They sang these songs for multiple purposes: to motivate them through long marches, for psychological strength against harassment and brutality, and sometimes to simply pass the time when waiting for something to happen." Singers and musicians collaborated with ethnomusicologists and song collectors to disseminate songs to activists, both at large meetings and through publications. “African American spirituals, gospel, and folk music all played an important role in the Civil Rights Movement. The use of music in the Civil Rights Movement was not just happenstance ― it was purposeful and served as a vital form of communication and building community. addresses a crowd on a street in Lakeview, New York. Library of Congress ― Civil Rights History Project Essay: “Music in the Civil Rights Movement” Not being the experts on this topic, we turned to our friends at the Library of Congress, The National Museum of African American History and Culture, The Smithsonian and more to help us learn more about music’s role in the Civil Rights movement and survey a few songs that took center stage in the fight for freedom. It was the universal voice that pierced through the melodies and lyrics of American popular music and represented the power that music has to make a change. It’s a voice that was woven through the stories that were told and the dreams that were shared a voice that comforted those who were lost, and that rallied those who were finally found a voice that brought people together.Ĭurious about who or what that voice was? You've likely figured it out already. A collective voice, if you will, that underscores the fight and the raw emotion felt by the waves of people who have taken a stand for Civil Rights. Yet, there has always been another voice behind the movement. Voices like Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, Malcolm X, to name a few, crafted the core messages of the movement and amplified our collective passion for a better world without prejudice, without violence and without racism ― an ideal that our country is still fighting for today. There have been many important voices that have led the struggle for social justice in the decades-long Civil Rights Movement. “Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle”
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