In the 1960's, People Turned to Music for Hope, Peace, and Happiness

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During the 1960s and the early 1970s, music reflected the political and social changes that America was undergoing at the time. Some of these major changes included the African-American civil rights movement and the conflict over America’s role in the Vietnam War. During these hard times, people turned to music for hope, peace, happiness and answers. The African-American civil rights movement was a cruel time for the African American race to endure due to the harsh discrimination and segregation that they faced. This movement fought for the rights and the equality of African Americans in the United States. With all that was going on, African Americans turned to music for motivation, courage, inspiration and strength to overcome the difficult obstacles that they would soon face. “Non-violence marchers faced beating, hosing, burning, shooting, or jail with no defense other than their courage and songs” (Hast 45). “It's been a long, a long time coming/ But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will” (Cooke, Sam. A Change Is Gonna Come). Music was their greatest hope for change in the near future and is the thing that kept them fighting for what they deserved. They came together with each other due to the lyrics of many different songs that kept the civil rights movement alive and known. Music painted a vision that they could picture and look forward to; it was a dream that they could fight for. “Music empowered African Americans to hold tight to their dream of racial equality” (Jeske). A genre of music that bought society together during this movement was folk. REIS 2 Joan Baez, a famous folk singer, sang her most famous song “Oh Freedom” during the civil rights movement. She expressed her want and need for equality and freedom f... ... middle of paper ... .... I picked the song “War” by Edwin Starr to talk about the Vietnam War. This song got right to the point and stated that war was good for nothing, which was how most of the nation felt about the Vietnam War. All three of these songs were dependable because they were written during the 1960s-1970s era and captured what was happening during that time. For my other sources, I based them upon which sources I believed were the most reliable. That was my main point when finding my resources. I had to do a lot of research to make sure that I was choosing sources that had reliable and correct facts about this time period. These sources also were not bias and explained for the most part, both sides of the protests. I did not want sources that favored one side opposed to the other because and were personal opinions because that would not be reliable compared to actual facts.

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