The civil rights movement was supported by a deep bench of black musicians, whose music galvanized protestors through sit-ins, marches and demonstrations. Here are two of the movement's most prominent songs:
“We Shall Overcome”
As much a song as a slogan, the anthem “We Shall Overcome” came to embody the African-American civil rights movement in the '50s and '60s. The song is rooted in gospel hymns, but doesn’t have any one definite origin. Its earliest use came from the picket lines of the 1945 tobacco worker strike in Charleston, South Carolina, but by 1959, it was on its way to becoming the song of the non-violent civil rights movement.
Martin Luther King, Jr. recited the words from the song in his final sermon before his assassination. President Lyndon B. Johnson said, “We shall overcome” in his post-Selma attack speech, symbolically joining the movement. The song was played in South Africa during the protest against apartheid; it was adopted by the Northern Ireland independence movement.
“We Shall Overcome” is more than just a song — it’s the powerful, deliberate theme song for defiance.
“I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free”
Though orchestrated by Billy Taylor and Dick Dallas, Nina Simone is to thank for catapulting this jazzy tune to prominence and establishing it as an anthem of the civil rights movement. While “We Shall Overcome” thrives on simplicity, “I Wish I Knew” is explicit — “I wish I could break / All the chains holdin' me” — and hopeful — “How sweet it would be / If I found I could fly / Oh I'd soar to the sun / And look down at the sea.”
Nina Simone was a constant presence in the civil rights movement. While some artists avoiding completely committing to political protest, Simone threw herself whole-heartedly into the movement. She spoke at rallies, participated in marches and constantly incorporated a strong civil rights message into her music. “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free” isn’t as explicit as “Old Jim Crow” or some of her other activist songs, and that’s part of its charm. The soundtrack to a historical movement needs its hymns and marching songs, but it needs the light, hopeful songs, too.