Music In The Freedom Songs example essay topic

The 50's and 60's were a time of a nation torn by conflicts: the war in Vietnam and a racial war raging sometimes in the streets. Music played a large role in both of these conflicts. The musical expression of this era allowed an individual voice to speak out, often on issues that challenged the status quo. For people of all colors committed to racial justice, the 60's were a time of hope. They said you could hear it in the music: in the freedom songs that dominated marches throughout the south.

Martin Luther King Jr. dubbed music the "soul of the movement". The songs brought strength and courage, gathered supporters, disseminated information, and ultimately transformed a burden into a movement. Protest music was intricately intertwined with the civil rights movement. The political songs during the folk revival in the early 60's attracted many people to the movement. Many also believe that protest music owes much to the freedom movement. The folkies spoke of more than just current political issues, they also had a vision of a new world.

Because of the example of the freedom movement, this vision was thought of as a true possibility. People believed that it was possible to pass from an old way of life to a new. During the 50's and 60's, many young people-mostly white, mostly middle-class, identified themselves as a self-conscious and rebellious social group. They made music that reflected an unprecedented crossing of racial and class lines and their actions posed serious challenges to traditional American cultural attitudes and values. These new alternative forms of cultural expression were deemed more necessary due to the failures of 1960's social programs including the War on Poverty, the effects of the Vietnam War on poor and working-class youths, and the repressive policies of the Los Angeles Police Department. All of these struggles contributed to a growing political activism and cultural nationalism.

Out of this activism developed a new kind of politics focused on the ideal of a beloved community. The musicians who connected with the folk revival consolidated their energies around the ideas proclaimed by groups such as the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). The SDS professed a vision of a living political community dedicated to economic accountability, world peace, and racial justice. They envisioned politics as a way of "Bringing people out of isolation and into community" helping them find "meaning in personal life" Their vision is applicable in today's society in which there is a widening gap between the rich and the poor among other justice issues. Critics of the history of rock and roll have underestimated the significance of mass popular music capable of speaking the language of everyday life and articulating the experiences and activities of the streets. There were many white students that were searching for truth behind the actions during the civil rights movement.

Many found television shows useless. So they turned to folk music, to Baez, Dylan, and Peter Paul and Mary. The folk singers provided the kind of insight the students sought. What many said star performers like Baez and Dylan did best was to bring people who would otherwise have been content with escapist popular entertainment into at least momentary contact with the larger political world. Though protest music was able to "Make the impossible seem possible". as Pete Seger said, there were problems that pervaded this social movement. Passivity in response to injustice and an inability to attract a black audience are a few of the noted problems with the second folk revival.

There are many, though, that choose to emphasize the fact that these songs were able to symbolize the faith that solidarity and communication through music truly did generate social action. This music was able to give the individual a voice and that voice truly did create social change.