Music has always inspired people to think for themselves and find meanings within deep and confusing lyrics, giving them new perspective. Back during the times when the fight for civil rights was in full swing, music played an even bigger role. Some musicians used personal experience as inspiration for their work; it made their songs more relatable to the listeners and added a bit of personality to the music. The songs they wrote stimulated people to gather together and demand change. The bravery of the artists who spoke out against the way the country was headed allowed them to create these songs and get people together. One artist that was extremely influential in the time of crisis was Bob Dylan. He was born on May 24, 1941 as Robert Allen Zimmerman. When he began to perform in college, he adopted the stage name that he is known for today, Bob Dylan. He got his last name from the poet Dylan Thomas, who was one of his major motivations along with Hank Williams and Woody Guthrie. He wrote songs about real occurrences like his song, “Hurricane” which was about the renowned African American boxer Rubin Carter, who was wrongly accused of murder even though he was all the way across town at the time the murder took place. Throughout his musical career, he was awarded an abundance of awards for his lyrics and song writing that inspired and moved many struggling people all across the troubled country. Another artist who was tremendously influential during this era was Joan Baez. She produced folk music which happened to be very popular during this time period. She is also famous for popularizing the work of Bob Dylan. She was born on January 9, 1941 in Staten Island, New York. She became interested in the folk genre of music two yea... ... middle of paper ... ... soul, emotion, and a yearning for change. Their words and ideas were spread across the U.S. on their concert tours which helped make the movement bigger than it ever could have been without these musicians. Musical artists used their creativity and life experience to weave songs that sewed the African Americans together into one marvelous cloth of equality. Works Cited Demuynck, Julie. "English 102." : Soul Music of the 1960s Influence on Civil Rights-Julie Demuynck. N.p., 17 Mar. 2010. Web. 14 May 2014. "Joan Baez Biography." Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 14 May 2014. "James Brown." James Brown. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 May 2014. "Bob Dylan." Bob Dylan. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 May 2014. Ward, Brian. ""People Get Ready": Music and the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s." The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 May 2014.
In the 1950s rock-n-roll established its own marks in history. It spread throughout the decade in a thrilling, substantial, and even livid to those Americans trying to get rid of all sorts of conflicts and challenges that occurred during this time period. As exciting as this music was, the novel “All Shook Up” portrays how rock-n-roll brought many changes to the American culture and later to the sixties. It expresses many concerns such as race relations, moral decays, and communism, but in ways that are partially true.
Ward, Brian. "People Get Ready": Music and the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. n.d. 21 April 2014 .
...“Music in African American Culture.” Mediated Messages and African American Culture: Contemporary Issues. Ed. Venise Berry, Carmen L. Manning-Miller. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, 1996.
As the era of War and Depression was coming to a close, a new America was on the rise. Women began taking their place within the role of housewife while teenagers were careless with their actions. Since the Great Depression was over, the economy was booming and all the worries about money were gone. Race and segregation was still a problem and becoming more and more controversial. African Americans were fighting for desegregation, especially in schools such as in the Board v Brown case. While the new era brought on some social changes, many known changes came from one man known as “The King of Rock and Roll”: Elvis Presley. With Market potential on his mind, Sam Phillips of Sun Records was looking for an artist who appealed to both whites and blacks, found just what he was looking for in Elvis, a man with a white face and a black sound. Phillips managed to find an artist who appealed to the largest consumer base; white society. Presley’s music would go on to revolutionize future genres along with the people themselves. Elvis Presley did not only impact fashion, attitude, music and views on race during the 1950s, but also had a profound influence regarding these aspects that can still be seen in today’s society.
Rosenthal, David. Hard Bop: Jazz and Black Music, 1955-1965. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992.
Not known to many, the genre of rock music originated from gospel music sung on the slave plantations in early Mississippi. A common musical device used in rock music is known as “call and response”. This is where the singer sings the line and everyone else involved in the chorus repeats that line. This came from slaves working in the fields and singing songs to get through the day. Theses hymns are fondly referred to as “negro spirituals”. In Anne Moody’s novel, Coming of Age in Mississippi we revisit African Americans in Mississippi struggling not through slavery, but through the oppression of the Civil Rights Era. At the same plantation but in a different time, Jim crow has made life almost impossible for blacks to get by in the South. In a country were all men were created equal, laws were put in place to ensure that blacks could never achieve equality. Through Anne Moody’s work and through the work of musical artists Johnny Cash, and Nas, we will discover just how far we may or may not have come.
Protest songs during this time were more popular than in previous generations, and had a larger impact. Because protest music had messages that where drenched in political events like the Civil Rights movement they were so closely related that each had to a role in causing or propagating the other. Nonetheless, whether looking back at the 60’s, 90’s, or even now there is one thing for certain which is protest music can be a very effective tool for change. Protest songs that have such strong political message in which a massive amount of people can relate deeply too, caused huge bouts of protest such as the Vietnam War, racially segregation, police brutality, Ferguson, occupy wall street, and Black lives matter movement. As history as shown, human beings are greatly affected by messages they can relate to and experience daily, and therefore, when harnessed into a political song that reaches the masses great change is surly to come
The History of African-American Music." The African-American Experience. Woodbridge, CT: Primary Source Media, 1999. American Journey. Student Resources in Context.
Throughout our history, music has constantly been influenced by trends of its time, reflecting social, economic and political changes. On the other hand, music has defined the culture and social events or leading them to social revolution. For instance, guys like Bob Dylan and Stevie Wonder greatly contributed to social events. Such leaders and musical revolutionaries have existed throughout history.
The development of Rock ‘n’ Roll in the late 1940s and early 1950s by young African Americans coincided with a sensitive time in America. Civil rights movements were under way around the country as African Americans struggles to gain equal treatment and the same access to resources as their white neighbors. As courts began to vote in favor of integration, tensions between whites and blacks escalated. As the catchy rhythm of Rock ‘n’ Roll began to cross racial boundaries many whites began to feel threatened by the music, claiming its role in promoting integration. This became especially problematic as their youth became especially drawn to ...
Music has been an affective diversion for many years, an escape away from one’s everyday life. In the 1950’s, teenagers’ everyday lives were filled with an allowance of ‘fun’, given to them by their parents, who had grown up in a time of war, and wished to give their children the freedom that they didn’t receive. Rock and Roll music in this era represented a common ground for teenagers of all races, a sense of freedom, and an act of rebellion. This act of rebellion against the conventional lives their parents hoped for them to have created a feeling of indignation for the parents against their scapegoat for these actions: none other than rock and roll music.
...o grew up in the tight nit-pick culture of the 50s who were influenced by this new wave of music of rock ‘n’ roll. The gap between values of parents and their children grew. As teens became more rebellious, the civil rights movement came to play. It was the same teens and young adults that took this rebellion from rock and made it lead the civil rights movement into action, realizing that not all tradition is right.
As a very prestigious award, the Nobel Prize for Literature holds high expectations for their candidates. The candidacy of such a prize can only given “to those who… shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind” (Allén) and the winner must fit into the rule that “the person shall have produced… the most outstanding work” (Allén). Bob Dylan came from a very humble background, yet has managed to rise to the top with a “career that began in the early 1960s with songs that chronicled social issues like war and civil rights” (Biography.com). Bob Dylan received the Nobel Prize of Literature because his music peacefully protested against the violence of war with its lyrics that include poetic devices such as repetition, similes, paradox and
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
The evolution of popular music themes in the black freedom struggle parallel the evolution of the movement itself.