We Shall Overcome, a song that most of you have heard before. Often, we hear Pete Seeger’s original in September, during Black history month, on the television. Weather its a documentary on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. or a movie on Jackie Robinson's struggle for recognition in Major League Baseball,, the soundtracks are bound to have this song. This is due to the listeners experience relatable to the lyrics. We Shall Overcome has been dubbed the most important song of the 20th century US civil rights movement and has gone on to become the unofficial anthem of protests and marches ever since. And for good reason. Over the next 7 or 8 minutes, I will explain why playing and singing We Shall Overcome and music in general played a role in the progression …show more content…
Music, according to scientific studies motivates people when they are working for social change. This is due to the fact that when we get involved in an organization, we do it because we feel a need to make a difference. It is important to develop empathy toward the cause. Motivating music can be defined as music that heightens your emotional state, as well as, a song or hymn that you naturally move and groove to while listening. In fact, your body naturally moves when it experiences emotion. Because there is a connection between the cerebellum, the area of your brain that \fosters human emotion, and the limbic system, associated with movement, humans are supposed to move when they feel deep emotion. We feel emotion towards a particular song when it mentions an experience we as the listener has also felt. It is this relatability that comforts us as we fight our way to change. After analyzing the lyrics to We Shall Overcome, I found “We” is the most common noun. In fact it appears 17 times. But wait, I should not quantify the qualitative, the song is impactful because it breds unity. Whether a sit in, or a bus boycott, the activists were all in it together, they had to be. Just imagine a basketball team that only put 3 players up against 5 players. While those three players may be able to hold their own for a little …show more content…
What moved the movement even further was the hosting of concerts. Specifically, concerts put on by the Supremes and other Hitsville USA artists. One artists recalls a two night performance in which the first night, police were on patrol and everyone was seated in their segregated location. She then made the request to allow the listeners the ability to get up and dance whenever they felt like it. The result an integrated crowd( insert quote Motown stars were performing to the delight of white audiences, slowly chipping away at racist attitudes.) Martha Reeves credits integration in music to the lack of political message “I don't think our music was particular designed for any particular people, any particular race or creed or color or age It's just the sound of young america”. It was Martha and so many others that made Hitsville USA, the successful recording record label it was. The music served as a final tool for the advancement of colored people and was a new way for African American artists to support, financially, themselves and their