The Song 'When Will We Be Paid For The Work We Ve Done?'

In the song “When Will We Be Paid for the Work We’ve Done?” by the Staple Singers, they use pop music and culture to spread their message. The song talks about how African Americans have done all this work for the white men but they don’t receive any repayment for it. The Staples Singers focus on many different aspects of African American history throughout the song. They used this song to reflect on African American history during the times of slavery and the Civil Rights Movement. They also used the catchy tune to engage people and unite them by singing along in protest. The catchy tune that made the song easy to sing along irritated the officers that had to control the protests. This song was an easy way to express the thoughts of unequal

treatment of African Americans that were going through many African Americans minds. The Staple Singers show African American’s struggles of acceptance in society, job inequality among black and white people, and the refusal of African American suffrage, which African Americans have endured since the beginning of American colonization to the end of the Civil Rights Movement, by writing and singing this song.
The Staples Singers were a family of African Americans who sang songs that uplifted the spirits of African Americans.

The Staples Singers grew up in a church and gospel environment encouraged by their dad’s, Roebukc “Pops” Staples, experiences as a child. Pops grew up with gospel/church and blues music all around him (Rock). He then passed this along to his kids. When Pops had to watch his kids he kept them occupied by teaching them songs, which became their lifelong occupation (Rock). Later in their life they “became regulars on a Sunday radio show and cut their first recording…in 1953” (Rock). In the 1960s the Staples Singers started to record protest songs (Rock). The Staples Singers crossed over into mainstream pop without compromising their gospel roots (Rock). The Staples Singers used their pop music in their protest songs such as “When Will We Be Paid for the Work We’ve Done?” The Staples Singers use their songs to support their thoughts about African Americans’ prior

history.
The struggle for African Americans to fit into society had been barricaded by racism and prior history.

Since the early colonization of North America, the British used slaves to do the hard manual work that the rich British men did not want to do. Even though the average American does not like to think of America’s past, there are many things that we teach in American history about our past events that shaped America, such as the Ku Klux Klan’s hatred towards African Americans and the use of slavery throughout the South during the 18th century. Many African Americans feel that their ancestors stumbled through their life for more than 300 years (Staple 22). This is true because they had been fighting for equality between every race from since the British and Americans started using them as slaves. African Americans would like “education that teaches [them their] true history and role in present-day society” (Haskins 116) During the Civil Rights Movement many innocent African Americans were beaten up while they were non-violently protesting. For example, Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on a balcony in Memphis, Tennessee before a protest that was planned; and many African Americans were called the “N” word throughout their life prior to the Civil Rights Movement. The Staple Singers alluded to these events during their song by saying “[We’d] been beat up, called names, shot down, and stoned” (Staple 16). African Americans not only had to endure this type of bullying from

their peers but must endure bullying from the government and their employers.
Job inequality between blacks and whites had been an issue since the British first colonized in America and used African American’s as slaves. Many white business men bought and traded African Americans. The employers, who could have been rich business men or government officials, “employed” the African American’s as slaves. The government had them “[lay] the railroad steel” and many white landowners had African Americans “[pick] their cotton” as slaves (Staple 7). African Americans would like to receive the freedom to determine their own destiny without having to please the government or their boss (Haskins 116). In order to achieve a greater status in the workforce, the African Americans must go to school and receive the same education that their white counter part already received. One of the few things James Haskins said was that African American’s demand was an “education that teaches us our true history and our role in present-day society” (116). White people cannot suppress African Americans by not providing them the same education.
White people in America have tried to suppress African American voters since the Civil War to protect their own power. Prior to the Voting Rights Act of 1965, African Americans were required to take a literacy test before they could vote. Very few African Americans could pass the literacy test because they were not given the same education in school. African Americans had asked for suffrage for quite a long time. After the Civil War, they thought the circumstances were improving but then the Southern government passed the grandfather clause, which stated one could not vote if their grandfather could not vote. When the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was enacted, the Act said that there had to be equal access for all races, but white people figured out how to elude this law, they used a literacy test. White’s knew that they were educated enough to pass the test, but African Americans did not have the same education; therefore they would not be able to pass and vote. The Staple Singers saw this trend and said that “[When] we ask [for something]/ that’s when everything seem to turn out wrong” (Staple 14-15). The lives of African Americans have “been defined in part through the struggle for greater degrees of full citizenship and the rights…associated with citizenship” (Lectionary). Parts of the rights associated with citizenship include suffrage, which would lead to African Americans being a greater part of American society.
African Americans overcame racism, job inequality, and oppression by standing together and fighting for what is right. Protestors during the Civil Rights Movement used these encouraging songs to stay strong throughout the hard times that were endured. The Staples Singers expressed their thoughts on these conflicts through their song “When Will We Be Paid for the Work We’ve Done?” James Haskins stated that “The music of an era is like a mirror reflecting the concerns of a culture at that time” (81). This is true in the song “When Will We Be Paid for the Work We’ve Done?” and in many other songs sang at protests and during the Civil Rights Movement. Some of today’s songs still reflect the events that are occurring or have occurred in the past. Every song has a meaning you just have to go and find it.