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