The Civil Rights Movement was an unstoppable force for African American rights. Prior to this, blacks were segregated into "separate but equal" living conditions but in reality they were treated unfairly by whites. The movement united African Americans to fight for equal rights through protests, sit-ins, and marches. A big impact that the movement had was the use of non-violence. While riots broke out and blacks were severely beaten, mistreated or even killed, they refused to fight physically. The use of song was vital to the movement in many ways. Songs would unite followers into one voice for the world to hear and would keep them focused on their goal as Bernice Johnson Reagon stated, "Think about the dominant numbers of participants who decided they would put their everyday existence at risk to fight racism in their local community". Singing was a community experience where everyone needed to sing to be heard. These songs were used to inform people outside of the movement of their struggle and also used as a defense against police officers as Reagon stated, "There is a story of a policeman beating a demonstrator on the ground and the man being assaulted began to sing, "We Shall Overcome," and this particular policeman could not continue the beating".
Freedom Songs were songs used in the movement to empower, educate, and unite. Freedom Songs were songs that already existed whether as church hymns or popular rhythm and blues songs and the lyrics were re-written to fit the cause. Freedom songs were sung during marches and boycotts to give followers strength to continue through the movement. These songs were also used to educate those outside of the movement of what was happen and to hopefully get them to join. The Freedom Singers were a group of college students to travelled the country to sing a recruit new members to the cause. These songs helped unite different generations because they used old songs and infused them with new subject matter. Freedom Songs were also used to remind followers that they can lose their lives in this fight but it was necessary to gain the rights that they deserved. Freedom Songs were the catalyst the movement needed to be as successful as it was.
Examples of Freedom Songs can be found here:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/eyesontheprize/story/09_summer.html#music
http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=123599617&m=123606957
The legacy of the Civil Rights Movement is a monumental staple in American History. Though Freedom Songs are now sang as a form of entertainment, they will always remind us of that moment in time where blacks had to struggle for their rights. A recent performance at the white house showed popular artist singing Freedom Songs and at the end had all of the performers which included Bob Dylan and John Cougar Melencamp and even had President Obama singing a final song. This showed that Freedom Songs will live on for many generations to come.
Highlights from the White House Performance can be seen here:
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/entertainment/jan-june10/music_02-11.html
