Has music ever significantly changed the course of history? (John Locke ‘24)

Written By Jamie Lam

Apollo is shown offering a libation; Attic white-ground kylix, 480-470 BC (Archaeological Museum of Delphi)

Thesis: Music as a vital component of the cognitive praxis of the Civil Rights Movement reconstructed the structures of feeling, human agency, and the collective consciousness to fight for change. Won the High Commendation Award in the History Category in the John Locke Global Essay Competition 2024 (Top 3%).

On July 31, 1959, armed officials raided the Highlander Folk School in Monteagle, Tennessee, a key hub for the burgeoning civil rights movement. This raid was not unusual. As the shrieks of violence pierced the tense atmosphere, music emerged to combat the fear. Those huddled in the dark began humming “We Shall Overcome”, and it was then that Mary Ethel Dozier, a 15-year-old black student, invented the now-familiar lines, “We are not afraid. We are not afraid. We are not afraid today.” [1] Dozier’s verse echoed throughout the school, and now echoes throughout the muniments of history.


Dozier’s improvised verse would become the anthem of the Civil Rights Movement. Alongside other freedom songs like “Alabama”, and “Mississippi Goddam”, music galvanised and propelled the Civil Rights Movement forward. [2] But can we truly measure their impact? To what extent did this song, or more specifically, freedom songs, play a significant role in shaping the outcome of the Civil Rights Movement?


To begin answering these questions, we must first define what it means to have “significantly changed the course of history”. Seixas postulates that significant historical events include those resulting in great change over long periods of time for large numbers of people. [3] On these grounds, significance would correspond to the event's inherent impact and magnitude. For music to be considered critical in changing the course of history, this “great change” must thus be impossible without it. 


To answer the question, this essay will examine the case study of the 1946 to 1968 American Civil Rights Movement, principally for its alignment with Sexisas’s criterion for significant historical change. This is evident in its success widely agreed upon by historians [4] , resulting in drastic legislative overhauls that secured legal protections for African Americans. Policy success was most clearly manifested by passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act. [5]


As such, this essay argues that music has significantly changed the course of history as a catalyst for societal reform. It achieved this on two levels through the Civil Rights Movement. Firstly, it connected groups of people emotionally, sparking mobilisation through a sense of unity. Secondly, it sustained and amplified evolving societal currents of thought, eventually resulting in societal reform.


Firstly, music was pivotal in inspiring, mobilising, and giving voice to the Civil Rights Movement. Music and the movement were so closely entwined, in fact, that the evolution of music in the black freedom struggle mirrored the movement's own development. [6] Martin LutherLuthur King Jr. famously said that “The freedom songs are playing a strong and vital role in our struggle… They give the people new courage and a sense of unity. I think they keep alive a faith, a radiant hope, in the future, particularly in our most trying hours.” [7] The music culture of the movement emboldened activism. Because the key characteristic of freedom music was that it was congregational, freedom songs suffused each singer with the summed power of the whole. Regularly, congregational freedom songs would be sung at Black Churches in which the movement was planned and organised. Bernice Reagon stated that “freedom songs (were) documents created by a collective voice… it was galvanising, it pulled us together… it was powerful music, the freedom songs.” [8] These songs expressed freedom in the face of danger and oppression, embodying grief, happiness or courage among many other feelings– serving as foundational mechanisms for unity in the black community. [9] 


Why is this important? Music helps to recruit and marshal protest, constructing group solidarity and unity. Roscigno, Danaher, and Summers-Effler (2002) highlight the power of music as a uniting force. Early 20th-century20th century southern textile workers constructed a collective identity through music and song by shifting the blame of   labour problems onto company owners. This in turn emboldened collective organisation and protest by signalingsignalling to the community that exploitation was a shared experience. [10] In this way, music can be seen as a form of rebellion against the status quo. Its main impact is on the cognitive understanding of listeners who come to problematize previously acceptable social norms, acting to change them according to lyrical representations. 


