African American Protest Slogans & Songs

Subject: RE: African American Protest Slogans & Songs
From: Donuel
Date: 07 May 21 - 10:20 PM

Thats a great tool!

Subject: RE: African American Protest Slogans & Songs
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 07 May 21 - 12:59 AM

I dropped the URL of the March 25, 2012 post into the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine to get the page that was captured by the archive (that link has been added to that post.) This is a quick fix for many of the older broken links in Mudcat threads. (Not all sites were crawled by the Internet Archive folks, but this one is well-represented there.)

Subject: RE: African American Protest Slogans & Songs
From: Max
Date: 06 May 21 - 11:49 PM

Refresh. A lot of broken links in this great thread. Anyone want to offer some new ones up?

Subject: RE: African American Protest Slogans & Songs
From: Azizi
Date: 25 Mar 12 - 08:58 AM

Also, updating my Cocojams website resulted in the old links to pages coming up as "This page is not found".

Here's the current link to the page on Civil Rights songs:
http://cocojams.com/content/african-american-civil-rights-songs (link broken).

That page includes the words to various songs as well as videos of those songs being sung.

---

This page can be seen in facsimile with many of the original links at https://web.archive.org/web/20120222091553/http://cocojams.com/content/african-american-civil-rights-songs

This is via the Internet Archive's "Wayback Machine."

Subject: RE: African American Protest Slogans & Songs
From: Azizi
Date: 25 Mar 12 - 07:50 AM

I should also mention that the tweeter feed from which I excerpted examples of chants in Part II of that pancocojams blog post may include examples of Occupy Wall Street chants & songs instead of chants from Million Hoodies marchers' chants.

A number of tweeters alleged that OWS attempted to "co-opt" that Million Hoodies march. One example of that alleged attempt to take over that Million Hoodies march was to chant over official speakers.

A documented chant from that march - "Whose street?/ Our streets." 0 is certainly known to be used by Occupy Wall Street activists. And a chant like "No Justice/ No Peace" could have been used by both groups-if indeed those populations of marchers were different.

For the record (no pun intended), a person who attended that New York City Million Hoodies march indicated that two songs were sung: "Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around" and "This Little Light Of Mine". Both of those songs are from African American traditions. However, I saw no mention of singing on any news reports of that march (I only read one tweeter feed). And the only example of singing that I saw on a number of videos of that particular march that I watched was a singing/chant "We are one". My guess is that those songs were sung by a group or groups associated with Occupy Wall Street (in part because I STILL don't see any custom of singing at majority African American protest marches and also because the person tweeting the singing of one of these songs mentioned the singing being accompanied by a guitar. I don't think African Americans carry guitars to protest marches as much as White Americans do :o), and the Occupy Wall Street movement is known to be a mostly a White activist movement (except for certain cities such as Oakland, California). Furthermore, as the above mentioned tweeter feed documents, there have been a number of difficulties with race/racism in the USA Occupy Wall Street movement -but that subject goes beyond the intent of this post.

Btw, I added a hyperlink to this Mudcat thread in a comment that posted in the comment section for Part II of that pancocojams series.

-Azizi Powell

Subject: RE: African American Protest Slogans & Songs
From: Azizi
Date: 25 Mar 12 - 07:29 AM

Greetings!

I just published two posts on my pancocojams cultural blog which document examples of chants used in the March 22, 2012 New York City Trayvon Martin Million Hoodies March. Part I of that series showcases chants found in three different videos.

Part II of that series documents examples of chants from that same march that were included in news reports and one tweeter feed about that march.

The links to those posts are: http://​pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/​03/​chanting-at-trayvon-martin-mill​ion.html

and

http://​pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/​03/​chanting-at-trayvon-martin-mill​ion_24.html.

RIP Trayvon and all others who died because of racial profiling!

-Azizi Powell

Subject: RE: African American Protest Slogans & Songs
From: Stringsinger
Date: 29 Apr 09 - 11:24 AM

There is a wonderful new documentary on the Chaney/Schwerner/Goodman
by Micki Dickoff called "Neshoba". We had privilege of seeing it and meeting Micki
who is a lovely person.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neshoba_(film)

This is one of the most important films done on Civil Rights.

Frank Hamilton

Subject: RE: African American Protest Slogans & Songs
From: Azizi
Date: 29 Apr 09 - 10:44 AM

It's been a long time since I posted to and read this thread. I apologize to GUEST,DV for just reading his/her request to add a hyperlink for the web address that was posted in that 03 Aug 08 - 12:09 PM comment. Here's that hyperlink:

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=african+american+protest+songs&search_type=

Thanks to all who have posted to this thread.

