Civil Rights |
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"Folk music fueled the civil rights movement and helped to open people's eyes to injustice and prejudice that was going on." |
In 1960, four African-American students entered a North Carolina variety store and sat down at the designated white counter to order coffee. They were asked to leave, but they sat there until the store closed. This passive resistance was what started the civil rights movement. More sit ins occurred and Martin Luther King Jr. made his famous speech in 1963. By 1963 14,000 civil rights activists had been arrested. They were part of 758 resistance demonstrations in 11 states. Soon music began to come into play. Bob Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind" became the civil rights anthem. He refused to perform on the Ed Sullivan Show when CBS censors banned Talkin' John Birch Society Blues. Joan Baez, another folk musician, refused $100,000 in concert dates because she felt that making money was not a part of folk music. Folk music fueled the civil rights movement and helped to open people's eyes to injustice and prejudice that was going on. [an error occurred while processing this directive] |