What emerges is a broad collective consciousness which serveds as both cognitive codes and living sources of collective identity– [11] William A. Gamson noted that "students of social movements emphasise the importance of collective action frames in inspiring and legitimating actions and campaigns" [12]. This collective consciousness and unity thus sustained mobilisation on a monumental scale.  Especially for the illiterate, key ideas of the movement could be articulated more easily through song, giving any one person access to feelings and thoughts shared by larger collectivities. Ward thus concludes that the real strength of black-oriented music was its “ability to dramatise and celebrate shared aspects of the black experience”, to “give shape and form to barely apprehended hopes, dreams and aspirations.” [13] This in turn allowed the movement to create and solidify a fund of shared memories and identity.


The Albany Movement demonstrated this. Founded on 17 November 1961, the Albany Movement carried out sit-ins and protests on a massive scale. The Albany movement was described by Bernice Reagon as “ a singing movement” [14]— at mass meetings, congressional singing was used by the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) to allow blacks to reinvent their identities. [15] 


Music was used to recruit blacks in the Southsouth who felt inferior and unworthy. [16] By singing powerful songs as a community, they were able to reinvent their culture-imposed identities. Instead of being the “stupid, lazy, and immoral people” that whites portrayed them as, they became courageous freedom fighters. [17] Music hence emerged as a tool that allowed blacks to feel powerful and emotionally connected to the struggle. A massive growth in activists and followers came forth. [18] It is here the significance of music is evident in its ability to convey and mobilise the ideas of the Southernsouthern movement.

Music served to sustain the momentum of the movement further. At mass meetings and through publications, musicians collaborated with ethnomusicologists and song collectors to disseminate songs to activists. These songs served to lift morale. They motivated participants through lengthy protests, for psychological strength against harassment and brutality, or even simply to pass the time. As a consistent force of support and solidarity, music was ubiquitous– instrumental not only in the initial mobilisation but also in sustaining the momentum of the movement. 

The primary rebuke against this essay’s line of argumentation is the historian’s structuralist argument. Some historians contend that the Civil Rights Movement was primarily driven by structural prerequisites, arguing that favourable social conditions were the key factor in meaningful change. [19] From this perspective, music is viewed merely as a contributing factor amongst many. Social movement scholars such as McAdam and Tarrow have asserted that favourable political opportunity structure results in social protest being more likely to occur. [20] [21] Indeed, such a structure had developed prior to the rise of the movement. As McAdam (1982) argued, by the time the movement began, Blacks had gained significant political power through the Northern Black vote, which could advance a Black agenda. [22]


Additional evidence supporting this argument is the politics of the Cold War. With the US and the Soviet Union vying for influence in newly independent third World countries, American racism hindered US efforts to win over African nations. This suggests that external pressure contributed to the Civil Rights Movement's success. Similarly, the advancement of communication technologies in the 1950s, such as the widespread ownership of televisions (owned by over 90% of American households by 1960 [23] ) and the launch of communication satellites in the early 1960s, provided a platform for millions to become aware of Black protests.The proliferation of communication technologies enabled the movement to gain traction domestically and internationally. Rather than the influence of music, broader systemic changes were primary drivers of success. 


Consequently, this traditional historical process lies in imposing fixed analytical frameworks onto actors within social movements. I disagree on the grounds that this argument fails to consider that the mere existence of favourable conditions does not guarantee collective action. Inherently, agency is required for such action to occur. People must believe that collective action can lead to change. Then and only then can an oppositional consciousness be developed that critiques the status quo. This belief must be strong enough to motivate sacrifices, such as risking physical well-being, job loss, and time. [24] The ontological choice to see the Civil Rights Movement in terms of structure is to completely overlook human agency and the role of culture within this context. Structural prerequisites may facilitate collective action, but without human agency, they remain unrecognised and unexploited.


I have discussed the significance of human agency as the catalyst towards societal reform, and its role in mobilisation. Lastly, this essay seeks to exemplify the inherent significance of music as a form of cognitive praxis [25] that acts as a cultural communicator. As Eyerman notes, culture is something that forms or "frames" social movements and other social activities as “a set of external conditioning factors." [26] Anne Swidler states, "culture shapes action by defining what people want and how they imagine they can get it" [27]. Building on these arguments, I view music as a “structure of feeling” [28] as first postulated by historian Raymond Williams. Unlike explicit beliefs or ideologies, the concept describes the underlying ethos that shapes people’s ways of thinking in a more subtle and pervasive way. [29] It represents the undercurrent values, attitudes, and collective experiences of a society.