Keep on keepin on!

Subject: RE: African American Protest Slogans & Songs
From: GUEST,Marymac90
Date: 04 Aug 08 - 03:36 PM

Fascinating thread, Azizi! I'll add two things.

Those interested in this type of music might also be interested in
a network that is still actively singing today. It's called the Peoples' Music Network/Songs of Freedom and Struggle. I know
there is a website. I'll let someone comfy with clickies post it.

The second thought is more about my personal experience. I am white, and I am a social worker in a low-income apartment building for elderly and disabled people that is majority African-American. My first attempt to get people singing was the idea that could
sing Christmas carols in or just outside of the apartments of homebound/disabled people, and it worked quite well. My second
was that we have a sort of all-purpose Memorial Service, for
people to remember those that they are personally missing, during the week of Memorial Day. We sang a lot of hymns, and a lot of people gave rememberances of loved ones. I think if I had offered a "support group" for dealing with grief, I would have had a very poor turnout!

The next singing event I will offer will be a doo wop/oldies event in October. It will be interesting to see if there's a difference in participation, since we'll be singing songs that don't have religious significance. I also have plans for a Black History
Month event next February, which will involve a lot of the Civil Rights Songs mentioned in this thread.

Keep on pushin'

Marymac

Subject: RE: African American Protest Slogans & Songs
From: Janice in NJ
Date: 03 Aug 08 - 09:54 PM

Let me take a big step back through time. I was involved in the Civil Rights Movement from 1963 to 1969, and singing was a central part of it. That's something that's too easily forgotten today. Singing was everywhere, and to the musicians who got the most respect from the Movement rank-and-file were themselves activists who came out of the Movement, not just supporters who came to "entertain the troops." Among the musicians I remember best were Len Chandler (who wrote Move On Over or We'll Move On Over You), Rev. Frederick Douglass Kirkpatrick (Everybody's Got a Right to Live), Jimmy Collier (Burn, Baby, Burn), Guy and Candy Carawan, and above all the SNCC Freedom Singers (Matt Jones, Cordell Reagon, Bernice Johnson Reagon, Ruth Harris, and Charles Neblett).

Subject: RE: African American Protest Slogans & Songs
From: GUEST,DV
Date: 03 Aug 08 - 12:09 PM

Sorry, I also meant to include a link to the search I did first at You Tube on "African American protest songs". It came up with some very interesting hits.

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=african+american+protest+songs&search_type=

Thanks for doing the hyperlink--maybe you could add the above?

Subject: RE: African American Protest Slogans & Songs
From: Azizi
Date: 03 Aug 08 - 12:05 PM

DV, here's the hyperlink to the URL that you posted:

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=protest+songs&search_type=

**

I've not given thought to this thread for a while.

At this time, my spirit's not where this thead is. But, I'm glad that links to related threads have been added to this thread, and I'm also glad that you and maybe others are interested in adding comments about this subject.

Subject: RE: African American Protest Slogans & Songs
From: GUEST,DV
Date: 03 Aug 08 - 11:56 AM

I don't know if this is the proper protest song thread to refresh to post this or not, as there seems to be plenty of them!

But I am interested in both how the songs/singers have changed over time, as well as how we perceive the different strands of them.

While this thread speaks to African American protest songs, I am thinking of other protest songs of the same era as the civil rights movement, and how different they were.

First, many of the protest songs of the anti-war movement weren't folk songs, but rock songs. Going to You Tube and searching 'protest songs' brought up this gal, who has created a list of "top ten" protest songs, and done a clip on each. Thought some here might be interested in it here:

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=protest+songs&search_type=

I would add, the protest songs of the United Farmworkers and the Chicano movement were diffferent too, and they seemed to migrate and morph into protest songs on the Central American wars of the 1980s, to what is now the immigration movement, School of the Americas protests, etc.

And then, there seems to be a whole other genre of protest songs that have evolved surrounding political conventions over the years too, which will be seeing (if the media allows us to, that is) soon enough.

Very interesting thread!

Subject: RE: African American Protest Slogans & Songs
From: Rowan
Date: 12 Oct 07 - 12:43 AM

Be fair, Gargoyle.

In the post that started the thread Azizi wrote
"The purpose of this thread is to explore the continuity & changes in protest slogans and songs that are associated with the Black American civil rights movement from the mid 1960s to date."

Surely the initiator of the thread can exercise the luxury of defining it however they want; any subsequent posters are really just buying into discussion of the original notion. We've been invited to discuss everything from then until now and many have done just that. To the extent that us respondents have stuck in the 60s, any 'fault' is ours to be shared.

