The Music and the Civil Rights Movement

The Music and the Civil Rights Movement

History and registries have a lot to say about the Civil Rights Movements of Afroamerican People , a lot of testimonies , images and speeches abound in the collective memory of the society that show different views of it. But not just with paper and blood the history is narrated and that is why I decided to research what music has to say about it.

This is a list of songs about the civil rights movements that caught my attention and obviously I’m going to tell you what the connection between this songs and some historical moments is.

Our first stop is whit a legend of the Blues. He is  J.B Lenoir, who recorded "Eisenshower Blues" in 1954 , in which he laments the lack of social gain or economic opportunity blacks could afford.

He also recorded the "Alabama Blues" in which he talks about his own sad story , here is a a part of the lyrics :

"I never will go back to Alabama, that is not the place for me (2x)

 You know they killed my sister and my brother,

 and the whole word let them peoples go down there free..."

"My brother was taken up for my mother, and a police officier shot him down (2x)

 I can`t help but to sit down and cry sometime,

 think about how my poor brother lost his life..."

Now is time to know what musician activist Archie Sheep has to say. He recorded "The Funeral" in 1963 in honor to Medgar Evers- the secretary of the National Association of the Advancement of Colored People who had been murdered for being an activist who fougth against the discrimination of black people.

He also recorded "Rufus" (in colaboration whit another legend of music "John Coltrane") that is the musical transposition of the lynching of a black man and also a piece of gold in Jazz.

Here is when we meet one of the biggest musician of all the times Max Roach who begins with his art in a totally politic intention. In 1960 he organised a festival in form of protest against the racial segregation and recorded the album "We Insist! Freedoom Now Suite" a statement against the racism manifested in its cover, where we see a white waiter whit a treathening gesture to three black clients.

Its time to meet Sonny Rollins and Coleman Hawkins, they recorded "Freedom Suite", this was the first explicit jazz composition dedicated to the protest , Freedom Suite also was protest scream against the way in which the afroamericans were treated  since days of salvery to the days of the recording of the album.

In 1957 the Arkansas governor Oval E. Faubus sent out the National Guard to prevent the intregration of nine African American teenagers to Little Rock Central High School in answer to this Charles Mingus recorded "Fables of Faubus" as a direct protest song.

Well, I hope you enjoyed this travel through history and music but before it ends I have just one more song to talk about and it is also my favorite, it is called "Alabama" written by the legend of Jazz John Coltrane . This song was written in response to racism and hate crimes against African Amercians, specifically to four African American little girls who in 1963 lost their lives after a bomb exploded through the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama by the KKK .

 

Now let me know what you think about this and if you know other songs please write them down here.

Chauvinism in a dream time?

The Japanese myth of creation or (dream time) has a very sexist connotation, first three deities are born and the earth is separated from heaven, then a pair of gods appears periodically until Izanagi (The Male Who Invites) and Izanami (The Female Who Invites) are born.

They get married and after this they met behind a pillar and Izanami says to Izanagi "What a fine young man" and he replies "what a fine young woman" after this they procreate and gave birth to a floating island but they didn´t recognize it as they child so they ask the gods what was the problem, the answer was "The Woman Spoke First" this show us that the gods were chauvinist, after this they did the same process again but this time the man (Izanami) talked first. They mated and gave birth to the eight main islands of Japan and six minor islands. Then they gave birth to a variety of deities to inhabit those island.

Later on Izanami dies after giving birth to the god of fire, Izanagi cries and his tears gave birth to new gods, unfortunately hi feels anger and decides to kill the fire deity, after his son dies he goes to the underworld looking for Izanami, when he found her she attacked him but he escaped, later on he takes a bath and gave birth to more deities, the one who started having their own sons and finally a deity meets the Princess Brilliant Blossoms and decides to marry her, her father ask the man to marry both of her daughters but he refuses because the other princess was ugly, her father warns him that the sons of the princess brilliant blossoms will be mortal, he doesn't care.

