bicentennial blues." he was very critical of the reagan administration early on. you can listen to his stuff on youtube and get a feel seriously for what was happening at that time in terms of u.s. domestic and foreign policy, particularly as it regards issues of race. we have our final selection which is by sweet honey and the rock. sweet honey and the rock has a direct connection to the music of the movement in that it was founded by bernice johnson reagan, who was one of the sncc freedom singers. and this song is a tribute to ela baker. we know of ella baker as the unsung woman, civil rights activist, who goes all the way back to the naacp in the 1930s as a field secretary for the naacp. she was almost single-handedly responsible for the massive expansion of that organization's membership. she was a executive secretary

with dr. king's sclc. when the sit-ins broke out, she encouraged the young people who were involved to form their own organization, which became sncc. so song pays tribute to ella baker's role as a champion of the youth in the movement, and also represents someone who represents a group-centered grassroots approach to civil rights leadership. this is a live performance in minnesota. >> there's a lot of things going on in the world. there's a lot of freedoms being threatened. think about it. here we go. ♪ we who believe in freedom cannot rest ♪ ♪ we who believe in freedom cannot rest until it comes ♪ good. >> now carol and i will sing the verses, and when it's your turn, come in nice and strong.

ready? >> whenever you are. ♪ until the killing of black men, black mother's sons ♪ ♪ is as important as the killings of a white man ♪ ♪ a white mother's son ♪ we who believe in freedom cannot fail ♪ ♪ no, no ♪ we who believe in freedom cannot rest ♪ ♪ you know that which touches me most is that i had the chance ♪ ♪ to work with people passing on to others ♪ ♪ that which was passed on to me ♪ ♪ to me young people come first ♪ ♪ they have the courage of where we failed ♪ ♪ and if i could put chance of light to carry us through again ♪ ♪ we who believe in freedom cannot rest ♪

♪ sing it like you know it now ♪ we who believe in freedom cannot rest ♪ ♪ struggling myself don't mean a whole lot ♪ ♪ i've come to realize that teaching others to stand and fight ♪ ♪ is the only way to survive ♪ i'm a woman speaks in a voice and i must be heard ♪ ♪ at times i could be quite difficult ♪ ♪ won't bow to no man's word ♪ we who believe in freedom cannot rest ♪ ♪ no, no, no ♪ we who believe in freedom cannot rest ♪ ♪ one more time now ♪ we who believe in freedom cannot rest ♪ ♪ i believe ♪ i believe ♪ i believe

♪ i believe ♪ i believe ♪ i believe ♪ we who believe in freedom cannot rest ♪ [ applause ] >> so the message of that song reinforces the readings that we did on women and the civil rights movement. this is obviously giving praise to a sort of a neglected figure, but who was really a central person for the civil rights movement. and, you know, it just shows the contribution that women made to the movement. particularly sncc. just a couple of questions to ponder.

i don't necessarily want you to answer these questions now but you're certainly free to do so. how has the relationship between mass media and journalism and popular music and u.s. society changed since the 1960s? and how can studying the civil rights movement help us better understand the continuing significance of race in today's u.s. politics and society? so those are a couple of questions to ponder. i hope you've been pondering them. and i just wanted to show you just a brief and incomplete selection of all of the music that was connected to the social movements of the 1960s, the counter culture, the civil rights movement, the student movement. these are all appeals to the conscience of the listener. as i said, it's an incomplete list. i've got some of them in bold face. those are -- those happen to be motown artists.

i have a special interest in motown music. nevertheless, that gives you an idea of some of the songs we just heard. many of them songs one can still hear on the radio today. so that is pretty much all i have in the way of songs, and we do have a little over between 15 and 20 minutes and i wonder if you have any questions out of all of that vast array, way too much material that was in the presentation, but any questions you have about any of the particular artists or the challenges of trying to understand popular music or popular song in the immediate context of the moment of its creation and what's happening in terms of the events of the civil rights movement. yes, matt.

>> in the very beginning of the presentation when you talked about ghana and king visiting ghana and the independence movement. how much did the independent movements in africa have an affect on the civil rights movement in the u.s.? >> well, there were definite connections at least in the minds of certainly african-americans who were struggling for freedom in the united states. if you look there is a study of the montgomery bus boycott by a historian named stuart burns, and he talks about how people involved in the montgomery movement were following the developments, the nationalist movement in the gold coast colony. that was the british colony before it became the independent country of ghana. so there was this awareness that africans and their nationalist movements were moving faster, that africans were about to gain their freedoms before

african-americans could ride on a bus and take any seat they wanted or, you know, eat at an integrated lunch counter. and sncc made this connection as a way of criticizing the slow pace of change in the united states. they said that all of africa would be free before we could get a hamburger and a cup of coffee. and, of course, sncc in the end was about much more than integrating the lunch counters in the south. they were for voting rights, you know, and for educational opportunity. they were for political independence. so people were making those connections and kwame had studied in the united states and rights activists. and so he invited many of them to the independent ceremony in ghana. so there were these connections, and they do go back even before the civil rights movement.