If you wanted to start a thread on African rhythms and its role in current music/protest/etc worldwide or regionally, I'm sure you'd get some takers.

Cheers, Rowan

Subject: RE: African American Protest Slogans & Songs
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 11 Oct 07 - 10:06 PM

ASSiZI-

We seem to being seeing double along the same seam.

You are stuck in the 60's (which makes you... "folk sort-of" on the Mudcat)

There is A LOT of PROTEST!!!! in REAL Africa....from the Sudan to almost Antarctica.

Why milk a cow that has gone dry???? .....Four decades ago?

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

Subject: RE: African American Protest Slogans & Songs
From: Bobert
Date: 11 Oct 07 - 07:59 PM

Well, for me the meduim has been the message... The lyrics change but what remains is the strong influence of Afican rhythums... I didn't say African American but African...

Historically these rhythums were brought to this country and took up a life of their own in a different land with a different language but underneath it all, it is still the sounds of Africa... They found their way into the repetitious farm work of the early slaves and continued into the Jim Crow days and into the Civil Rights movement... And beyond...

If onw goes to any antiwar demonstration of any size these days, the hard African rhythum is there front and center with kids pounding African drums and chanting... The chants are converstations... They have two parts... The first is the question and the second is the answer... But underneath the words is the infectious rhythum of Africa... It almost doesn't matter what the words are... The rhythum in itself is revoultionary...

Like I said, the medium is the message...

Jus' my thoughts...

Bobert

Subject: RE: African American Protest Slogans & Songs
From: M.Ted
Date: 11 Oct 07 - 05:50 PM

Simple--the War in Iraq doesn't really pose any personal threat to them, the way the Vietnam war did.

Under the heading of "wrong lessons learned" when Nixon instituted the lottery, everyone whose birthday fell above the magic number knew they were safe--It knocked the wind out of the anti-war movement, which is just what it was intended to do. If a general conscription was implemented, the streets would be full of protesters in a New York minute--thats why it hasn't happened, and won't happen.

Subject: RE: African American Protest Slogans & Songs
From: GUEST,Neil D
Date: 11 Oct 07 - 12:31 PM

When will we ever learn, when will we ever learn.

   Unfortunately, I think sometimes the wrong lessons are learned.
I think today's students have taken this lesson from the past: Don't buck the system. Why aren't todays college students as outraged by the current illegal, immoral war the way students 40 years ago were about Vietnam? I apologize if this is thread drift.

Subject: RE: African American Protest Slogans & Songs
From: Azizi
Date: 11 Oct 07 - 01:19 AM

Neil, thanks for posting that chant that commemorates the tragic events at Kent State and at Jackson State.

It's too bad we don't learn from our history so we don't have to keep repeating its terrible parts.

Subject: RE: African American Protest Slogans & Songs
From: Neil D
Date: 11 Oct 07 - 12:03 AM

...I spent some time at work today reading through the interesting thread that you started regarding African American slogan and songs. I thought about posting a chant we used to do at May 4th memorials at Kent State in the '70's: Two, Four, Six, Eight, Remember Kent and Jackson State. The May 4th coalition always made a point of including a contingent from Jackson State to memorialize the much less publicized, but just as tragic, killing of African American students at Jackson State when police fired indescriminantly into a dormitory. This event happened just a few weeks after the Kent State shootings, but never drew the attention of the media like the white students at Kent State. Thus, the chant....

Subject: RE: African American Protest Slogans & Songs
From: M.Ted
Date: 09 Oct 07 - 07:53 AM

I didn't take your questions to be negative, or hostile, or anything like that--and yes, the demon factor on the internet is that we write in a conversational style, but things like tone of voice, which really imparts a lot of meaning in conversation, aren't there--

Anyway, my main point here is that the civil right movement, like the labor movement and the anti-war movement, used songs as tools for building solidarity--the songs were drawn from folk cultures, to be sure, but most of the people who sang them, on marches, at sit-ins, at rallys, etc, learned them as "Freedom Songs" and did not know them outside of that context--the songs were taught to people by organizers, though the singers may not have considered them to be folksingers rather than organizers.

Subject: RE: African American Protest Slogans & Songs
From: Azizi
Date: 08 Oct 07 - 07:23 AM

M.Ted, it's sometimes difficult to convey the spirit and intention of words over the internet. This morning, I re-read my questions to you about where and when you had heard African Americans singing civil rights songs and am concerned that you might have taken exception to the questions or how I phrased them.

I'm writing this post to try to convey that I was asking those questions in the spirit of an {albeit] amateur folklorist with the intent of eliciting demographical information that may be helpful in fleshing out a sense of when, where, who, and how civil rights songs are sung nowadays.