As a structure of feeling, music emerges as that which articulates the emerging oppositional ideas to the dominant culture through cultural expression. To understand this clearly, we can analyse songs from a cognitive perspective. For example, Bob Dylan’s “The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll'' and “Only a Pawn in Their Game” denounce social inequality, race, and class privilege – representing the foundational cosmology of the Civil Rights Movement. By breaking down the barriers between the knowledgeable and the ignorant by taking up controversial issues in an accessible way, the song breaks down the barriers created in a class and race-dividedrace divided community. [30] As an incipient cultural formation within a movement’s culture, the songs invite participation in an accessible way. [31] Jamison asserts that social movements affecteffect significant cultural reform by interacting with the established practices of the dominant culture. Through this rich musical culture, the movement could “reach into the collective memory of a repressed people, finding preexisting and deeply rooted forms of communication” [32]. This served to overcome class, region, gender, and even religious divides. My argument is thus that as a vital component of the cognitive praxis of the Civil Rights Movement, music reconstructed the structures of feeling, human agency, and the collective consciousness to fight for change.

Throughout history, music has always been that which challenged the status quo. From the folk songs of rural England [33], to the anthems of anti-war protests, to the songs of the Civil Rights Movement, music has long been a site of resistance and opposition. The case study of the 1946 to 1968 American Civil Rights Movement clearly illustrates music’s role as a powerful vehicle for collective identity. Not only did it inspire and mobilise activists, but it fundamentally reconstituted the cultural and cognitive frameworks necessary for significant societal reform. Music was the catalyst of and for change. Even today, music’s influence is keenly felt. The Black Lives Matter Movement was driven by a revitalisation of protest music by artists seeking social justice. Similarly, the Vietnam anti-war movement used music to convey peace and opposition to war. Music has evolved significantly since the Civil Rights Movement, yet its core essence remains unchanged– a medium of expression for the marginalised and oppressed to reinvent the future. Music has, and will continue to significantly

change history. 

Endnotes

  1. Davis, Elizabeth. (2007) ‘Making Movement Sounds: The Cultural Organizing Behind the Freedom Songs of the Civil Rights Movement’ p.1 http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:39987965

  2. Shelton, R. (1962). ‘Songs a weapon in rights battle; Vital New Ballads buoy negro spirits across the south songs become a weapon in rights battle ballads in South Buoy to negroes folk music is new force in bolstering morale, leaders declare’ The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/1962/08/20/archives/songs-a-weapon-in-rights-battle-vital-new-ballads-buoy-negro.html 

  3. Seixas, P. (1997) 'Mapping the terrain of historical significance,' Social Education, 61 (1) https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ540240

  4. Santoro, W. A. (2015). Was the Civil Rights Movement Successful? Tracking and Understanding Black Views. Sociological Forum, 30(S1), 627–647.  https://doi.org/10.1111/socf.12181

  5. Guinier, L. (1991). The Triumph of Tokenism: The Voting Rights Act and the Theory of Black Electoral Success. Michigan Law Review, 89(5), 1077–1154. https://doi.org/10.2307/1289550

  6. ‘Songs and the Civil Rights Movement’ The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute. https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/songs-and-civil-rights-movement#:~:text=Music%20and%20singing%20played%20a,and%20a%20sense%20of%20unity

  7. Ibid.

  8. Daniels, Maria. (2006) Music in the Civil Rights Movement. American Experience. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/eyesontheprize-music-civil-rights-movement/
    Kerran L. Sanger (1995) "When the spirit says sing!": the role of freedom songs in the civil rights movement. https://books.google.com.sg/books/about/When_the_Spirit_Says_Sing.html?id=Cr1cCgAAQBAJ&source=kp_book_description&redir_esc=y

  9. Roscigno, V. & Danaher, William & Summers-Effler, Erika. (2002). Music, culture and social movements: Song and southern textile worker mobilisation, 1929-1934. International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy. 22. 141-174. 10.1108/01443330210789988. 

