The march from Selma, Alabama to the state capital, Montgomery, in March 1965 was intended to help local blacks vote. As they began the march, state troopers and deputies order them to stop. The marchers complied, but that did not stop the troopers from using tear gas, nightsticks, and bullwhips on the weaponless marchers. That day came to be known as “Bloody Sunday.” This day, along with the Greensboro sit-ins of 1960, amounted to 26 civil rights activist deaths, with only one killer was imprisoned. This appalling news out of Alabama concerned American citizens, as well as President Lyndon B. Johnson. When President Johnson addressed a joint session of Congress, he asked all of America to overcome the crippling legacy of bigotry and injustice.
In 1965, President Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act. This act meant no test or device could deny a vote, such as a literacy test, and with a constitutional amendment, there was no longer a poll tax. Johnson also signed an executive order stating that employers should take “affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed...without regard to their race, color, religion, or national origin.”
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In August of that year, in Watts, a black ghetto of Los Angeles, a riot ensued after a white policeman stopped and arrested a young black driver for speeding and possible intoxication. The crowd that gathered during the arrest turned into an angry mob.
Life
magazine described it as a “single event that can be picked to mark the dividing line” of the sixties, because it “ripped the fabric of a lawful democratic society and set the tone of confrontation and open revolt.”
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While Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. believed that nonviolent protest was more meaningful, people who subscribed to the idea of Black Power did not believe in “turning the other cheek.” They believed blacks should stay nonviolent if people were nonviolent to them, but if violence presented itself, they should fight back. Black Power meant coming together around blackness as the issue of oppression. However, many found a problem with the idea, thinking that it promoted separatism.
On April 4, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated. The man who had promoted the idea of blacks and whites using peaceful protest was gone, and without King, the caused seemed to be without something to anchor it.
At this time, music was both a vehicle to deliver messages of hope or frustration and also a device that brought black and white communities together. In the mid-1960s, some radio stations began playing black artists for the first time. Motown Records, “The Sound of Young America,” signed performers such as Diana Ross, the Temptations, the Miracles with Smokey Robinson, the Four Tops, Martha and the Vandelas, Stevie Wonder, and Marvin Gaye. It became the most successful black-owned business in the United States. Young people, both black and white, enjoyed the music. Other record labels and artists began to enter the scene because of Motown's success, including James Brown, Wilson Pickett, Aretha Franklin, and Otis Redding.
In February 1965, the deceased Sam Cooke's song, “A Change is Gonna Come,” reached No. 9 on the R&B chart and No. 31 on the pop charts. Cooke had been inspired to write the lyrics after meeting with civil rights organizers. Prior to his death, Cooke had been arrested for trying to checking into a whites-only motel in Louisiana, had lost his young son, Vincent, in a drowning accident, and had endured conflicts with his brother. After suffering life's troubles, Cooke's lyrics suggested that he felt hopeful going into the future-he was shot and killed in a dispute at a hotel.
Aretha Franklin's version of “Respect” in 1967 sent a message of respect for all people, not just on the basis of color or race, but also gender. While Franklin's personal message was meant for her husband at the time, the lyrics gave the audience a chance to decide the meaning for themselves. Franklin also released “Think,” a song written after Dr. King's assassination.
James Brown, a popular Soul singer and also a symbol of black self-respect,
released songs such as “Say It Loud, I'm Black and I'm Proud.” Its blunt message had a big impact on audiences, both black and white. Other Civil Rights anthems included Curtis Mayfield and the Impression's “People Get Ready,” as well as “We're Gonna Make It” by Little Milton.
However, alongside the stories of success are ones of continued troubles. In March of 1968, black sanitation workers in Memphis went on strike. Also during that month, Dr. King led a march which ended in violence. One protester died, 60 were injured, and 200 were arrested.
It is clear that music did not resolve the crisis, but it opened the door for blacks to find success in a market that had the potential to reach all people, blacks and whites together. One possibility is for students to examine the lyrics of these songs, and make a case for which song they believe had or has the greatest potential to reach the widest audience, and why.