I certainly didn't mean to be interrogative in the negative sense of that word, and hope that you didn't take my questions that way.

Subject: RE: African American Protest Slogans & Songs
From: Azizi
Date: 08 Oct 07 - 12:27 AM

Here's some YouTube video links to civil rights songs:

Ruthie Foster - Woke Up This Mornin'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVRcMECcI2E


****
Joan Baez - We Want Our Freedom Now - We Shall Overcome
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHTjK1IyvJM


****

Joan Baez -Marching up to freedom land
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-np4Ke4o94E&NR=1

Subject: RE: African American Protest Slogans & Songs
From: Azizi
Date: 08 Oct 07 - 12:21 AM

Fwiw, here's the titles of civil rights songs {which I also call "freedom songs"} whose lyrics I've posted on my website:

Aint Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me 'Round

Certainly Lord

Hold On {also known as "Keep Your Eye On The Prize"}

If You Miss Me At The Back Of The Bus

I'm Gonna Sit At The Welcome Table

I'm On My Way {to [the] freedom land}

I Woke Up This Mornin' {with my mind on freedom}

Lift Every Voice And Sing -the African American national anthem

Maching 'Round Selma

No More Auction Block For Me {Many Thousands Gone}

Oh, Freedom

We Shall Not Be Moved

We Shall Overcome

Subject: RE: African American Protest Slogans & Songs
From: Azizi
Date: 08 Oct 07 - 12:13 AM

M Ted, I appreciate your comments.

I did not mean to imply that civil rights songs from the 1960s aren't known at all nowadays. I believe that some of them are better known than others, oerhaps because they were included in records or CDs, or videos or television shows, etc etc etc.

The religious versions of some civil rights songs are probably still sung at churches {such as "I'll Be Alright" which is the bases for "We Will Overcome". Or at least I hope that song is still sung in church. Tell you the truth, I haven't heard it sung that much in church for a long while...but then again I'm not a regular church goer so....

Also, a civil rights songs-such as "This Little Light Of Mine" have been adopted as children's songs, so it is still known, but I wonder if most people associate that song with the civil rights movement.
Btw, M Ted, t's interesting that you mention the call & response pattern of this song. Perhaps "This Little Light Of Mine" was originally composed as a call & response song, but I've never heard it sung with a call and response pattern. It's interesting how many call & response songs are sung in unison, now...But that's a whole 'nuther subject.

And Btw2, M Ted, you wrote "I know that a lot of these songs are still known by African-Americans, because I have heard them sung". I'm curious where {on which occassions} and when {years} did you hear them sung. The only time that I've heard "We Will Overcome" sung in the public was during a Martin Luther King Jr holiday program. And yes, it was an interracial gathering. And yes, people held hands and swayed back in forth with the music like it was done in the 1960s. But, my point is that this rendition of the song is more an exception and not the rule. But, yeah, people either knew the song or they caught on to the words easily [since the leader oft that song "lined" the verse by saying something like "We are not afraid", so the other singers would know that was the next verse of the song they were supposed to sing].

I wonder if there anyone's done a survey to find out how familiar people are with civil rights songs. I still have a sense that people aren't that familiar with a great many of these songs {Black people, White people, Green people-I don't mean the Green political party, I mean the Martians who live among us :o}

However, I have no way of proving this.
{that Martians live among us and a lot of folks regardless of race don't know these civil rights songs.

Subject: RE: African American Protest Slogans & Songs
From: M.Ted
Date: 07 Oct 07 - 10:38 PM

Incidentally, a lot of the songs were used in "call and response" style--this made them easy to teach while they were being sung--there are a good number of live recordings from the "good old days" in which songs are taught to the audience during a performance--this side of the audience sings "this little light of mine" and this side sings "I'm gonna let it shine", for example.

The best songs used powerful images, simply expressed, with lots of repetition. There weren't very many of them, but they were easy to learn, and easy to sing along with the first time you heard them. In fact, they were hard to forget--

Subject: RE: African American Protest Slogans & Songs
From: M.Ted
Date: 06 Oct 07 - 10:16 PM

Songs and singing were used by civil rights activists in the 60's as a way of bringing people together--there is no singing today simply because it's not one of the organizing tools that today's activists use--

I think that both the civil rights movement and the anti-war movement in the present time could use a lot of unifying-the reason for this is not because people don't sing together, but it certainly doesn't help--

I know that a lot of these songs are still known by African-Americans, because I have heard them sung-- Keep in mind that most of the civil rights songs became known because they were used in the movement, so it is likely that many more people know them now than knew them then, simply because they have been heard for fifty years, and they continue to be heard.

