Freedom Songs

Freedom songs are a corpus of songs that were used during the civil rights movement of the 1960s and afterward as a unifying force in the African American struggle for freedom and human rights. The use of music in the fight for freedom was evidenced throughout the history of Africans in the Americas, particularly in the songs known as spirituals. But as a specific group of songs, freedom songs refer to the songs that were sung at sit-ins, mass meetings, prayer vigils, protest marches, boycotts, rallies, freedom rides, picket lines, courthouses, and jails. The first documented and identified body of freedom songs came from the student sit-in organizers in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee.

Freedom songs are songs of protest and selfassertion, inspiration and encouragement. Through the freedom songs, disenfranchised African Americans have been able to respond courageously to injustices and comment boldly on events in their struggle for civil rights. In essence, the freedom songs were tools for survival that drew together people of differing backgrounds and experiences in a centralized struggle for human rights.

The majority of the freedom songs were adapted from the wellspring of African American musical styles that were rooted in African cultural traditions. Most of the songs and styles of singing were based on spirituals, gospel songs, and hymns. The original meanings of the older spirituals, messages of justice and liberation, were relevant to the latest circumstances. In many of the older texts, pronouns were changed from first-person singular to first-person plural, fostering the sense of community and group solidarity. The repertoire of songs was expanded to include many popular African American musical forms and singing techniques of the 1960s (e.g., rhythm and blues). Melodies were retained, song texts were modified, and old and new styles were blended to create the freedom songs that captured the verve and potency of the movement.