How Did Bob Dylan Influence The Civil Rights Movement

The 1960’s were arguably the most influential years in American music’s history. The music helped connect people of all races, whom enjoyed visiting jazz-clubs in the early to mid-60s, to listen to the music and poetry performed by African-Americans. Much of the music from the 1960s also led to the creation and popularization of new genres and subgenres, such as rock-and-roll. These new music styles influenced the lifestyles of a large majority of Americans, particularly teenagers and young-adults, who mimicked the lifestyles of many stars of the time.

Motown Records was founded in 1959 by Berry Gordy who turned his music production company into history’s most successful black-owned record label company.

Popular folk artist gave their own opinions on war, racism civil rights, justice, and the “establishment” through their music (Holland107). The suggestion of rebellion interested the baby boom generation. Two of the top folk artists from the 1960s were Joan Baez and Bob Dylan. Joan Baez was referred to as a political singer/activist and she was known as the “Queen of Folk music” (Joan Baez). Bob Dylan created plenty of politically based songs that directly warned specific areas of politics, like congressmen and senators, who wanted to stop the civil rights and peace movements (Holland 107-108).

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

Many writers develop a certain theme they tend to gravitate towards in their work. Sometimes this development is intentional, and sometimes it is not intentional. Langston Hughes was a writer during the 1920’s, which was also during the Harlem Renaissance. Hughes was known as an advocate for the civil rights movement up until his death. Most of his involvement in civil rights came from his poetry, where he wrote about racial treatment and the affects it had on African Americans’ lives.

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.

At only 22, he was crowned the voice of a generation. His audiences became mesmerized with his expressive lyrics and soulful harmonica. He changed the way the world looks at songwriting and protest, and inspired countless future musicians from the moment he stepped up on the stage in his railroad hat, denim jacket, and harmonica brace. However, it is clear that there is so much more behind Bob Dylan than just a rough voice and a collection of poetic songs. As one man said about Dylan’s early days in Greenwich Village, “There’s a quality of determination and of will that some people have that when they’re doing something, they’re really doing it and you

Many people know of great, important people involved in the Civil Rights Movement, the movement to obtain equal freedom and opportunity for all people. Jackie Robinson, born in 1919, was a very influential person in the Civil Rights Movement. While playing baseball and advocating for the movement, he influenced many African Americans. By showing them what is possible, he led them to pursue their dreams and fight for what they believe in. The incredible talent shown on the field and the passion and ambition shown off of it helped push others to do what they wanted to do.

While he was a tremendous baseball player, Jackie Robinson was also an activist and a leader. When he sauntered onto the manicured grass of Ebbets Field on April 15, 1947, he paved the way for a myriad of prodigious African American baseball players and children alike. Away from the field, he used letters, as well as his congenial reputation, to influence politicians on Civil Rights issues. Jackie Robinson was a leader of the Civil Rights Movement because of his accomplishment in integrating Major League Baseball, along with the usage of his magnate status, to advance reform for African Americans.

Arguably one of the most powerful of Dylan’s social issue charged song is The Death of Emmet Till, a young black man who was unrightfully killed by the Ku Klux Klan. By 1963, Dylan and his on and off lover Joan Baez were both very well known in the civil rights movement. Baez and Dylan would sing together at rallies including the famous March on Washington. Dylan was on stage with Martin Luther King Jr. when his gave his infamous I Have a Dream speech. Though Dylan sang of American injustices, he was never incredibly interested in politics and he was ultimately frustrated by people defining him solely as a protest singer. Dylan’s frustrations with the unsought political branding are expressed in It Ain’t Me Babe, which “appears to be a song about rejected love, [it] was actually his rejection of the role his reputation and fans had thrown on him” (Carlson).

1. The Martin Luther King Center for Non-violence was very informative. There is a wonderful statue of Gandhi out front (one of MLK's role models). I was confused that the National Park movie showing inside was about Selma, which I already knew about having seen the Hollywood movie. Would have preferred something more about MLK's early life and Sweet Auburn. However, I was amazed by the wealth of information on Civil Rights movement, which in my opinion is a great achievement.

Bob Dylan and the Beatles, two of the biggest music phenomena from the 1960`s up till today, has despite different musical styles and different target audiences influenced each other in several ways throughout their careers. The Beatles was arguably the main influence that lead Dylan to go electric, as well as writing a tribute to John (and the Beatles) in one of his latest albums. Bob on the other hand, introduced the Beatles to try pot on their first meeting and inspired Lennon and the others to change their music style and write more introspective, political and acoustic music. …..With similar backgrounds both from industrial cites, Bob Dylan from Duluth, a seaport city in Minnesota and the Beatles from Liverpool and both growing up with the same

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).”

Duluth Minnesota, May 24th 1941 Robert Allen Zimmerman (Bob Dylan) was born. 69 Years and over 45 albums later Bob Dylan has completely altered the face of popular music since his debut as a fresh faced folk singer in 1962. His early career forged him into an informal chronicler and then he later developed into an apparently reluctant figurehead of social unrest [Gray, 2006] and became a voice for a generation. His songs have been covered by many artists in a wide span of genres and he has remained a prominent and highly influential figure in the history of popular music over the past five decades. [Gates, David, 1997]

The Civil Rights Movement played a very important role for African Americans in the Unites States. In the early 1960s The Civil Rights Movement was unified to end racial segregation and discrimination. African Americans still lived in an unequal world of disenfranchisement, segregation and injustice, like race inspired violence. many Americans united together across color lines to protest the racism and discrimination that existed in the United States. During the 1950s and the early 1960s, Martin Luther King, Jr. became an important leader of the Civil Rights Movement. He advocated non-violent protest. He believed that people of all races would look favorably on a movement that encouraged peace and equality and did not meet injustice with violence. King's peaceful message attracted thousands of supporters of all races who agreed that segregation and the lack of rights for African Americans could not continue. But some of the African Americans became frustrated and began to reject the calls for non-violent protests. They wanted changes to occur much more