Subject: RE: African American Protest Slogans & Songs
From: Azizi
Date: 06 Oct 07 - 01:27 AM

Btw, I know that during 1960s civil rights marches, these freedom songs were also sung by non-Black people.

However, my comments about whether these songs are known nowadays are purposely limited to those people I am most familiar with-African Americans.

Subject: RE: African American Protest Slogans & Songs
From: Azizi
Date: 06 Oct 07 - 01:22 AM

Also, I would not be at all surprised if the overwhelming marjority of Black adults nowadays were unfamiliar with the words and tunes of freedom songs {civil rights songs} such as those posted on my website Cocojams

These songs aren't taught in schools or community centers. And most of them-or the original spirituals from which many were adapted-aren't usually sung in church. And these songs aren't featured on the radio or television music stations. So how are folks supposed to learn them?

And contrary to some commonly held opinions, most of the freedom songs aren't call & response songs. I mention this because it's easier to pick up the response part of these songs since the lyrics repeat themselves. But that is beside my point that I bet that many Black people don't know these words or tunes in the first place.

**

It just occurs to me that even the term "freedom song" is outdated. I get the sense that singing about freedom might be perceived by Black people as asking for freedom rather than demanding it ["it" meaning equality and justice]. It also occurs to me that singing about "freedom" has an old school Uncle Tomish flava to it despite the fact that 1960s civil rights demonstrators were the opposites of Uncle Toms and Aunt Jeminas.

This is just my sense. Obviously, I'm speaking only for myself and not as any spokesperson for any Black group let along for all 20 million plus African American people.

Subject: RE: African American Protest Slogans & Songs
From: Azizi
Date: 06 Oct 07 - 01:01 AM

Those are interesting points, Rowan.

I was going to write that in my opinion, it is very rare to see and hear African American adults singing any songs outdoors as individuals or as a group in settings other than singing to themselves along with an Ipod or CD, or singing publicly during a church service as part of the choir, or along with the choir, or during congregational songs; or at a professional concert {singing along with the artist/s}, or at a karoake bar {as the singer/s at whose turn it is on the microphone or singing along with the karoake singer}.

I have written on another Mudcat thread that based on my direct and indirect experiences, I don't believe that African Americans have the adult tradition of non-religious singalongs groups in nightclubs and/or at homes and indoor/outdoor community functions as it appears to be the case from the comments of other Mudcatters in the USA, Great Britain and elsewhere.

I am old enough to recall-as a teenager-hearing and observing {African American} men singing Doo Wop on street corners. I suppose some women did too, but if so I don't recall them doing so. But that was a long time ago. I don't see any men or women or teens singing or even rapping on street corners or any where else outside except as performers in formal street festivals.

In the African American community-and apparently elsewhere too, judging from my observations and Rowan's remarks, to a large degree adult singing has been reserved for professionals. Adults singing in public-indoors or outdoors-appears to be done on specific limited occassions. And marches and demonstrations don't appear to be one of these occassions. For adults to sing in public other than during those socially proscribed times would be considered to be embarrasing. And most folks don't want to be embarrassed.

Subject: RE: African American Protest Slogans & Songs
From: Rowan
Date: 05 Oct 07 - 08:53 PM

Azizi's comment

"It seems to me that these adapted spirituals were sung by protestors during marches, during church and community services before the actual protest, and while protestors were in jail to boost their morale, to forge unity, to motivate, encourage, strengthen resolve, provide emotional support, and provide solace to those protestors"

strikes a chord with some research I recall hearing discussed recently and I seem to recall it appearing in a Mudcat thread on whistling.

The singing that Azizi describes is the glue that forms and maintains a community. Many communities over at least the last millenium have been formed and maintained by people singing together and quite a few distinguish themselves from other groups (with whom they share so many similarities that they might all "be" one community) on the basis of what and how they sing together.

Singing by workers at rallies, strikes, pickets etc seems to have always been part of the Australian industrial landscape (and those of most English-speaking countries, I suspect) for a long time but, in recent years, the songs seem largely to have been replaced by chants. On hypothesised reason has been the gradual rise in emphasis on the individual as a singular entity rather than as part of a group. Mudcatters might be a biassed population sample, as many of us get into group singing and other forms of group music but, on a recent visit to Sydney I was fascinated to observe that more than 50% of the people walking through the streets were wearing earphones with mp3 players (mostly iPods) attached.

To me, this seems to be just the extension of music (and thus singing) as 'music for the person' rather than 'music of the people" and it has no 'automatic engagement' component that would stir the listener out of being a passive consumer into becoming an actively contributing participant.

