How Does Music Affect The Civil Rights Movement?

Four years later, Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white passenger. In response to Rosa’s arrest, the black community of Montgomery, Alabama established a boycott, which lasted for over a year.

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.

During this call to action, people had different ideas on how to respond to the events surrounding the bombing on 16th street Baptist church. The response ranged from marching, protests, and most importantly, music. During the Civil Rights movement, music allowed artists to express their dissent through a medium in which their message could reach a plethora of peoples. Music during this time was also akin to the music effect of “work songs” sang during slavery as well as songs such as “we shall overcome” which draws parallels to songs sang as slaves attempted to escape to the north. Music also helped those involved in the civil

Social movements are one of the primary means through which the public is able to collectively express their concerns about the rights and wellbeing of themselves and others. Under the proper conditions, social movements not only shed light on issues and open large scale public discourse, but they can also serve as a means of eliciting expedited societal change and progress. Due to their potential impact, studying the characteristics of both failed and successful social movements is important in order to ensure that issues between the public and the government are resolved to limit injustices and maintain societal progress.

All cultures following prehistory had a musical background, therefore everyone can connect more effectively with a music containing a message than a speech, therefore spreading the message more effectively. “The freedom songs are playing a strong and vital role in our struggle” (MLK). In the case of the Civil Rights Movement, it was the prominent method to give the group a voice, represent them, and highlight their determination for social change. When times were hard for the movement, they would also rely on songs to sustain morale:

In the article, McCalla lists 10 famous songs about civil rights movement and analyzed their contents. "Oh Freedom" is about the call for freedom in the Civil Rights movement. "We Shall Not Be Moved" presents the determination in Civil right movement of face with govenment. "Go Tell It On the Mountain" is as an analogy for Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights movement. "Time They Are A Changin by Bob Dylan captured the spirit and essence of the change and turmoil that surrounded the Civil Rights movement". "Lift Every Voice And Sing" and " Strange Fruit" talk about ugly essence of lynchings racism and the opposition to the Civil Rights movement. Moreover, "People Get Ready" is about the optimism and excitement of the Civil Rights movement

The Dred Scott decision, Plessy v. Ferguson and the Brown v. Board of Education all have made a huge impact on the civil rights movement. Many will argue that if these specific cases never evolved then we might not be where we are today as a country.

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

After graduation Halberstam did not opt for a job in one of the big markets, instead he was very interested in heading to the south and being in the middle of what he thought was the most important and critical story, which was the civil rights movement. Halberstam set up a job during his final year at Harvard to work for a progressive new paper in Jackson, Mississippi to cover civil rights stories. Unfortunately for Halberstam when he arrived the individual who offered the position had left the paper and they had not positions available. Halberstam scrambled and found a job for a very small paper in West Point, Mississippi, The Daily Times Leader. The paper was the smallest in Mississippi and a very conservative paper, which did not fit

Civil disobedience has had such a lasting and meaningful impact on the world through its prevalence in historical events. However, there are other influential leaders and historical events that made a lasting impact in the civil rights movement regardless of their use of tactics, whether if they used civil disobedience as their main tactic or another successful strategy to achieve their goal. One of these groups includes the revolutionary Black Panther Party. The Black Panther Party, although their tactics were found to be controversial at the time and even today, sparked a change in the American civil rights movement. Founded by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale in Oakland, California 1966, with the original purpose for self-defense in combat against white oppression, the group was well known to arrange

The American Civil Rights Movement is personified through several prominent personalities. These figures exhibited strong character throughout their careers in activism that revolutionized the ideals and opportunities of the 20th century, standing as precedents for courage and perseverance in the face of widespread systemic oppression. However, not all of these figures received the acknowledgment and acceptance that their legacy deserved. One such figure was Bayard Rustin, a lifelong Civil Rights activist in the African American and LGBTQ communities whose experiences exemplified the hardships faced by American minorities. His career was defined by perpetual conflict and confrontation as both sides of the Civil Rights Movement attempted to demonize and discredit him. Despite this obstacle, Bayard Rustin’s controversial decision-making and sheer tenacity made him an influential force in the ongoing fight for equality in the United States of America.

The Civil Rights movement is one of the most important acts to change the way not only African Americans were able to live their lives but all races and colors. It would slowly break down the social, economic, political, and racial barriers that were created by the The Age of Discovery and Transatlantic Slave trade. I believe without the Civil Rights acts our country would result to be no better than what it was when the Emancipation Proclamation just took effect. In the 1950s and long before, Southern folk, who were white had created a system that would interpret them as a superior race over blacks. The system would defend whites rights and privileges from being taken away from them while establishing terrible inhumane suffering for African Americans. In the South blacks were controlled in all aspects economic, political, and personal, this was called a “tripartite system of domination” - (Aldon D. Morris) (6) Though it isn’t as prevalent racism and discrimination towards other races that aren’t white is still found in America and can be in schools, the workplace, even when you are in the general public but you no longer see discriminating signs saying “Whites” or “Blacks” or Colored” along the front of bathroom, restaurants, and shopping malls doors. Nor do you see people being declined the right to buy a home based on their color or access to school and an equal education being declined because one didn’t meet racial requirements. The acts of violence towards

According to Langston Hughes “the mood of the blues is almost despondency but when they are sung, people laugh”. Jazz reduced racial tension between African Americans and Whites by uniting them with music that both sides liked, fueling the Civil Rights Movement, and giving African Americans more freedom. Jazz helped reduce racial tensions between African Americans and Whites by uniting them with music that both enjoyed. During the “Roaring Twenties”, Jazz was being played in segregated clubs in New York.

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).”

Freedom songs were a key element to the development of the Civil Rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s. During mass meetings, marches, and violent confrontations, music offered an outlet for people to express their emotions and a place to draw courage from. The ability of songs to draw together communities in order to build morale and support for the movement, while reaffirming the need for a nonviolent Movement in America during this period of time, profoundly contributed to the development of protest movements across the nation. However, though freedom songs appeared in many in styles during the 1960s, with songs such as “We Shall Overcome” and those associated with Black Power like “Mississippi Goddamn” appearing in the same period, the