African American was a documented free slave. Even then they were not considered equal for a long time. While black and white abolitionists and free slaves in America were advocating abolishing slavery, Southern whites were willing to defend slavery's existence until they were forced to abandon it. This force, rooted in ethnocentrism, power, racism, and the pursuit of wealth, was difficult to overcome, but ultimately it was defeated through education, civil war, conflicting economic interests, rebellions, and courage.
Contemporary, as well as older, Gospel music originated from the “Spirituals.” The spirituals, also known as the “Negro Spirituals or African-American folk songs,” were religious songs sung by the African Americans slaves in Southern America. The spirituals spawned from teachings of Christianity from slave owners, the church and even hymns. The songs were usually about love, hope, peace, oppression, freedom and even used as a secret code. The African American slaves would sing while working so much so that slave o...
My artist from the 1960’s was Bobby Darin, his Simple Song of Freedom lyrics can relate to the 1980’s Public Enemy Fight the Power song. They both send the message to others about Civil Rights and the importance of equality among all regardless of race, gender etc. The 1960’s generation was fighting the Vietnam War which most of the United States popular was against. The 1980’s generation was also fighting a war but it was geared toward corrupt Government Officials but most importantly being able to speak up for what you believe
Breckenridge, Stan L. (2003). "The 'Path African American music for everyone. Second Edition. Iowa: Kendall-Hunt Publications, Inc. Enotes.
Small, Christopher. Music of the Common Tongue: Survival and Celebration in African American Music. Hanover, NH: U of New England, 1998. Print
Powell, A. (2007). The Music of African Americans and its Impact on the American Culture in the 1960’s and the 1970’s. Miller African Centered Academy, 1. Retrieved from http://www.chatham.edu/pti/curriculum/units/2007/Powell.pdf