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© 2021, Shelby Padgett, Cc-By-Nc-Nd 4.0 This Is THIS IS AMERICA: MUSIC AND IMAGE IN THE BLACK LIVES MATTER MOVEMENT A Thesis By SHELBY PADGETT ORCID iD: 0000-0002-6858-5194 California State University, Fullerton Summer, 2021 __________________________________________ In partial fulfillment of the degree: Master of Arts, Music History and Literature Department: Department of Music Committee: Katherine Reed, Department of Music, Chair John Koegel, Department of Music Nicole Baker, Department of Music DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.4947329 Keywords: Black Lives Matter, music video, Kendrick Lamar, Beyoncé, Childish Gambino Abstract: The U.S. Civil Rights Movement has a long history and directly relates to the current Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement. Music has long played an important role in BLM and earlier related movements in building community and promoting racial justice. Some contemporary scholars focus narrowly on the importance of social media in BLM, centering its significance in the same way that others have seen music as essential in studying earlier movements. Though its use of social media sets Black Lives Matter apart from the past and fundamentally changes BLM’s trajectory and nature, so too does the movement’s music. Together, both have played an essential role in linking image and message through music video and viral hashtags and posts. This thesis analyzes key differences and similarities between Black Lives Matter and past U.S. movements of racial reckoning through the use of music and image. The longevity and global reach of the contemporary movement are aided by social media and image, used in tandem with the music. The structural, lyrical, and stylistic properties of these songs show connection to earlier Black American culture and also embody the current popular genres of today. Their accompanying music videos illuminate the artists’ intentions: to clearly disseminate their message in alignment with the Black Lives Matter movement. These songs and videos show the development of music’s role in the fight for social justice. © 2021, SHELBY PADGETT, CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................................. iii LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................................... iV ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................................... V Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................ 1 Methodology and Literary Review .............................................................................................. 3 Organization ............................................................................................................................... 5 2. NINETEENTH-CENTURY SPIRITUALS AND POPULAR GENRES IN THE CIVIL RIGHTS ERA .............................................................................................................................. 7 Nineteenth-Century Spirituals ..................................................................................................... 8 The Civil Rights Era and Popular Genres in a New Light ........................................................... 14 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................. 21 3. A BLACK LIVES MATTER TIMELINE ........................................................................................ 23 Trayvon Martin and “Black Lives Matter” .................................................................................... 25 Eric Garner and “I Can’t Breathe” ............................................................................................... 28 Michael Brown and “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot” ............................................................................. 31 Sandra Bland and “Say Her Name” ............................................................................................ 36 George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and the Movement Today ......................................................... 39 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................. 40 4. MUSIC AND IMAGE IN THE BLACK LIVES MATTER MOVEMENT ......................................... 42 Kendrick Lamar and “Alright” ...................................................................................................... 44 Beyoncé and “Formation” ........................................................................................................... 50 Childish Gambino and “This is America” .................................................................................... 56 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................. 62 5. CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................ 64 BIBLIOGRAPHY .............................................................................................................................. 68 ii LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1. Visual and Musical Transitions in “This is America” Music Video ......................................... 59 iii LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1. “Go Down Moses” .................................................................................................................. 13 2. “Lift Every Voice and Sing” .................................................................................................... 21 3. Trayvon Martin at age 12 or 13 ............................................................................................. 26 4. Updated photo of Trayvon Martin used in media .................................................................. 27 5. Eric Garner ............................................................................................................................ 30 6. Michael Brown ....................................................................................................................... 33 7. C.J. Lawrence’s original #IfTheyGunnedMeDown tweet ....................................................... 35 8. Sandra Brown ........................................................................................................................ 37 9. Screenshot from Kendrick Lamar’s “Alright” music video ...................................................... 48 10. Screenshot from Kendrick Lamar’s “Alright” music video ...................................................... 49 11. Beyoncé Knowles and dancers at Super Bowl 50 halftime show .......................................... 52 12. Screenshot from Beyoncé’s “Formation” music video ........................................................... 55 13. Screenshot from Childish Gambino’s “This is America” music video .................................... 58 14. Jim Crow minstrel show advertisement ................................................................................. 59 iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I’d like to thank first my family for their continuous support and encouragement. I would not be here without all of you and will be forever grateful for your love. Similarly, I’d like to thank all my friends who, willingly or otherwise, allowed me to talk ceaselessly about everything I found in my research. Hearing you express your excitement in reading this means more to me than you can know. Thank you all for believing in me. I’d also like to thank my advisor, Dr. Katherine Reed. Thank you for pushing me to delve deeper and give my very best. Your weekly guidance saw me through this whole process. Thank you as well to my other committee members, Drs. John Koegel and Nicole Baker, particularly the former who has walked with me through every step of my time here at school from admissions to graduation. V 1 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION In 2016, writer Rebecca Bengal published an essay on the online magazine Pitchfork about the importance of Sam Cooke’s seminal song, “A Change is Gonna Come.” She remembers playing the song in her home shortly after the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile: “It’s impossible to hear ‘Change’ now without feeling the omens Cooke likely felt—change tinged with quite a bit of foreboding.”1 Over five decades have passed since the song was first performed, yet the need for change about which Cooke sang is still felt. He gave voice and language to the concerns his community was feeling. Music has been important in any social movement for just these reasons: creating a shared vernacular among communities and doing so in a way that can be remembered decades, even centuries later. The music of a movement preserves its history. These two ideas— Black American music and social movements—have intertwined many times in American history and can currently be seen in the ongoing Black Lives Matter movement.2 In researching earlier social movements in the later nineteenth century and during the Civil Rights era, I noticed an emphasis on imagery in Black Lives Matter that was not as present in these earlier eras. In this thesis, I analyze the similarities and differences between the Black Lives Matter movement’s use of music and image through music video and other Black American social movements of the past, comparing the current movement with its parallel
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