Protest Music and the US Anti-Lynching and Civil Rights Movement

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Thesis
We Shall Overcome
Alabama
Conclusion
Works Cited

Introduction

A protest refers to an expression of objection; this may be portrayed through words or actions. A protest song has significant and cognitive content; a good protest song is so specific that it cannot be mistaken for anything else. A good protest song is capable of capturing the spirit of an activist movement.

Thesis

Though a song alone may not change the law or topple a government, it can create a significant role in affecting tangible change. Leaders and people in power realize the strength and impact of protest songs, though they may not openly admit it, they are aware that powerful protest songs can take root in people’s consciousness. In the 1950s and 1960s, the civil rights movement continually challenged the government to fulfill the promise of equality and justice.

In his book, T.V Reeds states that the most central behavior in the civil rights movement was music. For a long time, music had been used before in America to mobilize people in most social movements. Some of the movements include the anti-slavery and labor movements in the nineteenth and twentieth century respectively. The civil movements heightened level of singing; civil movements left a legacy of freedom songs that are nowadays sung all over the world. Protest songs were used everywhere by the movement; in jail, meetings, marches, and even on the picket lines. The songs were entrenched in the church and later in pop music mostly sang by African Americans. These songs formed a medium of communication among the movement members. Through the songs, they expressed the pain in the souls of its members resulting from centuries of resistance to oppression and slavery (Reed, p. 26).

T. V. Reed helps the reader understand protest and its cultural idiom. He accomplishes this by exploring the use of rock music, film, and video in the struggles against oppression, famine, and apartheid. Reed utilizes the idea of culture by looking at music, poetry, film, painting, murals, and fiction in civil movements; this is done by taking into consideration how the cultural texts caused by resistance and civil movements have restructured the American culture. Throughout his book, Reed portrays how activism and protest continues to remake the world today (Reed, 26).

Ella Baker, in her book, argued that there was a huge difference between organizing and mobilizing people. She taught that music had the capacity to both organize and mobilize.

A protest song can bring change and help improve the status of citizens in a country. This is evidence in Estonia where songs that were previously banned by the Soviet regime were recited by over one third of the country’s populace. These songs contributed greatly in ushering in the independence without shedding of blood. African-Americans did not have rights to vote and only a small part of the white populace held the biggest share of wealth, governmental power, and resources in America. Social movements and protest songs helped the shift of international thinking and eradicate inequality and social injustice (Reagon, p. 21).

Social movements have over the decades developed significantly, from the African American civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s through to the technology (internet)-driven movements of the twenty-first century. The communication between movement members has become cybercast. Throughout the revolution of civil movements, protest songs have remained to be the most significant mode of organizing and mobilizing members (Reagon, p. 21).

It is evident that politics can be changed as a result of powerful and influential protest music. Jimi Hendrix once commented that to change anything in the world people had to use music. Any time there is a cultural transformation or revolution there must be protest songs leading and fuelling this change. Martin Luther King Jr also stated that music played a significant role in America during the American Civil rights movement (Reagon, p. 34).

We Shall Overcome

We Shall Overcome protest song was first used by African American civil movement between 1955 and 1968. This protest song was derived from a gospel hymn written by African-American composer Charles Albert Tindley. The song later became the civil rights anthem, and was extensively used to break the racism in America in 1960s. This protest song inspired some of the most memorable speeches made by Martin Luther King Jr. The song was first published as “We Will Overcome” in 1947, in the People’s Songs Bulletin. Pete Seeger was the guiding spirit director of People’s Songs Bulletin. The protest song was sung during the burial of three of the four girls killed in Birmingham Alabama church bombing (Guy and Seeger, p. 14).

“We Shall Overcome” is sung whenever social movements are fighting injustice, it has been sung in feminist rallies, civil rights movements, and antiapartheid demonstrations. The song motivated both the short and long term objectives of the era; it still motivates social movements today all over the world(Guy and Seeger, p. 14).

Peter Seeger is one of the greatest protest singers in the twentieth century, In 1957, he was indicated for Contempt of Congress, this was because he did not testify to the HUAC (House Un-American Activities Committee) on matters regarding his politics and his social opinions. He claimed that this was in violation to his first Amendment rights (Guy and Seeger, p. 14).

Alabama

Coltrane wrote this song to show the injustice, oppression, and violence that blacks were facing in Alabama. He wrote the song after hearing of the killing of four girls in a church bombing in Birmingham. America is a nation that has been filled with a protest all through its history. Protest and protest songs have been an important factor in social movements. This protest song was effective in communicating its message because it dealt directly with the issue affecting the society (Coltrane). The evolution of the movement for the struggle of the black freedom is reflected in the evolution of protest music. The songs were the soul of the movement. However, protest songs depend on the situation; protest songs may be connected to a social movement through context. This is evident because, for example, “Goodnight Irene” became a protest song because it was composed and written by a black convict and a social outcast Lead Belly. Music helped to keep alive the faith that was so important in the struggle for civil rights. It gave hope particularly in the trying moments (Shelton, p. 26).

Conclusion

Music played a vital role in the struggle for civil rights. It helped in inspiring, mobilizing, organizing and giving voice to the supporters of the civil rights movement. Diverse musicians from all genres have continued to write protest songs. These songs have had their impact throughout the American history and have greatly contributed to the protest lexicon in the twentieth century. Some protest songs tackle certain issues of injustice and oppression while others tackle a larger allegation of collective issues. All these protest songs are used by diverse social movements around the world. Protest songs gave the movement supporters courage, sense of unity and belonging.

Works Cited

Carawan and Seeger. We Shall Overcome. n.d. Web.

Coltrane John. Alabama Song. n.d Web.

Reagon Johnson, Songs of the Civil Rights Movement 1955–1965: A Study in Culture History. Washington: Howard University, 1975.

Reed John. The Art of Protest: Culture and Activism from the Civil Rights Movement to the Streets of Seattle. 1st ed. USA: University of Minnesota Press, 2005. Print.

Shelton, Robert. “Songs a Weapon in Rights Battle.” New York Times, 1962.

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