Music and The Civil Rights Movement: 1954-1965

Let Freedom Ring!

Freedom Day FestivalIntroduction

The Civil Rights Movement was a period of great turmoil and intense emotions. While news reels, photographs, oral and written testimonies can give us a good description of the events which took place during that period, music remains the best way of experiencing its emotions. Music played an integral part in the Movement. Rallies, protests, meetings, marches: all relied on songs to unify and energize their participants. Outside these public events, musicians used their art to describe the changes taking place around them or raise their audiences' awareness about the challenges facing them.

This website aims at exploring the period between 1954 and 1965 through its music. The dates are somewhat arbitrary: it can easily be argued that the struggle for racial equality in America started before the Brown vs. Board of Education ruling and that it continued past the Voting Rights Act of 1965. However, those eleven years represent the pinnacle of a movement based on the principles of "agape" and non-violent resistance articulated by Martin Luther King Jr.

Writing About Race and Race Relations

In researching this project, I have become aware of how difficult it is to write neutrally about race and race relations. White scholar Craig Werner approaches the issue of black music-and more importantly writes about it-in a completely different manner than LeRoi Jones (aka Amiri Baraka) or Frank Kofsky, both black. It seems unavoidable to me that one's writing, just like one's music, would be influenced and reflect one's social and cultural background. I have tried as much as possible to remain neutral in writing this text but I nevertheless ask for your understanding and forgiveness for my short-comings. To know more about my own background, please visit my home page. If you find anything within these pages that you disagree with, do not hesitate to contact me.

Music Samples

This site was conceived to include MP3 samples of the selections discussed in the text. However, no recorded examples will be available until copyrights are secured for each selection. Most of the recordings cited on this website are available through the Washington University Music Library. See the music sample pages for a full reference to each recording.

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