Date of Award
2008
Document Type
Dissertation/Thesis
Submission Date
October 2026
Abstract
The presence of music, especially in the form of freedom songs, is a notable constant in the American Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. Participants sang spirituals and freedom songs everywhere in the South - at mass meetings, demonstrations, and in jails. An engaging and participatory activity, singing unified, empowered, and historicized activists, allowing everyone an opportunity to be included in the action. Without these songs, the African-American communities across the South may not have been able to band together to become such a force for change; while the activists were the facilitators for progress, the songs were the inspiration. Freedom songs democratized the Civil Rights Movement, enabling the participation of ordinary people at a grassroots level, therefore creating a strong mass movement.
Recommended Citation
Bimmler, Lauren., "grassroots gospel" (2008). Harriet L Wilkes Honors College Theses 2003 - 2009. 104.
https://digitalcommons.fau.edu/etd_honors_1/104
Extent
40 p.
Identifier
301710938
Comments
by Lauren Bimmler.