But I'll keep on singing.

Cheers, Rowan

Subject: RE: African American Protest Slogans & Songs
From: Peace
Date: 05 Oct 07 - 11:50 AM

Good one, Azizi.

Subject: RE: African American Protest Slogans & Songs
From: Azizi
Date: 05 Oct 07 - 10:45 AM

Here's some websites which contain lyrics of freedom songs. These websites also contain commentary about the role of songs in the civil rights movement or commentary about the songs themselves:

http://www.historynow.org/06_2006/interactive.html
Songs Of The Civil Rights Movement

**
http://folkmusic.about.com/od/toptens/tp/CivilRightsSong.htm
Top 10 Civil Rights Songs

**

http://www.cocojams.com/freedom_songs.htm
Civil Rights Songs

Subject: RE: African American Protest Slogans & Songs
From: Azizi
Date: 05 Oct 07 - 10:36 AM

Thanks to all who have posted on this thread.

Kent Davis, I found your post to be particularly thought provoking. I largely agree with your points that protest songs may be scarcer now than in the 1960s because the reasonss for the protests are different now.

I believe that the spirituals-which as M Ted has written above-were adapted first by the labor movement-would be less effective in addresssing the more subtle issues of the uneven and harsher use of the criminal justice system for Black people than for White people.
It probably is much easier to sing "we'll go to jail/jail over bail" than "end jim crow [in]justice in Jena" [which was the message written on signs held by some protestors at the September 20, 2007 Jena 6 rally].

But maybe protest songs are not integral to African American protest movements now as they were in the 1960s because the reason why the songs were sung then is not operational now. It seems to me that these adapted spirituals were sung by protestors during marches, during church and community services before the actual protest, and while protestors were in jail to boost their morale, to forge unity, to motivate, encourage, strengthen resolve, provide emotional support, and provide solace to those protestors. The Black community at large in the towns where the protestors were active needed the emotional support and motivation, strengthening of resolve etc that these songs provided since retribution for the protestors' action could be leveled against them as well as against the protestors. Also, the community was asked to support the protestors by boycotting buses and stores etc-which was another hardship for them.

With the probably exception of the families of the Jena 6 students, I wonder how much danger and negative consequences the Jena 6 protestors have had to face on that day and as a result of their participation in that rally. My sense in that the 30,000 or more people who participated in the Jena 6 rally in Louisiana and those who participated in rallies in support of the Jena 6 throughout the USA knew that they weren't in imminent risk of being jailed, or being beated by police wielding billy clubs. And these contemporary marchers didn't need to sing to keep their courage up because they weren't in danger of being attacked by police dogs and pulmetted by water from fire hoses. Also, the modern day civil rights protestors probably didn't face the possible lost of their jobs or their lives as was the case with the 1960s freedom riders and civil rights protestors in the deep South.

The civil rights songs helped to keep up people's spirits. From my reading about the Jena 6 rally, the spirits of people were already up. For instance, I've read descriptions of the mood of that event was festive.

That's the same mood that I remember feeling when I participated in the 1963 March On Washington.

I'm not discounting the power of the positive energy that is generated and felt by folks marching together for a cause. But it seems to me that civil rights songs were most needed during the smaller marches when people faced real danger and needed the energy that those songs gave.

Subject: RE: African American Protest Slogans & Songs
From: M.Ted
Date: 05 Oct 07 - 08:11 AM

It has always been my impression that the use of singing and chanting, as well as the marches, sit-ins and other protest activities were drawn directly from the labor movement. Highlander Folk School played a critical role in training labor activists in the 30's and 40's and it went on to train the civil rights activists, such as Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, and Stokely Carmichael in the 50's and 60's--

Guy Carawan was there, as was Pete Seeger, and they worked with Zilphia Horton, who was a folklorist/labor activist, and who had been collecting songs and adapting them for use in the movement since the 30's--

The person who really knows about this all is Frank Hamilton--who was there---

Subject: RE: African American Protest Slogans & Songs
From: sian, west wales
Date: 05 Oct 07 - 04:49 AM

Any ideas how other movements may have influenced these protest chants (and songs)? i.e. labo(u)r movements / unions ?

sian

Subject: RE: African American Protest Slogans & Songs
From: M.Ted
Date: 05 Oct 07 - 01:24 AM

I think it is important to note that the Civil Rights movement was a coordinated, coopertive effort, and that the songs, slogans, and tactics for each the marches were all carefully thought out--I think that there is little awareness now that many people worked very hard to create the music that was always at the center of the movement--there is a great documentary on the song, "We Shall Overcome" that discusses this--

Subject: RE: African American Protest Slogans & Songs
From: topical tom
Date: 04 Oct 07 - 06:05 PM

One well-known slogan in a song is "keep your eyes on the prize,hold on ".I well remember this being sung so well by Guy Carawan, a prominent figure in the civil rights movement.I first heard it sung by Guy at a folk festival in Kingsland Bay State Park, on Lake champlain in Vermont.I had heard him sing at Bishop's Unvivesity 40 years before!As Utah Philips humorously quipped he was a "   walking suppository of
knowledge " about the history of that song.

