Role of Music in American Civil Rights Movement

Running head: ROLE OF MUSIC IN CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENTS
Role of Music in American Civil rights movement
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1ROLE OF MUSIC IN CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT
Introduction
Music played a significant role during the time of Civil Right Movement in America.
Many African Americans witnessed really hard times during the Civil rights Movement as they
were discriminated (Morris 1986). The movement followed non-violent way of protest. Thus
most of the protesters did not opt for weapons rather they choose the power of the music as the
voice of the protest. Music encouraged the people to fight for their democracy creating a ray of
hope for the African American who were struggling during then for justice (Feldstein 2005).
Common people along with musicians came forward to strengthen the protest. Eminent
musicians as well as activists contributed to the movement by writing songs which would reflect
the events of the Civil Right Movement in America. The joining of the musicians in the
movement unified the people during the movement in order to keep their morale high. The
musicians not only joined the movement but gave a shape to it. Among all the genres, Jazz was
the most popular music during the time of movement (Waksman 1998). Many African and
American performed jazz music after hours conveying the message of unity. Other genres like
hymn also had a significant impact on the movement. A renowned activist states music as the
‘soul of the movement’. He further stated that the role played by music in their struggle is indeed
vital and of great importance.
Significance
The musicians could realize that the music could be an important tool, which would
further strengthen the movement (Morris 1986).. Musicians joined in the rallies and other protest
movements to encourage citizens to join in the movement. Some musicians wrote songs with

2ROLE OF MUSIC IN CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT
strong lyrics while others came forward in the protest events (Gendron 1986). Along with the
musicians, the activists also turned to music during the rallies and even the protest events in jail.
The active participation of the musicians had elevated the movement to new dimension. As
evident in the history, the people were highly motivated and encouraged by the music to join the
protest events (Morris 1986)..
The songs were dedicated to the injustice of slavery and racism, which remained in the
memory of the citizens for a long. Their love for the music and the culture revealed that the
African American will remain unified and it deserves mention that even when the chances of
getting caught was so high, they continued to stay united through music (Morris 1986).
Throughout the whole civil right movement, a genre of music called ‘freedom songs’ became
popular enough. As the freedom songs served as the medium of unity or togetherness between
the white and black during the Civil Right Movement, the freedom songs also were used for the
political purpose in order to gain the national attention (Reed 2005).
During protests, marches, demonstrations, rallies, the songs were sung in order to create
awareness among the nationals against the brutality and harassment. It will be very apt to assert
that the freedom songs encouraged the nationals with the psychological strength to become
united (Reed 2005). Most of the popular song during the time emerged as freedom songs
providing the purpose to the movement. One example can be stated with the famous song ‘Times
Are a Changing’. The song was written by Bob Dylan exclusively for the Civil Right Movement
(Eyerman 2002).
The Civil Right Movement is one the social justice movement that holds greatest
importance in history. History reveals that music has been playing a crucial role whenever there

3ROLE OF MUSIC IN CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT
is a social as well as political crisis occurred (Eyerman 2002). Thus the Civil Right Protest is no
exception. Countless marches, protests and rallies associated with music were nothing but served
for the national interest. The primary aim of the civil right movement was to put end to racism
thus spreading peace (Urbain 2015). The joining of the musicians in the movement unified the
people during the movement in order to keep their morale high. The musicians not only joined
the movement but gave a shape to it. Among all the genres, Jazz was the most popular music
during the time of movement. Many African and American performed jazz music after hours
conveying the message of unity. Other genres like hymn also had a significant impact on the
movement (Eyerman 2002). A renowned activist states music as the ‘soul of the movement’. He
further stated that the role played by music in their struggle is indeed vital and of great
importance. The motto of the movement was to developing the federal law in order to ensure that
every national of the country is treated fairly and justly regardless of race (Urbain 2015).
Thus during the initial stage of the movement, music was solely dominated by the
Spirituals songs of Africa and the Christian hymns. However, genres like folk, soul concepts and
gospel were included in the new genre of music which was named as freedom songs (Chong
2014). Till then music served as the driving force to remain psychologically close. However, it
expanded and served as the support which was financial. The many eminent musicians arranged
concerts to promote importance of Civil Right Movement and the establishment of federal law.
The moony collected during the shows were perfectly utilized for the noble cause of national
interest (Urbain 2015).