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Most Influential Speeches and Songs from the Civil Rights Movement
Jolie Chan, Year 11, Wu
The Civil Rights Movement is remembered for the massive social and political change it brought about, but it is through the speeches and songs that are still studied and sung today that allow us to access this unique period of history. In this article we will look at the speeches and songs from the civil rights movement that still hold much influence after all these years and resonate with every activist.
The speeches made during the civil rights movement are some of the most inspirational and motivational ones in the history of protests. The words spoken by historical figures like Martin Luther King inspired people to join their cause and motivated them to keep on fighting for what they believed. Here are some of the most thought-provoking speeches given during the civil rights movement:
“The Negro citizens of our common country, are determined that the verdict at Appomattox will not be renounced, that the clock will not be turned back, that they shall enjoy what is’ justly theirs”
The Clock Will Not Be Turned Back by Roy Wilkins was a speech made in California, 1957, in response to the Little Rock Crisis. Roy Wilkins was a leader of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) and one of the most recognizable figures during the civil rights movement. This speech was made to address the Commonwealth Club of California after mobs attempted to prevent nine African American students from entering Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. The then governor of Arkansas, Orval Faubus, ordered the Arkansas National Guard troops to keep the students out despite racial segregation in public education being a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution. This prompted President Eisenhower to send federal troops to protect the students from the Arkansas National Guard. The school has since been desegregated by a court order resulting from the 1954 landmark case, Brown v. Board of Education. In this speech, Wilkins spoke not only about the crisis facing African Americans, but also about the future of the United States during the Cold War. This speech was very influential during its time as it marked the start of racially integrated education in the United States and the beginning of unthreatened African American school presence.
“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”
I Have A Dream by Martin Luthur King was delivered on August 28th, 1963, during the March on Washington. The speech was a call for equality and freedom for African Americans and quickly became one of the defining moments of the civil rights movement. The Civil Rights Act was being discussed in Congress when this speech was given; the speech sought to oppose racial discrimination and encourage the passage of the civil rights legislation. The original written version of the speech is not the one we now know: As he neared the end of the speech, King quickly abandoned his planned script and launched into a discussion about his dream. These inspiring improvisations struck a chord with the crowd, many of whom called out words of encouragement at the emotional conclusion. Thanks to King’s improvisations, this speech is now highly regarded for its power and resonance. The first segment of this speech was masterfully delivered but it was the second half of this speech that people still recognise 50 years later. ‘I have a dream’ also became an enduring phrase worldwide as this speech helped massively in securing the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964. This was arguably the most influential speech made during the civil rights movement and even during American history as a whole, revealing the power of rhetoric.
“Their cause must be our cause too. Because it’s not just Negros, but really it is all of us, of biogotry and injustice. And we shall overcome.”
We Shall Overcome by President Lyndon B. Johnson was a speech that was inspired by the unofficial anthem We Shall Overcome (we will discuss this song later in the article). The phrase ‘we shall overcome’ was borrowed from African American advocates of racial equality. This speech was made on March 15th, 1965, approximately a week after the violence and devastation caused by the police during the Selma March for equality in voting rights in Alabama (now known as Bloody Sunday). The voting rights discrimination that African Americans faced came in the form of literacy, knowledge or character tests which white Americans did not have to take, reducing the number of eligible African American voters. However, both of the first two attempts of the Selma march were stopped by the local police, once violently. More than 50 marchers were hospitalised and Massachusetts Unitarian minister James J. Reeb died from his wounds. The marchers finally succeeded during their third attempt and the event gained worldwide news coverage. This speech was very influential as not only did it signify that the president was in support of the movement, it also incorporated elements from African American history, such as the title We Shall Overcome, taken from a civil rights anthem song.
“Is this America, the land of the free and the home of the brave, where we have to sleep with our telephones off the hooks because our lives be threatened daily, because we want to live as decent human beings, in America?”
