Nina Simone's Song 'Mississippi Goddam'

The song “Mississippi Goddam” was written by the singer Nina Simone. She created the song in less than an hour with “Four Women” and “To be Young, Gifted and Black”. The song is Nina Simone’s response the murder of Medgar Evers in Mississippi, and the 16th Street Baptist church bombing in Birmingham which killed four black children. During this time the Civil rights movement was in full swing and Evers was one of Mississippi’s most impassioned activist and visionary for change. With the tension between white and black people at an all-time high after the verdict of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, it put a target on Evers’ back. In June of 1963, Evers arrived at his home and was shot in the back before he reached the door. This song was

then released as a part of Simone’s album in 1964. The song did not bring about any major changes but one it did make was in music. Up until this song, protest songs sent a message in a more passive manor. Simone opened the door for sarcasm and blatant candor in protest songs. I think that protest songs such as “Mississippi are an effective way to bring about social and or political change. Music is something that can reach people of all ages and all races. If a tune is made with enough passion and conveys a clear message more people are likely to listen to it even if it is just once, as opposed to listening to a speech. With a song, it can be replayed over again and played on an international scale reaching more people. With a span that wide, there is always going to be at least one person who agrees with what the message is trying to say. All a message needs is one person to agree with it; then that person shares it with another and so forth.