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.