Disclaimer: The following blog post is not a reflection of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s opinion on the below topics.
The American Civil Rights Movement was an incredible demonstration of the power of nonviolent protest. Music shaped the movement by giving voice to a group of people whom many wanted to silence. Author Reiland Rabaka argues that “African American movements are as musical as they are political.”[1] Throughout history, music has been an integral component of Black Americans’ ability to overcome their oppression. The Civil Rights Movement was no exception; in the absence of social and political freedom, African Americans expressed their grievances and disseminated the purpose of their movement through music.
Protesters utilized civil rights music as an outlet to express their grievances against the racism prevalent in American society and politics. Rabaka defines civil rights music as “forms of music arising out of the Civil Rights Movement that insinuated or alluded to many of the dire aspirations and frustrations that African Americans could not openly express as a consequence of racial segregation and economic exploitation between 1954 and 1965.”[2] Therefore, musicians released civil rights music to protest the violence and inequality they encountered on a daily basis. For instance, Nina Simone’s 1964 song, “Mississippi Goddam,” highlighted her adverse experiences with racism in the American South.[3] Furthermore, “Triptych: Prayer/Protest/Peace,” by jazz musician Max Roach, included a powerful statement from vocalist Abbey Lincoln. Within the 1961 song, Lincoln screamed for over a minute, expressing her emotional turmoil and frustration over race relations within American society.[4]
Civil rights music was directly rooted in Christian institutions and traditions, as the church had longstanding importance in the black community. Gospel singer and civil rights activist Mavis Staples asserted that protesters “drew on the spirituality and strength from the church to help gain social justice and to try to achieve equal rights.”[6] Consequently, music was inspired by and channeled through the church to mobilize supporters.
Protesters’ use of gospel music was a direct reflection of the church’s influence on the Civil Rights Movement. Rabaka states that “Gospel music was one of the key socio-political and religio-cultural tools utilized by the leaders and foot soldiers of the Civil Rights Movement to attract youth activism, invigorate mass meetings, promote prayer vigils, and instill self confidence.”[7] Thus, gospel music served as a powerful mobilizing force. Moreover, since freedom was already a central theme in traditional gospel music, the genre naturally became a tool to inspire and articulate the desire for freedom in 1960s America.[8]
Activists also adapted the lyrics of traditional church hymns to reflect the goals of the Civil Rights Movement and sang those transformed songs during protests.[9] Since hymns were familiar to the Christian-oriented African American community, this was a great tactic to create protest songs with familiar tunes that were easy to sing. For example, protesters changed the title of the hymn “Woke Up This Morning with My Mind Stayed on Jesus” to “Woke Up This Morning with My Mind Stayed on Freedom,” thereby vocalizing the ambitions of the Civil Rights Movement.[10]
Additionally, protesters used freedom songs to express their desires. Within his book, Why We Can’t Wait, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. described freedom songs as “adaptations of the songs the slaves sang,” and asserted, “We sing the freedom songs today for the same reason the slaves sang them, because we too are in bondage and the songs add hope to our determination that ‘We shall overcome, Black and white together, We shall overcome someday’… These songs bind us together, give us courage together, help us to march together.”[11] Freedom songs were utilized by various protest organizations, including the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, which formed the SNCC Freedom Singers. The group performed freedom songs throughout the country, raising awareness and amassing funds for the Civil Rights Movement.[12]
As time passed, music’s role in the movement expanded. Famous singers such as Harry Belafonte and Nina Simone “used their prominence to make both artistic and economic contributions to the continuing struggle.”[14] One of the most notable sonic contributions to the Civil Rights Movement was made by Sam Cooke with the release of “A Change Is Gonna Come” in 1964. Despite being “his first record to comment directly on the struggle,” the song became a symbol of hope for the African American community.[15]
Music broadened the reach of the movement even further with the rise of the soul genre. Author and historian Rickey Vincent argues that “Soul was as much a part of the movement as marches, speeches, and arrests,” and goes on to say that the word “soul” “was a catchall for what ‘blackness’ supposedly meant for all blacks—urban, hip, and decidedly nonwhite.”[16] Soul music involved an “emotional involvement in the subject matter”, and in the case of the Civil Rights Movement, the subject matter was the social and political inequalities that plagued the United States. Therefore, soul music became a powerful soundtrack for the struggles and aspirations of the 1960s.[17]
Thus, soul musicians began to have a greater impact on popular culture. Artists such as the Staple Singers and the Impressions took inspiration from the Civil Rights Movement and freedom songs.[18] The Queen of Soul herself, Aretha Franklin, also had a grand impact on the movement. According to Vincent, “Ebony Magazine, in an end of the year commentary, described the summer of 1967 as the summer of ‘Retha, Rap, and Revolt’; Aretha did her part by providing a soundtrack to the movement at its most dynamic, driven, and desperate.”[19]
The addition of DJs into the movement’s fold also amplified music’s impact during the civil rights era. Whilst playing songs by African American artists, radio hosts shared announcements about local protests and cultural events. Moreover, hosts interviewed preachers such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at a time when mainstream news outlets were unwilling to do so.[20] By disseminating this information and playing songs by black musicians, DJs gave the movement a louder voice.
During the Civil Rights Movement, music was of incredible significance for African Americans. Rabaka notes, “where many folk may have simply heard a pretty song, movement members often heard a call to action, a musical history of an important event, or a mute tribute to a fallen brother or sister in the struggle.”[21] Music both functioned as a soundtrack to the movement and as its driving force. By providing a call to action and a means to express grievances, music acted as a mobilizing power that inspired people to take direct action. Its emotional resonance helped make the Civil Rights Movement the remarkable demonstration of unity and resistance that it is recognized as today.
[1]Reiland Rabaka, Civil Rights Music: The Soundtracks of the Civil Rights Movement (Lanham, Maryland: Lexington Books, 2016) 2.
[2]Ibid, 4
[3]Hasan Kwame Jeffries, ed., Understanding and Teaching the Civil Rights Movement (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2019), ProQuest Ebook Central, 154.
[4]Ibid, 155.
[5] Nina Simone: Mississippi Goddam — Lyric Video (Live at Newport, 1966), YouTube, 2023, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGgAVleI32Q.
[6]Rickey Vincent, Party Music: The Inside Story of the Black Panthers’ Band and How Black Power Transformed Soul Music (Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 2013), ProQuest Ebook Central, 134.
[7]Rabaka, Civil Rights Music, 55.
[8]Ibid, 54.
[9]Vincent, Party Music, 133.
[10]Waldo E. Martin Jr., No Coward Soldiers: Black Cultural Politics in Postwar America (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2005), 47.
[11]Martin Luther King Jr., Why We Can’t Wait (New York: Beacon Press, 2011), ProQuest Ebook Central, 50.
[12]Vincent, Party Music, 133.
[13]Joe Alper, SNCC Freedom Singers Performing, 1999, Civil Rights Movement Archive, 1999, https://www.crmvet.org/index.html.
[14]Jeffries, Understanding and Teaching the Civil Rights Movement, 209.
[15]Ibid, 212.
[16]Vincent, Party Music, 143.
[17]Ibid, 164.
[18]Jeffries, Understanding and Teaching the Civil Rights Movement, 211-212.
[19]Vincent, Party Music, 155.
[20]Ibid, 160.
[21]Rabaka, Civil Rights Music, 5.
[22]Charles Moore, Freedom Singing, Selma, Alabama, 1965, Civil Rights Timeline, accessed 2025, https://www.high.org/sites/civil-rights-timeline/.