That way we can see that the woman has the duty of have children and to be beautiful, a very chauvinist perception of the woman, a very similar perspective can be seen in the Maori culture. What do you think about this?

http://www.gly.uga.edu/railsback/CS/CSJapan.html

Mandingo and Jezebel: Myths that hurt

Hello, classmates!

On this entry, I’m going to start from fiction to reality; you’ll see…

I was watching “Masters of sex”, a TV show that tells the history of William Masters and Virginia Johnson, the pioneers of sex research in the early 60’s; when a particular scene called my attention:

A black woman journalist is interviewing Masters and Johnson about their work. When she asks if they have demystified the human sexual response of black people, the research team doesn’t know what she’s talking about. The journalist insists, convinced that the survey could clear the stereotypes of “Mandingo” and “Jezebel”.

Probably no one knew a lot about sex at that time, but what are a “Mandingo” and a “Jezebel”? Why those myths were hurting so much and for so long the black community? I investigate those terms, first of all, to figure out if they were real or an invention from TV, and second, to find out what they really mean.

Turns out that a Mandingo is a stereotype for black men. It says they’re all sexual beasts. According to this term, black males are “oversexed” beings, with a primitive and furious sexual instinct that blocks everything else.

The same goes for Jezebel, but with and even worse connotation: If a Jezebel is a woman full of lust all the time, she is also a woman who can’t be raped, because sex is all that she wants.

Since the course started, we have learned that stereotypes are not wrong but incomplete. This premise sounds fair and impulse us to be critical about what we see, read or listen to, but also, we have learned that sometimes stereotypes are completely wrong. And those are the ones that hurt the most, because they only help to maintain the violence. 

P.D: All pictures are from scenes of the TV show.

The most difficult period of African-American

Today guys! I’m going to talk about a really interesting and important topic… The history of the American during the 50’s and 40’s, more specifically, the life of the African-American during the most difficult period for them.

Everyone knows about the usual racist mental that American usually had and all conflicts between white people and African-American, these were enslaved by the white race for a long time… Also, not just that! They made a lot of unusual rules to oppress and restrict black people, which they had to meet with great responsibility or else they would be severely punished by law.

For many years several  historians have done a lot of research to analyze the situation of African Americans during this period, giving us many examples of rules that black people must obey. Many of these, clearly, did not respect human rights…

With great dedication, I've decided to compile the most interesting facts and rules:

• During construction of the Pentagon, was built restrooms for blacks and whites.
• African Americans did not have the same benefits at work than whites, for example, holidays. Moreover, the value of their work per hour was lower.
• In restaurants, there were exclusive areas to black people.
• They were not admitted, neither in social clubs or discos.
• Was prohibited marriages between blacks and whites.
• Blacks could not vote.
• There were schools and neighborhoods only for African-American.
• In the buses, they could not share the same bench, the black people had their specific area.

These examples allow us to know the old reality of a lot of humans, that were unfairly discriminated and humiliated by 

racist people. Lamentably, this kind of situations still happens, not only in The United States, also all around the world.

Finally , I leave you this song by Syl Johnson, which contains a deep message to reflect on discrimination .

Sources:
http://www.educ.ar/dinamico/UnidadHtml__get__42143629-7a07-11e1-8196-ed15e3c494af/index.html

Rubin "Hurricane" Carter

Hello Everyone I'd Like to share with you the story of a black man that was wrongfully convicted of murder, I think that this case is related to the racial segregation that we saw in class. The brief story is about Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, an American/Canadian middleweight boxer who was born in Clifton, New Jersey in 1937. People gave him that nickname because of his aggressive style and punching power. He looked like a killing machine while he was fighting , but he wasn't a bad guy. He was also considered one of the best boxer before the tragic event that sent him to prison for 20 years.

The tragic story begins in 1966 when Rubin Carter and his friend John Artis were arrested by police because of a triple-homicide committed in the Lafayatte Bar and Grill in Paterson, New Jersey. The police found ammunition but they didn't take fingerprints. Rubin and his friend were tried and convicted twice, one of them in 1967 and the other one in 1976. However, the conviction of 1976 was later overturned in 1985.

