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World War II to the Civil Rights Movement

Overview

By the end of World War II, the character of North American society had greatly changed. The country experienced new levels of economic prosperity and women were voicing their opinions on gender roles, resulting from their newfound skills and work experiences during the war. At the same time, race relations began to deteriorate. In the 1950s and through the grassroots activities that led to the modern civil rights movement, the nation, and the world became exposed to racial inequalities such as fair job pay, fair housing, and voter registration, to name a few, that adversely affected African Americans and hindered their artistic expression. As is often the case, artists regularly express their opinion about such social, cultural, and political disparities. Moreover, African Americans continued to use songs, in this case, , as a powerful medium to inform, educate, and offer a call to action against social injustice. In general, freedom songs are those lyrics that reflect African Americans' perseverance towards "acquiring" their desired goals whereas protest songs identify these goals, for example, equality, fair pay for work, fair housing, non-discriminatory voter registration, and social justice.

Be ready to:

Identify notable events that led to the signing of the Civil Rights Act on July 2, 1964.

Identify song titles and event-related songs and understand the processes by which their lyrics change to fit the occasion.

Identify the processes involved in singing in a congregational or group setting.

Understand the origin of freedom songs and identify the names of people who influenced the development of these songs.

Understand the history of the song "We Shall Overcome" - noted as one of the most significant freedom songs.

Identify and discuss the difference between freedom and protest songs.

Identify specific titles and noted performers of protest songs.

Understand that a protest song can also be expressed instrumentally.

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Keywords

Listening Guides

References

Spirituals, Hymns, and Anthems 1

As previously stated, many freedom songs of the 1950s and 1960s have their origin in spirituals, and in some cases, hymnsA religious song, used in churches, that developed as a result of the Great Awakening (circa 1940s). and gospel songs. This section does not conclusively discuss whether a song is a spiritual, hymn, or gospel. Instead, it focuses on performance practices and their historical context. Nonetheless, the best way to understand the difference between this section and the next (protest songs) is to keep in mind that many spirituals and hymns have a religious connotation, whereas protest songs are not always religious. For instance, "We Are Climbing Jacob's Ladder"♫ and "Guide My Feet While I Run This Race"♫ are religious in nature, while "Mississippi Goddam"♫ -which is about injustices against Black people in Alabama, Tennessee, and Mississippi-and "Governor Wallace"-which is about the segregationist Governor Wallace of Alabama-are not religious at all. Below is a live recording of Nina Simone's "Mississippi Goddam:"

Nina Simone - Mississippi Goddam (Live in Netherlands) [ 00:00-00:00 ]

It is also worth pointing out that the first section of this lesson covers early freedom songs of the 1950s and 1960s, which have a closer relationship to the lyrical aspect, melodyA tune; a succession of tones comprised of mode, rhythm, and pitches so arranged as to achieve the musical shape, being perceived as a unity by the mind. It is the dominant turn in a piece of music where there is more than one voice, or where harmony is present., and chorus section of spirituals.

The lyrics in many spirituals sung by slaves were about not yielding to de facto oppressive conditions in a society that deem them as inferior. In that particularly important sense, spirituals such as "We Shall Overcome"♫ , "Keep Your Hand on the Plow"♫, "Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me 'Round"♫, "Jacob's Ladder", "Keep Your Eyes on the Prize"♫ and "Guide My Feet While I Run This Race"♫ are just as fitting for the African American struggle for freedom, equality, and social and civil justice during the 1960s civil rights movement as they are for religious practice. During these years, news programs, newspaper writings, scholarly articles, conferences, personal conversations, and of course public protests shared news of blatantly discriminatory actions against African Americans. And present at these protests was music.

Without doubt "We Shall Overcome" was, and still is, widely acknowledged as a civil rights anthemA song, due to its popularity, widely appreciated for its lyrical content among a wide or ethnic group.. In the Civil Rights Music Video We Shall Overcome," Pete Seeger (1919-2014) illustrates several of the performance styles discussed up until now and includes important historical photos of the civil rights movement. The performance styles are all pointed out in the following listening guide in table 16.1 on the next page.

Civil Rights Music Video "We Shall overcome" by Peter Seeger

Scan from The Chronicle, the student newspaper of Duke University

Martin Luther King, Jr.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

We Shall Not Be Moved

Oh I, shall not
I shall not be moved I shall not
I shall not be moved
Just like a tree planted by the water
I shall not be moved