22. We Shall Overcome.Indd

WE SHALL OVERCOME’ ‘‘WE SHALL OVERCOME’by Cynthia Levinson

Singing together filled efore emancipation in 1863, slaves sent each other secret messages civil rights protestors with through music. The gospel song “Wade in the Water,” for example, courage and inspiration. Btaught escaping slaves how to hide when bloodhounds chased them. In church and in the cotton fields, singing brought black people

Emancipation is the act of setting together and gave them courage. More than 100 years later, singing free. President Abraham Lincoln’s continued to give courage — this time, to civil rights activists. Emancipation Proclamation freed Segregationists hoped that beating and arresting the Freedom Riders the slaves in the Confederacy during the Civil War. would end the integrated bus rides. Instead, hundreds of people climbed aboard. Why? Many said they were inspired by the freedom songs they sang in church and at protest meetings and by the preaching of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who called music “the soul of the movement.” By 1961, King’s message of nonviolence had reached many people. But nonviolence was not the same as not acting. “We are not engaged in a struggle that means we sit down and do nothing,” King explained. “Nonviolent resistance means you do resist in a very strong and determined manner.” Freedom Riders were determined to sit down on buses and to resist violence. Instead of fighting back when they were attacked or jailed, they sang. They sang hymns, spirituals, bluegrass, ballads, folksongs,

222.2. wwee sshallhall oovercome.inddvercome.indd 2222 11/28/08/28/08 2:37:552:37:55 PMPM and popular tunes: “We Shall Not Be Moved,” “Oh Freedom,” “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me ’Round.” They borrowed songs, too. “We VERCOME’ Shall Overcome,” which striking black and white Alabama coal miners ‘WE SHALL O first sang in 1908, became the anthem of the civil rights movement. They made up songs, such as “I’m Taking a Ride on the Greyhound Bus Line.” They taunted local mayors and police chiefs by using their names in songs, including “Oh Pritchett, Oh Kelley, Open Them Cells.” They sang “Keep Your Eyes on the Prize” to help them focus on their cause and not their fears. “The fear down [South] is tremendous,” one SNCC member admitted, “but when the singing started, I forgot all that.” A powerful strategy of nonviolent resistance, singing also infuriated opponents. When the guards mistreated the Freedom Riders, “we pro- tested. Our protest was organized singing,” explained one jailed member. “We sang around the clock.” To silence them, guards removed their mat- LISTEN UP tresses, toothbrushes, and food. But the riders continued singing. “Last o hear freedom songs, go night they turned out the lights and heat to stop our singing,” one woman Tto www.pbs.org/wgbh/ wrote on a paper towel to her friend. “Chalk up another failure for them.” amex/eyesontheprize/, www Through concerts and rallies, freedom songs became popular around .lib.virginia.edu/small/exhibits/ the country, attracting students to the cause. In 1963, black children and music/protest.html, or www teenagers in Birmingham, Alabama, marched for equal rights. Their .rhapsody.com/home.html. Or, minister told them to march quietly, but “when you’re arrested, sing your listen to Smithsonian Folkways hearts out!” In jail, they sang “Ain’t a-scared of your jail ’cause I want my Recordings at your local or freedom” to the tune of a popular children’s song. school library. — C.L. One civil rights worker explained the importance of music to the movement in this way: “Without these songs, we’d still be chopping cotton.”

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