Credentials Committee Testimony by Fannie Lou was given in Atlantic City, New Jersey, on August 22nd, 1964. Lou was the youngest of twenty children born to sharecroppers in Mississippi, where she had spent much of her life picking cotton until she was fired for trying to register to vote. This invoked her to join the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. In 1964, she ran for Congress as a Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party candidate against Democratic incumbent Jamie L. Whitten. While she was giving testimony, she recounted her experience: being stopped by the police after trying to register to vote, being fired from her job, and having 16 bullets shot into her friend’s home after she stayed there as a warning. She then described her experience in a Mississippi jail, having been arrested for climbing onto a bus. She was repeatedly beaten and sexually harassed by White jailers. President Johnson sent advisors to Atlantic city to fix ‘the Mississippi problem’, but despite his efforts, Lou’s testimony was broadcasted during prime time on the evening news. This speech was very powerful as it elucidated the prevalence of racism to the American public and forced them to acknowledge the severity of the problem.
Music is often used to unify people and keep morale high during times of uncertainty and change. Here are some of the most powerful songs that sustained people through hardships, setbacks and failures during the 1960s and helped them win the victories that moved America closer to racial equality.
The Selma March by Grant Green is an upbeat, instrumental jazz piece. Although it does not have lyrics, it clearly expresses exaltation for the third Selma March’s completion. The march led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965, explaining the celebratory nature of this piece. This piece was influential because it denoted a step closer to achieving equal voting rights for all peoples of the United States and the possibility of more pro-civil rights politicians in office.
“And the young people taught everybody else a lesson; all the older people that had learned how to compromise.”
We Shall Overcome was popularised by Pete See-
ger and quickly became the unofficial anthem for the Civil Rights movement. It is neither a marching song nor a defiant song; rather, it is a promise that one day ‘we [African Americans] will overcome’ the obstacle of racial inequality. This piece started as a folk/work song that slaves would sing while working. The first political use of this song was in 1945 in Charleston, South Carolina; workers marched together demanding a pay raise while singing the infamous line ‘We will overcome, and we will win our rights someday.’ This is the song that sustained the African American community through struggles during the Civil Rights movement, especially when fellow protesters and demonstrators were beaten, arrested or detained during their fight for racial equality. A melody that rose in air tinged with tear gas, a murmur in the homes of African Americans, and an affirmation sung by hundreds of thousands within sight of the Capitol dome, this song united people in whatever situation they were thrown into.
“Just like a tree that’s standing by the water side, we shall not be moved.” We Shall Not Be Moved, adapted by Mavis Staples, is a variant of the traditional folk song I Shall Not Be Moved. Like We Shall Overcome, it became a staple marching song during the Civil Rights Movement. The song stemmed from a biblical verse and was later adapted into a hymn, a protest anthem and a folk song (like most folk songs, the precise history of this song is unknown but we do know that the first line of the first edition of this song was from the book of Jermiah). Although some of the lyrics of this song often get lost in translation, the main idea –– that a firmly rooted tree cannot be moved –– still remains in all of the variations. In this article, we have explored the songs and speeches from the Civil Rights Movement, but what about the current Black Lives Matter movement? Songs like This is America by Childish Gabino, I Can’t Breathe by H.E.R, Black Parade by Beyonce and many more have embodied the message that the Black Lives Matter movement has been trying to convey. Speeches made by people like John Boyega, Alicia Garza, Aretha Johnson and many more also carry inspirational and motivational messages. When John Boyga addressed racism in a rally in London, he stated that he doesn’t care if he loses his career if it meant that he could speak out about this social crisis at the moment. He told his fellow protesters that ‘Black lives have always mattered, we have always been important. We have always meant something. We have always succeeded regardless. And now is the time. I ain’t waiting.’
The Civil Rights Movement undoubtedly produced some of history’s most influential speeches. Similarly, it is undeniable that the songs and speeches sung and spoken around the world right now will be studied and sung years from now. The ability of words to hold sway over the landscape of history and to
shape it has never been more evident.
