American Labor Movement

Before 1900 people worked long hours for low wages. They were laws to protect the workers, but not good enough to protect the working conditions. The labor movement then began as people started to cooperate to improve their work conditions. They created labor unions to help workers get organized for their rights. Unions faced difficult battles. Workers died while trying to achieve their rights. Labor movement, as an author says, is the last noble protest of the American people against the power of incorporated wealth. Joe Hill was known for making songs that talk about the feelings of workers and his opinions about the whole society. Joe Hill also was one of the workers who suffered and did not have the rights to speak out loud. His song ‘I thought I heard Joe Hill last night’ is a song about someone who saw Joe Hill in his dream. The person could not really believe that he saw him because Joe Hill got killed. Joe Hill then says in the dream that he would never die. This song actually explains us that even though Joe Hill is not present physically, he is still alive in the hearts of the workers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8Kxq9uFDes&feature=player_embedded#at=20

People during the time of the American Labor Movement, needed someone or something to give them power and strength. When songs came up, workers created a big motivation to continue fighting for their rights. Joe Glazer explains us that music was the key thing to bring workers together. In other words, he said that music is a great weapon in the battle.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaQ7qWo6120&feature=player_embedded
The article “Industrial and the Rise of Labor Music” has some great examples. The article says that songs, like some of Joe Hill’s songs called for direct action on the part of the laboring masses.

As I said earlier, songs gave people motivation and the strength to achieve their goals. The songs are still important for us today because they remind us how people suffered and what kind of big changes the American Labor Movement created. One of the songs is the one from Utah Phillips called “Pie in the sky.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhhzElzTZJw

Blog assignment 1

"We Are Soldiers in the Army" ft. Freedom Singers

The purpose of this blog is to get to know better for what the songs are written or what meanings these songs have. This course introduces us to the social and political changes that happened in the past and the impact the music had on them.  From the American Labour Movement Wobblies to the Singing Revolution in Estonia, and from Civil Rights freedom songs to Apartheid protest songs in South Africa, this course will explore how music has united people, raised awareness of controversial issues, and effected change in society and politics. I personally took this class because of two reasons. First, I am majoring in International Relations and I thought this kind of music will help me to know the history of different countries better. Another reason is that I never joined a music class before and I thought this one would be a good and new experience for me. As I said earlier, I hope I will get to know better what music really means and what effect it had on people and their opinions on social and political issues.

            http://www.folkways.si.edu/explore_folkways/civil_rights.aspx

           

            The group named Freedom Singers was formed in1962 in Albany, Georgia. It included four singers, Cordell Hull Reagon, Bernice Johnson, Charles Neblett, Matthew Jones and Rutha Harris. Their goals were to raise money for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and to unite other African Americans in the cause of integration. Their music became powerful freedom songs. The most important topic for them was the Civil Rights Movement. They used traditional Black American music to introduce their topic.

Their songs and music played an important role in the Civil Rights movement because the people in this group were participants in the Civil Rights Movement. Their lyrics described the experiences of the Nashville Freedom Riders. Some songs used humor and irony to make their point. The song “We Shall Overcome” is referred to as the anthem of the Civil Rights Movement. Many singers were singing this song, including the Freedom Singers. This song and many others of the Civil Rights Movement speak deeply of the nonviolent resistance, and spirit of this turbulent time. The Freedom Singers songs wrote lyric to give hope to people who went through this and to make them walk hand in hand and not feel alone, no matter what will happen. Therefore, people while listening to these songs became stronger and had more confidence. The freedom songs also reflected their roots in African American cultural tradition.

http://www.bernicejohnsonreagon.com/freedomsingers.shtml 

I was drawn to this group because of their issue they addressed which was The Civil Rights Movement. By listening to their songs, I got a better view of how people suffered and what made them continue to belief in their dreams and hopes. As I said before, I am interested in knowing better what effect music had on people and this group really showed me that freedom songs were a great help at that time to keep the society together and unite African Americans in the cause of integration. As a member of the group explained; sometimes it is hard to change inside. Sometimes love is a hard thing to get back, but we are soldiers in the army and we will not stop fighting.

Blog assignment 4

Diversity appreciation is important in the 21^st century because one has to understand the opinions and beliefs of others.  Diversity strengthens society and gives people room to expand their thoughts, traditions, and beliefs.  Staten Island suffered from the pain they had. Therefore, they decided to bring people together. They worked with the Mediation Center and educated people on how to communicate and resolve conflicts without using violence.

In the beginning they brought together many Islanders with different backgrounds for a ‘pot-luck’ dinner. They had different people, such as political leaders, religious leaders and more who shared their feelings with interested Islanders. Later, they planned to make activities that actually are for children. They read out loud of children’s book, made a puppet show which represented one culture and etc. Then they created the Mosaic Coalition, which was a ‘’education through interaction’’. This helped to educate each other. In order to achieve this goal, they needed volunteers. Therefore, they decided to sent e-mails to college faculty and staff, college students, and community schools. By doing this they finally created  Celebrate Diversity. Many project came up, such as cooking project, documentary project, and so on.

Diversity appreciation is important at Westminster College because we have so many different cultures. As we realized in class, people are not collaborating with each other so well. Diversity appreciation would be the best solution for Westminster College. People with different culture, beliefs, and opinions could meet with each other and share their knowledge.  They could play games, which has to do with culture. They could meet once a months and talk about things that happened. This would make it easier for everyone to live freely and happy. A better relationship would have been created.