How Did Bob Dylan Impact The Civil Rights Movement

Dylan’s most famous protest song is “Blown’ in the Wind”. It became the anthem for the civil rights movement in America during the 1960s, and as result Dylan was viewed as the spiritual leader of the civil rights movement. “Blown’ in the Wind” became very popular among the American people because the lyrics of the song could be applied to any situation as the lyrics were all about humanity learning from its mistakes and a call for freedom. “Only a Pawn in Their Game” was Dylan’s most offensive protest song that he wrote, and it was first performed at a civil rights rally in Greenwood, Mississippi. This song was about a civil rights activist who was murdered by “just a poor dumb

Elvis Presley was one of the most influential rock and roll singers in the American history. Presley’s work revolutionized the music and brought about significant changes in the entertainment industry. He grew up in an environment where racial segregation between the whites and African Americans was highly pronounced. In fact, Presley schooled in Memphis where he graduated from a whites-only high school. However, he upheld the Black’s music and made it possible for their music to be accessed by the White American youths. Presley’s tracks broke past the racial barrier as many teenagers loved his amazing voice. Through his music, he confronted racism and challenged both social and moral values. Elvis Presley changed the manner in which the Black minority were treated in the U.S. through his music, and this initiated the fights against racial discrimination leading to the civil rights movement.

The Nobel Prize for Literature was not rewarded to the deserving writer. You have awarded Bob Dylan the Nobel Prize for Literature on October 13, 2016 degrading dedicated writers around the world. After dropping out of college in the 1960’s to pursue an occupation in which he was already well known as the times “most loved folk poet”, he turned to singing and writing rock-type songs with anti war messages. Whether he did “create new poetic expressions within the great American tradition” he has not proven himself worthy of such a significant award. Such a legendary award offered to many other brilliant writers, should be received by someone who can and will continue to change the world. This award could help out developing writers, developing countries, and should not be handed out single handedly.

The 1960’s was an era of revolution and social change in the United States. Painters, dancers, actors, musicians and many more artists all wanted to portray societies immoral issues through their art. Musicians played a very prominent role in providing society with an outlet on the importance of this change. Within these musicians was a folk rock singer and songwriter by the name of Robert Allen Zimmerman, or as America knows him, Bob Dylan. He is known and honored around the world for his influence on popular music and culture, however, he is much more than that (Wood 313). The beginning of Bob Dylan’s career as a singer and songwriter was marked by his repetitive emphasis on social change throughout his protest songs which include “A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall,” “Masters of War,” and “The Times They Are a-Changin’”; with each song, Dylan exposes many issues that affected, not one, but many lives as he aimed to spread social and political consciousness to society.

Nearly 100 years after the Emancipation Proclamation, African Americans in Southern states still lived in a unequal world of disenfranchisement, segregation and various forms of oppression, including race-inspired violence. This is when the Civil Rights Movement was introduced; an era dedicated to activism for equal rights and treatment of African Americans in the United States. During this period, people rallied for social, legal, political, and cultural changes to end discrimination and segregation. This era included endless amount of events involving discrimination to minorities. This movement occurred somewhere between 1955 and 1965 but the exact time span is debated.

The Nobel Prize for Literature is an outstanding prize that honors extraordinary people for their works in literature. It honors people that have changed literature. On October 13, 2016 you awarded Bob Dylan with the Nobel Prize in Literature. This marks him as the first musician ever to win this prize. Many people agree with your decision, while others are not delighted with this fact. I agree with the committee to honoring Bob Dylan with the Nobel Prize in literature “for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition.”

The civil rights movement was a monumental part of history and still has a large impact on society today. Martin Luther King Jnr took charge in leading the movement and achieved many things while he was leading it. The civil rights movement may not have even taken place without King and everting he put into the movement to make it happen. Malcolm X was another very influential leader that was taking charge to be a part of the movement, but had a very different approach.

