Williams Use Of Music And The Black Power Movement

Williams’s use of music to reach the masses was something that was not uncommon for the times due to its ability to influence and propel a cause. For the Civil Rights and the Black Power Movements in particular, music played a role that was unprecedented in the 1960’s and forward. “Because the Black Power Movement was an all-encompassing movement that called for political, economic and cultural changes, popular music rhythms and lyrics played a central role not only in supporting the BPM but also in providing a template for defining the movement. Popular music was viewed as a vehicle for mobilization that could challenge the inequities of American capitalism and racism to create an affirmative ideology while either responding to or creating openings in the political system.” (http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/14742830903024358) Artist such as Curtis Mayfield, Gil Scott Heron, and even jazz artist such as John Coltrane and Archie Shepp all made strong political statements through song on behalf of the aforementioned movements. It was during this time that social movements were playing a huge role in the mobilizing of Black thought and consciousness.

“LeRoi Jones, for example, addressed the primary role that music had in the raising of black consciousness and noted that black music constituted a place where black people lived and moved in almost absolute openness and strength…Jones’s examples, ranging from John Coltrane’s jazz harmonics to Sam and Dave’s rhythm and blues, found black music to be a place of refuge for black people.”