Amendment 15: The Music Of The Civil Rights Movement

Téah Segura

Professor Goli

MUH3025

17 June 2018

The Music of the Civil Rights Movement

The American civil rights movement gained national prominence in the mid-1950s although African Americans had been fighting for freedom and equality for centuries. From the moment Africans were brought to America as slaves, racism has prevailed in this country. Roots of this movement are evident in the efforts of African slaves who worked to abolish slavery. Slavery was finally abolished in 1865 because of the Civil War and the passing of amendments thirteen, fourteen and fifteen. Amendment thirteen of the United States constitution formally abolished slavery, emancipating all slaves. Amendments fourteen and fifteen of the constitution granted basic civil

Many became sharecroppers, which in my opinion, was another form of slavery. Sharecropping is a type of farming in which the landowner allows a tenant to use a share of the land in exchange for sharing the crops that were produced on this portion of land. Many African Americans and poor white Americans became share croppers in hopes to sell enough crops to make a living wage. However, most of the time they owned a large debt to the landowner or merchants that they bought their tools from, thus, never being able to break the cycle of sharecropping (Burson, 1986).

Further economic, social, and political setbacks for African Americans included segregated facilities, work places, and places of education. The movement broke out of nonviolent protesting of segregation. This era shed light on their struggles with racism, federal protection, and the inequality that still prevailed against African Americans (Carson 2018). During this time period, music changed and also helped to bring comfort and strength to those protesting. This paper will discuss the music of the civil rights movement and how the politically climate and music changed each

Many jazz musicians began to address social and political notions of freedom in their songs. Eventually, the use of themes involving the civil rights movement and became less pronounced in black popular music once we reached the 1970s. Most artists during this time began to follow the popular trend of rock ‘n roll and disco. It was not until the late 1980s and 1990s that there was a revival of social consciousness in black popular music, specifically in hip-hop. Music of the civil rights movement helped pave the way for the inclusiveness of politics and social awareness in music.

In about a decade’s time, we see music shift significantly during the civil rights era. The political climate at the time played a huge role in shaping music as well as the music shaping the politics of our nation during this time. Big artists such as Bob Dylan and Aretha Franklin helped to expose the population to the raw feelings of those involved in the movement as well as highlighting each major event. From this, we now see that music can be used as a tool to bring people together and promote