It was no coincidence that rock ‘n’ roll and the civil rights movement started at the same time. The genre originated from African American music and was greatly discriminated against. Traditional white Americans would target anything bad about it. But as the teenager demographic of the 1950s started increasing the sales of the music, the genre started gaining more popularity. It was the style of Elvis Presley and his new voice that made girls weak in the knees and boys want to be him. Artists such as Presley had enough influence to change the view of their devoted fans on civil rights issues. Soon as protest songs and rock ‘n’ roll became more popular and influential, it began a gap between the young adult generation and their parents

     Langston Hughes and Bob Dylan are two poets from different eras in modern American poetry. Although Bob Dylan is more characterized as a songwriter, I see much of his work as poetry. In this essay, I will discuss Hughes’ poem “Harlem [1]” and Dylan’s “Times They Are A-Changin”’ as commentaries on are culture, but from different backgrounds.

The Civil Rights Movement was a very important event in the African-American’s push for equality. Many major events happened throughout the movement that involved violence, criticism, and racism towards the blacks. African-American’s were being treated extremely unfairly and unequal to white people, almost like they were not human. Many individuals had a huge impact on this movement such as Martin Luther King Jr., Jackie Robinson, and Emmit Till. The Civil Rights Movement was a very influential period in American history that impacted millions of lives.

Outside the black community, white artists such as Bob Dylan and Joan Baez played a prominent role in civil rights movement. They raised issue of civil inequality, while performing songs like: “The Times They Are a-Changin” and “We Shall Overcome” during the “March on Washington for Jobs and freedom”.

Bob Dylan was a part of civil right movements and protest of war. I would best describe his works against war as very blunt and upfront, he uses multiple techniques in order to get people back him up. Having been around for a long time and living through into today’s society the poetry movement of civil rights and anti war has been highlighted through many popular poems and songs. These pieces of literature have all followed and concentrated on common themes, especially criticising and protesting wars that in most situations shouldn’t have been fought as well as how lower class people have been treated .. Many of the poems seem to focus on the way society is in Australia is today and how the way the Aboriginals used to live has been

Eddie James “Son” House, Jr., an American blues singer and guitarist once stated, "People keep asking me where the blues started and all I can say is that when I was a boy we always was singing in the fields. Not real singing, you know, just hollerin', but we made up our songs about things that was happening to us at the time, and I think that's where the blues started (Cohn, 1993).”

“For having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition,” (“All Nobel Prizes in Literature”). Bob Dylan was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2016. Unprecedentedly, he became the first singer and songwriter who had ever earned the Nobel Prize in Literature in history. The plausible reasons that Bob was elected mainly reflect in the poetic lyrics Bob has in his songs and the enormous historical effects lyrics show. Bob Dylan, a rock singer, songwriter of folk and country music, was born Robert Allen Zimmerman on May 24, 1941, in Duluth, Minnesota. Later on, he started writing songs about chronicle social issues, such as wars and civil rights, in college. In 1961, Dylan signed his first recording contract and emerged as one

To understand the sixties counterculture, we must understand the important role of Bob Dylan. His lyrics fueled the rebellious youth in America. Songs such as “Blowin’ in the Wind” and “The Times are A-Changin” made him favorable to anti-war demonstrators and supporters of the Civil Rights movement. He was commonly hailed as the spokesman for his generation. Dylan used lyrics to allow the youth to find their own form of counter-culture. The youth generation began to see the effects racism, war, etc. effect the society in America. To combat this, the youth created their own form of counter-culture to promote a peaceful change within society. Some of their actions include forming anti-war protests that opposed America’s involvement in the Vietnam War, and supporting African Americans/women get the rights they deserve through the Civil Rights Movement. Bob Dylan’s music appealed to the young generation because he openly expresses his disapproval of the establishment in order to influenced his audience to move in a direction for change. Counterculture youth rejected cultural norms of the previous generation and their values and lifestyles opposed the mainstream culture present in the 1950’s. The folk music revival of the early 1960s, as well as the counter-culture movement played an important role in advocating change. Bob Dylan wrote songs that influenced the Civil Rights Movement, New Left Movement, and Anti-War Movement.