Subject: RE: African American Protest Slogans & Songs
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 04 Oct 07 - 06:57 AM

Nice job Azzizi.

Sincerely
Gargoyle

Subject: RE: African American Protest Slogans & Songs
From: sian, west wales
Date: 04 Oct 07 - 06:45 AM

I was just thinking that the protests of the '60s in the USA were certainly fuel for protest planning in Wales - mostly linked with independence or legislative devolution for Wales or Welsh language rights. I wasn't here at the time so I don't know what specific songs were used, although Dafydd Iwan certainly made his translation/ adaptation of "This Land is Your Land" hugely popular (and it remains so to this day). That may not 'count'; I don't know if it played any role in African American protests.

Welsh poet Gwyn Thomas translated the "I have a dream" speech which was set to music by Dr Meredydd Evans, an active nationalist and language campaigner as well as one of the great song tradition bearers of Wales. It was then made hugely popular by singer Heather Jones.

And the clenched fist salute is often seen at Welsh rock and 'pop' festivals - usually late at night, involving a fair bit of alcohol, and by people who are probably too busy in their every-day lives to pull their fingers out and do something constructive for the cause in question. Possibly don't even vote. Weekend rebels.

Singing was certainly a big part of the Greenham Common community in Britain, protesting at the American air base. I wonder if songs are not so prevalent in marches any more because of the sound bite culture of the media - you can pack a lot of message into a few seconds of a chant where no news report would be long enough to include enough of a song to get a message across. Perhaps it could even be argued that in the '60s and '70s songs would never have been well-known if it was just a matter of hearing them on marches; I learned the ones I know because my 'pop' music of the day was Baez, Collins, etc. Might even include Gordon Lightfoot, as "Black day in July" was big with my crowd; possibly not so much so in the States - if memory serves, it was banned, at least in some USA Media?

sian

Subject: RE: African American Protest Slogans & Songs
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 28 Sep 07 - 06:31 AM

Thread drift, but hopefully appropriate:

Black history museum opens online

[quote]
The Associated Press
Updated: 12:25 p.m. CT Sept 26, 2007

WASHINGTON - The Smithsonian Institution's museum dedicated to black history and culture launches this week with an interactive Web site — long before its building opens for visitors on the National Mall.

Social-networking technology donated by IBM Corp. will allow visitors to help produce content for future exhibits at the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Almost anything is fair game — long essays, short vignettes of memories or recorded oral histories. The museum plans to add video capabilities in the future.

The museum was to announce the site's debut Wednesday.

"The culture of the African American experience ... is too important to wait five or 10 years until the building is open," said Lonnie Bunch, the museum's founding director. "I wanted people to know that from the day I was hired, this museum exists."

Museum staff will monitor the site for historical accuracy, and technical filters will block racist or inappropriate comments, said Bunch, adding that the site is really a "virtual museum" and a new source of research for curators and scholars.
[endquote]

More at the link.

The direct link to the museum site is:

the National Museum of African American History and Culture

John

Subject: RE: African American Protest Slogans & Songs
From: wysiwyg
Date: 27 Sep 07 - 09:03 AM

Rowan, that was a wonderfully clear and moving sketch of a number of interwoven complexities-- you not only have learned how to SEE, but to SAY, and I thank you.

~Susan

Subject: RE: African American Protest Slogans & Songs
From: Rowan
Date: 26 Sep 07 - 06:43 PM

G'day Susan,
After WWII the remnants of the various colonial era empires (mostly British but also the newly independent Indonesia) collaborated on a development scheme whereby the more affluent entities provided assistance to the less affluent ones. In the same way that international agreements take their name from where they were formally signed by Heads of Govt (HoGs, for short), this one, signed off in Colombo, became known as the Colombo Plan. The component that most in Oz would remember or have heard of involved the Oz govt providing scholarships to students from India, Ceylon (as it was at the time), Malaya (ditto), SIngapore, Indonesia and Fiji; there may have been others but these are the ones I remember. The scholarships supported students' attendance at high school (from what Americans would call "Middle School", to Year 12), places like RMIT (now a uni and not unlike MIT or CalTech) and university. They were expected to return to their home country and spread their skills to accelarate their homeland's development.

