The Civil Rights Movement

The African-American Civil Rights Movement (1955–1968) refers to the movements in the United States aimed at outlawing racial discrimination against African Americans and restoring voting rights in Southern states. Music played an important role in this movement in terms of bringing the people together in the communities, such as the churches and unite them under one cause, and encourage them to keep fighting for their legal rights as citizens of the United States. The name Freedom Songs then was given to the songs that were sung by the people. “If you listen to recordings of mass meetings, you will find, many times, people singing -- and you need to imagine that everybody in the church is singing. That is congregational singing. It is the kind of singing I grew up with in the Black church, in school, on the playground....” said Mrs. Reagon. Also, what made these songs easy to sing was they all had familiar melodies to most of the people so they can be involved and feel the effect of music while singing.

Here is the link to the essay written by Berince Johnson Reagon in regarding to music and the Civil Rights Movement.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/eyesontheprize/reflect/r03_music.html

                Freedom Songs were congregational; they were sung unrehearsed in the tradition of the Afro-American folk church . . . The core song repertoire was formed from the reservoir of Afro-American traditional song performed in the older style of singing. This music base was expanded to include most of the popular Afro-American music forms and singing techniques of the period. From this reservoir, activist song leaders made a new music for a changed time. Lyrics were transformed, traditional melodies were adapted and procedures associated with old forms were blended with new forms to create freedom songs capable of expressing the force and intent of the movement.

These are links for more information about the freedom songs.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/eyesontheprize/story/09_summer.html#music

http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=123599617&m=123606957

                Finally, after years of suffrage, we now see the black community as equal as the white community. A great example of that is the President of the United States as he is the First black president in the United States. Without the fight by the black people back in the 1950s, none of what we see now could have been achieved. Therefore, we owe them our respect and admiration.

Here is a link to the celebration of the Black History Month at the White House that shows how important this event is not only for the Black people, but to country as a whole.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/entertainment/jan-june10/music_02-11.html

The Power of Broadside Ballads

Bob Dylan (May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter, poet, and painter. He has been a major figure in music for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler, and an apparently reluctant figurehead, of social unrest. Though he is well-known for revolutionizing perceptions of the limits of popular music in 1965 with the six-minute single "Like a Rolling Stone," a number of his earlier songs such as "Blowin in the Wind" and "The Times They Are a-Changin" became anthems for the US civil rights and anti-war movements.

"Blowin' in the Wind" is a song written by Bob Dylan and released on his 1963 album. Although it has been described as a protest song, it poses a series of questions about peace, war and freedom. The refrain "The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind" has been described as "impenetrably ambiguous: either the answer is so obvious it is right in your face, or the answer is as intangible as the wind." In 1999, the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. In 2004, it was ranked #14 on Rolling Stone magazines' list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time."

http://broadsidemagazine.com/#
 
On this link, there is a newly written song that deals with issues that are facing us in the mean time, such as global warming. The singer uses the same melody as blowing in the wind but with his own lyrics. And this makes this song a perfect contemporary broadside ballad, as the melody is taken from a famous song and the songs deals with a temporary issue, which is the purpose of broadside ballads.

I believe that broadside ballads are a powerful weapon during all times. This is because the ballads deal with any contemporary issue, no matter how big or small it is. Also, they are meant to be sung and shared with the whole public, not to a specific group of people. Furthermore, the ballads are easy to sing, as they are on the same melody of other famous songs. And this what makes it so special, as it can bring all the people together and awaking them to an issue they are facing and the need to take an action. “The answer my friend, is blowin in the wind, the answer is blowin in the wind.”    

American Labor Movement from Joe Hill to Joe Glazer

No single person contributed more to the development of the genre of political music in the American Labor Movement than Joe Hill. His story continues to be legendary among labor organizers and their followers, even after his death in 1915. Until now, one can still hear the influence of Joe Hill's music in contemporary works in this genre performed by groups and individuals as diverse as Billy Bragg and The Rolling Stones. After he joined the Industrial Workers of the World (I.W.W.) he was always leading many organizational efforts of that same labor movement. He then started to compose his songs that dealt with the labor inequality. He was such a prodigious composer of the motivational labor songs, and laborers and their organizers sang his songs during their activities. The song "I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill Last Night" is one of the great examples that show his influence even after his death. The main point of this song, which was composed by Alfred Hays, is to tell the people that even Joe Hill is dead, but he is still alive in the hearts of the labors. 

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8Kxq9uFDes

The music during the American Labor Movement has emerged in virtually every setting in which there are industries. During the time of Joe Hill, the songs were passionate diatribes against the wealthy elite and their exploitive behavior. As for Joe, he pulled no punches in his lyrics, and his strong and graphic language remains a signature characteristic of his work. The songs were sung to melodies that were well-known during these days. Music was also described by Joe Glazer as a great extra weapon in the battles for freedom.

This is a link to what Joe Glazer has to say regarding Music in the American Labor Movement.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaQ7qWo6120

"The Preacher and the Slave" considered Hill's masterpiece, was initially printed in the 1911 edition of the LITTLE RED SONGBOOK; it was his first contribution to the collection. The song mocked organized religion and the Salvation Army, whose sidewalk brass bands broadcasting a message of heavenly redemption were the Wobblies' (I.W.W.) main competition for the hearts and minds of the down and out. Referring to it as the "Starvation Army," the song mocked their lack of compassion for the temporal needs of struggling laborers and their siding with the bosses. In its last verses, the song urged workers to stand together, organize, and, when the bosses were defeated and asked how they were going to eat, tell them to learn to chop wood and cook. Even though this song was written 100 years ago, but we still see the labor inequality around the world. 

