The Sound of Civil Rights

Lesson Plan - Get It!

Audio:

Music may be entertaining, but never just entertainment.

Even music without words communicates ideas, beliefs, identities, and attitudes. Music is even more powerful when words are involved in shaping people's thoughts about themselves and their societies.

In American history, as in other times and places worldwide, music has played a role in politics and society. Songs like “Yankee Doodle” and “The Liberty Song” communicated the spirit of the revolutionaries in their fight against British rule and roused people to action.

The Hutchinson Family Singers sang songs in the mid-1800s in protest of slavery and the mistreatment of Black Americans. By the twentieth century, singers like Joe Hill and Woody Guthrie were using music in the struggle for the rights of American workers.

By the 1960s, it had become clear that the struggle for civil rights in the U.S. was far from complete.

In many states, some laws prevented interracial marriage. Jim Crow laws in many states enforced a social system that kept Black and White lives separate and kept Black Americans at a significant disadvantage. Anti-Black violence remained all too common.

Music played a significant role in promoting awareness of these critical civil rights issues and mobilized people to join the efforts to reform American society.

Read Music Played Key Role in US Civil Rights Movement to learn more. As you do, write down answers to the following questions.

• How does the article describe race relations during this era?
• How was music used as part of the struggle for civil rights?
• What genres or types of music were involved?
• What were three or four of the songs mentioned?

Review your answers before considering the following questions. If possible, discuss them with a peer or classmate.

• What can music accomplish that lectures or articles about similar issues cannot?
• What do you predict would be the most important themes in the music of the civil rights era?
• What are some songs about civil rights, from previous eras or today, that you already know?

It is often said that suffering and struggle produce the most powerful art. The music of the civil rights era remains some of the most potent music in the heritage of American arts.

In the Got It? section, listen to some of the great songs that provided the soundtrack to this important movement.