Northcote High, where I was a student, was one of (what was then called) the Central Zone high schools in Melbourne, where the quality of education was regarded as exemplary and so had quite a few Colombo Plan students. In that era and that locality, Colombo Plan students were the only non-angloceltic people we "saw"*. One of them, a Fijian Indian, was a particular mate of mine.

* I write "saw" advisedly, as Aboriginal people were not noticed by those of us from what anthropologists might call "the dominant community". My Religious Instruction teacher was a man who we all took pride in knowing, as he was "famous"; he was a star in the Fitzroy Football Team (Premier League, Australian Rules) and he taught us RI!!!. Many years later, Pastor Doug Nicholls became Governor of South Australia, the first Aboriginal person to reach such heights, and it was somewhere in between that I realised the extent of my (and my community's) blindness; Northcote and Fitzroy had always been centres for the Aboriginal community in Melbourne and still are. I have been lucky enough to have been given the opportunity to learn to see.

Cheers, Rowan

Subject: RE: African American Protest Slogans & Songs
From: wysiwyg
Date: 26 Sep 07 - 09:08 AM

Rowan, what was the Colombo Plan?

~Susan

Subject: RE: African American Protest Slogans & Songs
From: Rowan
Date: 25 Sep 07 - 11:25 PM

Definitely an interesting thread. And I gather that today is the 50th anniversary of the Little Rock Nine's escorted entrance to Central High School. I remember the event stirring quite a bit of interest at my Oz high School, which had quite a few Colombo Plan students at that time.

Cheers, Rowan

Subject: RE: African American Protest Slogans & Songs
From: Kent Davis
Date: 25 Sep 07 - 10:59 PM

Thanks for an interesting thread.
I've been thinking about why 60s-style protest songs have been (apparently) scarce in recent protest marches, while chants have (apparently) been common. Two possible reasons come to mind:
1. In the 60s, at least in the Jim Crow South, a major purpose of the songs was to encourage the African Americans to RESIST (bad) laws. Now the purpose of protests is more typically to encourage WHITE Americans to STOP resisting (good) laws. Perhaps songs are better at encouraging the singers, and chants are better for shaming those listening.
2. In the 60s, protests were often in support of African Americans who had been arrested, but whose crimes were nothing that was inherently criminal. Instead they had committed inherently innocent acts (like riding in the front of the bus) that had been made into crimes by bad laws. In the last two decades, protests have often been "in support of" African Americans who were arrested for inherently criminal acts. (I put the phrase "in support of" in quotes because no one, I hope, is truly "in support of" actions like Mychal Bell's. Rather, the protests were in support of treating all crimes with an appropriate degree of severity, regardless of the skin color of the criminal.)
If one is singing in support of, say, Rosa Parks, then a song derived from a Spiritual such as "We Shall Overcome" might seem right. If one were to try singing "We Shall Overcome" in response to, say, the beating of Rodney King, I suspect it would ring hollow. One would not wish to portray a harshly-treated criminal as if he were a martyr.
What do you think?
Kent

Subject: RE: African American Protest Slogans & Songs
From: Jeri
Date: 25 Sep 07 - 08:21 PM

So I'd 'known' that bit about 'ungawa' for years and years, but apparently the word was invented for the Tarzan TV show. Although some of the words he spoke WERE Swahili, 'ungawa' wasn't. It was a general-purpose command, like 'make it so'. Find cool Swahili words here.

Subject: RE: African American Protest Slogans & Songs
From: Jeri
Date: 25 Sep 07 - 06:49 PM

I agree - it's easy enough to ignore. I have some fairly strong objections to calling it the "Black American civil Rights movement".

I believe in giving credit when it's due, but lots of people sang the songs and they worked damned hard for DEsegregation and now, the music should be segregated?! I find the thread a bit offensive for that reason as well as another I don't feel is worth mentioning. I know Azizi didn't mean to convey what I feel and I also know I've also pissed people off accidentally, so I'll just stop with this.

Before I go back to lurking, 'ungawa' is a Swahili word that means 'di di mao', which means, 'let's move it'.

Subject: RE: African American Protest Slogans & Songs
From: Peace
Date: 25 Sep 07 - 03:15 PM

So don't read it.

Subject: RE: African American Protest Slogans & Songs
From: katlaughing
Date: 25 Sep 07 - 02:34 PM

Azizi, why don't you put all of this in a blog; it's the way it reads.