This is the link to the song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ca_MEJmuzMM

Diversity Appreciation

Diversity appreciation is not only important in our lives, but rather essential so we can understand each other easily; whether we were from different nations or only follow different believes. As of today, globalization has taken over the world and diversity appreciation is important as we should know who we are dealing with, so we do not offense anyone with a comment. Also, we get a better view on their backgrounds. Because we definitely are meeting people from different ethnic and religious groups everyday in our lives. 

The Staten Island community is a great example on diversity appreciation, especially after 9/11 as they got together and tried to diminish the tension between each other. This comes as the Mosaic Coalition was created, which is a campus-community partnership created by Wagner College and the New York Center for Interpersonal Development. They believed that they could start by having a dialogue within their community. There was high tension during the talks which included people from different backgrounds. However, after a while, they all went back as before and forgot about the hatred that was generated after the 9/11 attacks. Moreover, they created more and varied opportunities for people to explore and reflect on their differences. Such as giving some groups the opportunity to showcase their cultures at the free annual Celebrate Diversity! event. In which intercultural awareness should overcome ignorance and intolerance.  They also went to cultural centers, to temples, to mosques to get the community groups and their leaders to meet and tell them about this event, Celebrate Diversity! Some other things that they did and needed to do to make this event come true are: fundraising which the students of Wagner College helped in. The art and essay contest as the educators and school staff were also wanted to attend. Cooking project, documentary project and diversity engagement week, which included children's area, the marketplace, performances and most importantly, the food court. Finally, these were the things that the Staten Island community have done to reestablish the relationships between different ethnic groups and also to educate people about other cultures.

At Westminster College, we need to start appreciating diversity. We have all kinds of people in our campus, from the Far East to the far west including 67 countries and all different believes. Therefore, it is our duty to go out and explore these cultures while they are nearby before these students leave and we miss the chance of learning about new cultures. Some of this steps that we should take is to step out of our comfort zone and take the initiative to start talking to new people that we have not talked to before who have a different backgrounds than we do.    

Broadside Ballad

Broadside ballads are songs that are intended to address current social or political issues. The broadside ballad came to live a bit shortly after the birth of the printing press were broadsheets about the size of handbills on which were printed the text of ballads. A simple woodcut often headed the sheet, and under the title it was specified that the ballad was to be sung to the tune of some popular song that the majority of the people knew. If not to a popular song, then the musical notations are usually included. From the 16th century until the end of the 19th century, broadsides were also known as street ballads, stall ballads or slip songs.
Broadside ballad is important because it is not just a typical song that is performed by a singer, but rather, it is mainly performed by a group of people, such as farmers, worker or any other group that is facing some issues and would like to raise their voices. It is also important as when they sing it as a group, they will be more motivated to take an action as these lyrics and the meanings that they revel is supposed to change their feelings.

                "Which side are you on?"  Is the song that stole my attention this time. This song was written in 1931 by Florence Reece when she was 12 years old. She is an American social activist, poet and folksong writer. She was married to a coal miner. She wrote that song during the strike by the United Mine Workers of America, where the miners faced a bitter time and struggle with the owners. Pete Seeger learned this song in 1940, and in the following year it was recorded by Almanac Singers in which it gained a wide audience.

This is a youtube link to Pete Seeger version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iAIM02kv0g

                In my opinion, I think that broadside ballad plays a big role in our societies. It does not have to be in one region or sung in a certain language. It could be performed at anytime and anywhere. The importance of it is that, it can express any issue the society is going through, no matter what it is. It could be as big as a political issue, or as small as changing a school policy. I also would like to mention what makes it different from a typical song, which is: it is sung by any group of people. And the purpose behind that is to move their emotions and get them motivated.

We Are Soldiers in the Army

Dear all,

This is my first post ever on a blog. It feels kind of exciting, as I will be posting weekly from now on in relating to Music of Resistance, Revolution & Liberation, which is the title of my music class here at Westminster College. I will touch and write about different social, political and religious issues inside the United Stats and the Globe as a whole. Furthermore, videos and links will be posted to illustrate and support the issue that we are dealing with. I chose this course because as a young person I don't have much knowledge about the suffrage that others, in the past- present,  from different cultures and ethnic groups have experienced and went through. So I joined this interesting course just to have broader perspective on how music could change someone's live or even a whole country. And I hope to leave this course with new views about music and bigger hopes to have a better world to live in.

One of the videos that drew my attention is "We Are Soldiers of the Army" by Freedom Singers. This is the link for the clip: http://www.folkways.si.edu/video/usa.aspx
The Freedom Singers is a band that was founded in 1962 by Cordell Reagon, Bernice Johnson, Matthew Jones, Charles Neblett and Rutha Mae Harris. This band helped through their songs to organize, shape and inspire the Civil Rights Movement.

The main purpose of "We Are Soldiers of the Army" and other freedom songs they performed is the African-American struggle for their civil rights and equality, as it is mentioned in the clip that colored people were not allowed to get on the buses, nor sit around  white peoples' fountain. And now it is time to change the peoples' hearts from racism to equality.

Here is an additional site about the history of the Freedom Singers and their mission: http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-3670

I would like to conclude this post by illustrating the reason that made me choose this clip. As I am from Iraq, this reminds me of the civil war that occurred in that region during 2006-2007 where thousands of people were left dead. During  these two years, songs were sang to unite people again, and they succeeded. And again, this is one instance that I lived through that was diminished by music. Which could be seen as a proof on how music could change a whole country.

Thank you,

Abdullah Al-Hadeethi