After the first conviction in 1974, George Louis formed a campaign to support Carter in an attempt to increase the number of people in favor of freeing the boxer. Louis demanded public apologies for Carter. Muhammad Ali supported this campaign  alongside Bob Dylan, who wrote the song "Hurricane" which made Carter's innocence known. This song was also sung in the prison where Rubin Carter was an inmate.

In 1985, Carter's lawyer sent a petition for an habeas corpus in federal court. Judge Haddon Lee Sarokin granted the writ and said that the prosecution had been "Predicated upon an appeal to racism rather than reason, and concealment rather than disclosure". Rubin Carter was freed without bail in November 1985 when he was 48 years old.

It's a sad truth that two years after the signing of the civil the civil rights that Martin Luther King fought for in 1964 yet another man was unjustly impriosioned for 20 years for the mere fact of being black(1966). Today, things don't change and each time it seems that we´re farther away from forming a more human society and putting aside racial differences.

Here's a short video where you can learn more about Rubin Carter

Here's another video of the song "Hurricane"- Bob Dylan

Who was Jim Crow?

Hello everyone! Probably all of you know or have a little idea about what the Jim Crow Laws were, but one of the things you all are wondering about is, why are they called Jim Crow? Who was Jim Crow? What did he do? And perhaps some similar questions about its origin which I’m planning to answer in this post.

The main origin of Jim Crow roots in African culture. People believed in mythical creatures and magic and so they did in Jim, an African Trickster, a shape-shifter actually, who was most of the time transformed as a crow.

But, how does this legend became famous in American culture? Well, the answer is due to a song called “Jump Jim Crow”, but the song did not become famous by itself. In the 19^th century, in America, the song and dance minstrel acts were very popular and they were the main entertain in those years too. In addition, one of the most famous acts in those years was Thomas D. Rice show; he was better known as Daddy Rice and he became famous thanks to the Jump Jim Crow song.

Daddy Rice was a white man who played the Jim Crow character in his shows. He prepared for his act blackening his skin by applying burnt cork, wearing tattered clothes and finally, he performed his act featuring the Jump Jim Crow song. His performance was a sensation and became extremely famous across America and England. He became so famous that the Boston Post reported in 1838 that “the two most popular characters in the world at the present time are [Queen] Victoria and Jim Crow."

This name became so famous that it transformed to a derogatory nickname along with other sorts of insults to African American people. Eventually, in 1880’s, society related this name to the new laws implemented in America; that’s how they became the Jim Crow laws.

Regarding everything i've said, i believe this is extremely important information, because it makes me think about how african-american people was always an icon of mockery and rejection to white people.  So, what do you guys think about this? How do you feel or think about this humiliating and degrading show becoming so famous? I believe it's necessary to discuss this.

Discrimination from children or adults?

Hello classmates, today I want to write you about discrimination from white people toward black people.

All we already learned in class about the “Big trouble in Little Rock”, we know some general things, so before explain my point of view, I will do a short summary to remind you what this entire problem was.

As a general, formerly the schools were segregated; there were schools for white children and others for black children (you can already imagine what were in better condition). After a few years is created a new law that established that schools should be inclusive, I mean, schools were for everyone, for whites and blacks. In Arkansas, specifically in Little Rock, they rejected this new law and prohibited the entry of black children to the “Central High School” (previously school for white children). Because of this, came the army to escort and protect black children as they walked to school.

Now, I want to focus on that existed more discrimination by white adults than children. This is demonstrated in the case of Eckford –black girl who was spotted by a White Lady after having smiled- and Green –black boy that he was helped and welcomed at school by a couple of white children-.

In my view of this situation, I believe that adults have more prejudices and are more discriminatory and the children by nature are not, or at least not as much as adults. If a child comes to discriminate another (racially for example), is purely because is influenced by adults.

I don’t say that white adults at that time were bad and the children were good, I only say that adults have more tendencies to discriminate than children.

And what do you think? Adults are those who actually influence the children or you think that other things influence the children? Do you think that there is still discrimination against black people?...