How Did Music Affect The Civil Rights Movement

There wasn’t something that was more closely related to music than the Civil Rights movement of the 60s. The Civil Rights Movement was something that affected a lot of people in different ways and the prisoners of it went about to music to help keep their spirits alive. When there was racism going on the blacks and whites would both write songs in relation to the difficult life they were living. Music is something that can connect all people on different levels and can have a big impact on your views. I think music has been doing that for many decades and has been continuing to play a role in the lives of millions.

The Jazz Age was a period of radical behavior and care free living. This new music structure started the crazy decade that would change American life. “In the US during the 1920s, jazz was far more than a new musical style or genre”. A Focus on culture, fashion, and mostly freedom became huge. “The Jazz Age became a touchstone for a wide range of social and cultural issues.”1 Also the freedom during the period allowed for many different ethnicities, including African Americans, to gain freedom within society. This new music

Popular singer Elton John once said; “music has healing power; it has the ability to take people out of themselves for a few hours”, and for most, music is the portal to an out of body experience. African American lyricists especially have been found to use the art of music to escape the real world, commencing from the slavery era and onward. The blues song titled The Tracks of My Tears does just that; expresses the ability to remove your soul from a treacherous reality. Similarly, the lyrics from popular modern songs, written by black artists, speak volumes about what is presently going on in the country, parallel to the way African American slavery songs did. Music written at an earlier period have been found to correlate to music of the past through providing strong emotion toward present day commentary.

During the time of the bustling 1920’s a new movement in American culture was booming. As the great migration was rapidly growing, new ways of expressing emotions were blossoming into a revolutionary movement. This movement of the “New Negro,” also known as the “Harlem Renaissance” was quickly coming into the light of society, exploding in the Harlem neighborhoods of New York City as artistic ideas took turns that nobody could ever imagine. Among these new creations of artistic creativity the most prominent was the clear transformation that music went through during this time. Boundaries were beginning to break in society as well as in music as rules were being broken and new forms of music were simmering, thus, Jazz was born.

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.

Music, and particularly cultural, social, and political songs, has remained an essential facet of the longstanding tradition of uprisings and struggle for change in American culture. It is difficult to fathom the passions and purposefulness of pop culture music in the civil rights movement of the 1960s; thanks to the freedom songs, whose endeavor was to mobilize and reinforce collective participation in the civil rights campaigns, demonstrations, and protests (Stefani, 2015). The three songs from this period that exemplify popular music’s role in calling for positive change regarding civil rights included “We Shall Overcome” by Southern African American tobacco workers, “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me ‘Round” by Freedom Singers, and “People Get Ready” by Curtis Mayfield.

n my opinion, I think jazz did hinder or hasten the civil rights movement. Throughout history, during some very important times, music has always been present. Music was there to help lift up moods during the Civil Rights Movement. Every has their own kind of music they enjoy listening to in order to uplift their mood and just have fun. The Civil Rights Movement was an extremely hard time for the African Americans because they were looked down upon and segregated against.

The music during Civil Rights Movement gave every black person a voice within all of the chaos. Like today, music is a way to inspire people and lift their spirits in a time of hardships. An important song during the Civil Rights Movement was “Lift Every Voice and Sing”. The song was originally a poem written by James Weldon Johnson, which his brother, J. Rosamond Johnson, turned into a song that they sang together.

According to Robert Stolorow, “[The blues] has origins in spirituals, work songs, field hollers, etc., all of which are types of music associated with enslaved people attempting to deal with their painful situation” (5). Even though modern blues singers do not have personal experience with slavery, their music is greatly influenced by the slave songs. The slave songs are first-hand accounts of the inhumane treatment of blacks and blues musicians use these spiritual narratives to reach deeper essence in their music (Wright 418). The blues is such a power form of music because it comforts and unites suffering people with its words and rhythm (Stolorow 7). When people are suffering, they look for a way to escape from that suffering and the blues grants them the peace of mind they are searching for.

Music played a critical role during the Civil Rights Movement. Songs about Protestors experiences helped give African Americans a voice. The many lyrics of the protest songs showcase the struggles African Americans had to endure each and everyday of their lives. Not only did the music showcase their struggles, but it paved the path for hope and helped unite the many protesters fighting for equality. Civil Rights protesters knew they were going to face a difficult battle protesting against segregationlists .

There are many key contributing factors to the Civil Rights Movement which have been thoroughly covered however, the influence of music seems to be an aspect that is far less developed. In order to assess just how significant music really was it is crucial to analyse its widespread significance, the nature of its appeal and key role models that contributed to its involvement within the Civil Rights Movement during the period 1962-1969, in order to detect just how influential it really was. Music is an expression of emotion so it is fair to say that music may have made a contribution to the Civil Rights Movement notably in the duration of 1962-1968 as the Civil Rights Movement proved to be at its highest peak especially following the March on Washington 1963[1]. A time when emotions were running high and the African American people needed an outlet for their emotion, music was there to meet their needs. It inspired the people to have the courage to make a stand against the discrimination placed upon them from a society dictated by whites.

The 1950s and 1960s was a turbulent time of social change. During this era, the Civil Rights movement came to prominence as African Americans protested for equal rights, and challenged racial discrimination. These acts of civil disobedience and both nonviolent and violent protests brought to the forefront all of the inequalities that African Americans still faced. As all of this was going on, music was playing an important role in the movement and race relations. Specifically, jazz, a musical genre that in many way parallels the struggle of the Civil Rights movement.

The average person is exposed to about 5 hours of music a day, but have you ever thought about how music exposure has the ability to bring people back together? During the civil war, nearly everyone’s life was impacted by music, whether they heard it constantly or had family members who played instruments. Music had an effect on everyone living in the era and has a lasting effect on how we live today. Music was an important aspect that affected how people lived during the civil war era.

The blues have deep roots embedded within American history—particularly that of African American history. The history of the blues originated on Southern plantations in the 19th century and was created by slaves, ex-slaves, and descendants of slaves. They were created by individuals who endured great hardship while performing endless hours of arduous labor and blues served as a form of escapism. To these individuals, songs provided them with the strength to persevere through their struggles. Blues songs depicted individuals who persevered in the face of adversity. They were symbols of hope to those squandering in the depths of oppression. In relations to the blues, every song has a story behind it and within every story, there is something to be said. Blues artists, through their struggles, detail how they overcame hardship and laughed at the face of oppression. They defied the rules and in doing so, showed African Americans that they too are beacons of hope for the hopeless. The best blues is instinctive, cathartic, and intensely emotional. From irrepressible bliss to deep sadness, no form of music communicates more genuine emotion than that of the blues. Like many bluesmen of his day, Robert Johnson applied his craft as a lonely traveling musician on street corners and in juke joints. He was a lonely man whose songs romanticized that existence. With Johnson’s unique vocal style, haunting lyrics, and creative guitar techniques, Johnson’s innovation embodied the essence of

Some people found a new source of identity, turning to religion. Some songs have a religious tone to them like “Let the Redemption come”. Pieces started to have double meanings. The piece that struck a chord with me was “My boy, where are you going? Sweetheart, it’s all over”. In one sense it could be saying something about a bad breakup or that two people have been forcefully separated after one is transported away. By grouping so many people from so many backgrounds, cultures, and languages, music was even more so a unifying thing as people united under a local or national song to affirm themselves to their home.