  10. Futrell, R., Pete Simi, & Gottschalk, S. (2006). Understanding Music in Movements: The White Power Music Scene. The Sociological Quarterly, 47(2), 275–304. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4120819

  11. Street, J. (2003). “Fight the Power”: The Politics of Music and the Music of Politics. Government and Opposition, 38(1), 113–130. http://www.jstor.org/stable/44483019

  12. Gamson, William (1995). "Hiroshima, the Holocaust, and the Politics of Exclusion," American Sociological Review, 60:1, pp. 1-20. https://doi.org/10.2307/2096342

  13. Ward, B. (1998) Just My Soul Responding Rhythm And Blues, Black Consciousness And Race Relations. Routledge.

  14. ‘Songs and the Civil Rights Movement’ The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute. 

  15. Lenart, Nicole (2005) "The Albany Movement and the Origin of Freedom Songs," The Gettysburg Historical Journal: Vol. 4 , Article 4. https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/ghj/vol4/iss1/4

  16. ‘Songs and the Civil Rights Movement’ The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute. 

  17. Lenart, Nicole (2005) "The Albany Movement and the Origin of Freedom Songs," The Gettysburg Historical Journal: Vol. 4 , Article 4. https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/ghj/vol4/iss1/4

  18. Biggs, M., & Andrews, K. T. (2015). Protest Campaigns and Movement Success: Desegregating the U.S. South in the Early 1960s. American Sociological Review, 80(2), 416–443. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24756377

  19. Morris, A. D. (1999). A Retrospective on the Civil Rights Movement: Political and Intellectual Landmarks. Annual Review of Sociology, 25, 517–539. http://www.jstor.org/stable/223515

  20. Tarrow S. 1994. Power in Movement: Social Movements, Collective Action and Politics. Cambridge Univ. Press

  21. McAdam D. 1982. Political Process and the Development of Black Insurgency. Chicago: Univ. Chicago Press

  22. Morris, A. D. (1999). A Retrospective on the Civil Rights Movement: Political and Intellectual Landmarks. Annual Review of Sociology, 25, 517–539. http://www.jstor.org/stable/223515

  23. American Women: Resources from the Moving Image Collections: Television. https://guides.loc.gov/american-women-moving-image/television

  24. Morris, A. D. (1999). A Retrospective on the Civil Rights Movement: Political and Intellectual Landmarks. Annual Review of Sociology, 25, 517–539. http://www.jstor.org/stable/223515

  25. Ron Eyerman R & Jamison, A (1998) Music and social movements: Mobilising traditions in the twentieth century. Cambridge University Press. https://voidnetwork.gr/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Music-and-social-movements-Mobilizing-traditions-in-the-twentieth-century-by-Ron-Eyerman-and-Andrew-Jamison.pdf

  26. Ibid.

  27. 25. Swidler, A. (1986) Cultural Power and Social Movements. https://publicsociology.studentorg.berkeley.edu/publications_pdfs/producing/swidler.pdf

  28. MIDDLETON, S. (2020). RAYMOND WILLIAMS’S “STRUCTURE OF FEELING” AND THE PROBLEM OF DEMOCRATIC VALUES IN BRITAIN, 1938–1961. Modern Intellectual History, 17(4), 1133–1161. doi:10.1017/S1479244318000537

  29. Ibid.

  30. GEZARI, J. (2001). Bob Dylan and the Tone Behind the Language. Southwest Review, 86(4), 480–499. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43472189

  31. Ron Eyerman R & Jamison, A (1998) Music and social movements: Mobilising traditions in the twentieth century. Cambridge University Press. https://voidnetwork.gr/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Music-and-social-movements-Mobilizing-traditions-in-the-twentieth-century-by-Ron-Eyerman-and-Andrew-Jamison.pdf

  32. Ibid.

  33. P. H. Freedman (1999) Images of the Medieval Peasant (Stanford CA: Stanford University Press, 1999), p. 60. 



Bibliography


Davis, Elizabeth. (2007) ‘Making Movement Sounds: The Cultural Organizing Behind the Freedom Songs of the Civil Rights Movement’ p.1 http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:39987965


A&E Television Networks. Civil Rights Movement: Timeline, Key Events & Leaders. History.com. https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/civil-rights-movement


Folkways. Explore. Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. https://folkways.si.edu/bernice-johnson-reagon-civil-rights-song-leader/african-american-struggle-protest-folk/music/article/smithsonian


Shelton, R. (1962). ‘Songs a weapon in rights battle; Vital New Ballads buoy negro spirits across the south songs become a weapon in rights battle ballads in South Buoy to negroes folk music is new force in bolstering morale, leaders declare’ The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/1962/08/20/archives/songs-a-weapon-in-rights-battle-vital-new-ballads-buoy-negro.html


Seixas, P. (1997) 'Mapping the terrain of historical significance,' Social Education, 61 (1) https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ540240


Santoro, W. A. (2015). Was the Civil Rights Movement Successful? Tracking and Understanding Black Views. Sociological Forum, 30(S1), 627–647.  https://doi.org/10.1111/socf.12181


Guinier, L. (1991). The Triumph of Tokenism: The Voting Rights Act and the Theory of Black Electoral Success. Michigan Law Review, 89(5), 1077–1154. https://doi.org/10.2307/1289550


‘Songs and the Civil Rights Movement’ The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute. https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/songs-and-civil-rights-movement#:~:text=Music%20and%20singing%20played%20a,and%20a%20sense%20of%20unity


Daniels, Maria. (2006) Music in the Civil Rights Movement. American Experience. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/eyesontheprize-music-civil-rights-movement/


Kerran L. Sanger (1995) "When the spirit says sing!": the role of freedom songs in the civil rights movement. https://books.google.com.sg/books/about/When_the_Spirit_Says_Sing.html?id=Cr1cCgAAQBAJ&source=kp_book_description&redir_esc=y


Roscigno, V. & Danaher, William & Summers-Effler, Erika. (2002). Music, culture and social movements: Song and southern textile worker mobilisation, 1929-1934. International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy. 22. 141-174. 10.1108/01443330210789988.


Futrell, R., Pete Simi, & Gottschalk, S. (2006). Understanding Music in Movements: The White Power Music Scene. The Sociological Quarterly, 47(2), 275–304. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4120819


Street, J. (2003). “Fight the Power”: The Politics of Music and the Music of Politics. Government and Opposition, 38(1), 113–130. http://www.jstor.org/stable/44483019


Gamson, William (1995). "Hiroshima, the Holocaust, and the Politics of Exclusion," American Sociological Review, 60:1, pp. 1-20. https://doi.org/10.2307/2096342


Ward, B. (1998) Just My Soul Responding Rhythm And Blues, Black Consciousness And Race Relations. Routledge.


‘Songs and the Civil Rights Movement’ The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute. 

Lenart, Nicole (2005) "The Albany Movement and the Origin of Freedom Songs," The Gettysburg Historical Journal: Vol. 4 , Article 4. https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/ghj/vol4/iss1/4



Biggs, M., & Andrews, K. T. (2015). Protest Campaigns and Movement Success: Desegregating the U.S. South in the Early 1960s. American Sociological Review, 80(2), 416–443. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24756377


Tarrow S. 1994. Power in Movement: Social Movements, Collective Action and Politics. Cambridge Univ. Press


McAdam D. 1982. Political Process and the Development of Black Insurgency. Chicago: Univ. Chicago Press


Morris, A. D. (1999). A Retrospective on the Civil Rights Movement: Political and Intellectual Landmarks. Annual Review of Sociology, 25, 517–539. http://www.jstor.org/stable/223515


American Women: Resources from the Moving Image Collections: Television. https://guides.loc.gov/american-women-moving-image/television


Swidler, A. (1986) Cultural Power and Social Movements. https://publicsociology.studentorg.berkeley.edu/publications_pdfs/producing/swidler.pdf

MIDDLETON, S. (2020). RAYMOND WILLIAMS’S “STRUCTURE OF FEELING” AND THE PROBLEM OF DEMOCRATIC VALUES IN BRITAIN, 1938–1961. Modern Intellectual History, 17(4), 1133–1161. doi:10.1017/S1479244318000537


GEZARI, J. (2001). Bob Dylan and the Tone Behind the Language. Southwest Review, 86(4), 480–499. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43472189


Ron Eyerman R & Jamison, A (1998) Music and social movements: Mobilising traditions in the twentieth century. Cambridge University Press. https://voidnetwork.gr/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Music-and-social-movements-Mobilizing-traditions-in-the-twentieth-century-by-Ron-Eyerman-and-Andrew-Jamison.pdf


P. H. Freedman (1999) Images of the Medieval Peasant (Stanford CA: Stanford University Press, 1999), p. 60. 



Jamie Lam
Next

Still Grace