world war ii was a major moment of alliances between african-american civil rights organizations like the naacp and west and southern african nationalist movements. that's the story for another lecture. >> yes, meredith? >> was the charles mingus song, was that opposition to what was going on, or was it opposition to it? >> yeah, that was condemning the whole crisis in little rock. you realize that here are nine children just trying to go to school, and they're being kept out of the school by angry white mobs and the national guard, the arkansas national guard deployed by governor faubus, and this was a major international crisis. it comes a few months after the independence of ghana. louie armstrong is also known for speaking out angrily during the little rock crisis.

he faulted president -- not only faubus, but armstrong called faubus an uneducated plow boy, you know, in the press. this was reported, and he said it's getting so a colored man -- to give the usage that he gave back then -- hasn't got any country, and he said that the government can go to hell. this is a very strong statement from someone like louis armstrong, who was seen as a symbol of african-american contentment, shall we say. so mingus was speaking out very forcefully against faubus and other segregationists. he actually included eisenhower in his litany of condemnation. yes? >> i have a question about that. didn't eisenhower, like, send in troops to the protect the little rock nine? so like why is he saying that

eisenhower is a segregationist as well? >> well, eisenhower was known for not supporting the brown decision. he was known for sympathizing with the south in terms of its resistance to desegregation. but in the end, the embarrassment -- the little rock crisis gained international headlines. the picture that you've seen of elizabeth eckford walking to school with people shouting abuse at her, that was broadcast all over the world. this was a time during the cold war where the united states was trying to present itself internationally as the leader of the free world. well, how can you be credible in claiming you're the leader of the free world when you're practicing jim crowe and where you have mobs trying to keep children from attending school? so eisenhower, in consultation with the state department, decided that this had to stop, so he sent in federal troops to do this.

but eisenhower was not known as in support of segregation. he appointed chief justice earl warren to the supreme court. he was very angry warren ended up presiding over this unanimous decision, overturning plessy and overturning -- rendering school segregation unconstitutional. but ironically, it was during eisenhower's administration, a republican administration, that the first civil rights law was passed in many, many years since reconstruction. but eisenhower and the republican party -- well, i shouldn't say this totally. there were some pro-civil rights republicans back then, but certainly after the civil rights act was passed in 1964, the republican party became the party of opposition to civil rights.

>> you talked a lot about how communism and black civil rights are kind of grouped together. i don't really see the connection between them and how they went about that. >> after world war ii, everybody thought that if we won the war, you know, and people thought african-american and civil rights activists, both black and white, thought of the war as a sort of double "v" campaign. victory overseas against fascism, and victory here against racism and jim crowe. and people just thought that if we won the war, then because the war had discredited racism as a national policy. the fight against hitler and fascism was a fight against racism. so racism was really sort of delegitimized during world war ii. what happened with the end of world war ii and then the onset of the cold war was it gave segregationists, it gave the

white south a reason, a way of demonizing the civil rights movement, of demonizing the cause of desegregation by equating it with all of the things that they've hated and feared. communism, race mixing, you know, black music, all these things. it gave the white south sort of a new intellectual and political lease on life to justify maintaining the system of segregation because they were equating trying to -- they were equating massive resistance with the fight against communism. so they were finding common ground with the national security policy of the united states. you know, during the cold war, people, you know, would be susceptible to propaganda of

showing dr. king at a meeting of organizers and labeling the meeting, this is a communist training school. people were very susceptible to this sort of thing. so the segregationist south, the white south, used cold war anti-communism to justify maintaining the system and to, as i said, demonize the civil rights movement and the naacp. you've seen from the timeline, there's a massive legislative and political attempt to discredit the naacp and to discredit the cause of desegregation. i hope that -- i mean, that's a really complicated question. we could talk more about it, but that's just, i guess, a start. allison? >> what was jimi hendrix trying to say with his "star spangled banner?" >> i was wondering that myself. what kind of political statement is hendrix making?

i can sort of appreciate it on the artistic level. you know, he's sort of doing an onomatopoeic version, you know, the bombs bursting in air, and he's doing all these sound effects and all, but what do you think? what kind of statement do you think he's making? anti-war? pro-war? patriotic? okay. we got a couple hands going up. emma and then steve -- jack, sorry. sorry about that. >> i think that he's kind of making, like, an anti-war message because, i don't know, just the whole sound of it sounds kind of violent. like yeah, he's playing the "star spangled banner," but he is playing it in such a way that alludes to the chaos and violence of the war.

and he even included parts of "taps" in there. i remember hearing that and that even alludes to the war even more. >> okay. so anti-war. jack? >> i know jimi hendrix was definitely against the war because he was actually in the army. then he lied and said he was actually a homosexual in order to get discharged from the army, he was definitely not for the war. >> yeah. i'm glad that you mentioned that that he was an ex--serviceman. because that was something that i had meant to say. thank you for filling that in. yeah, i mean, it's kind of hard to see it as anything but being critical of the war. but the fact that he's playing "the star spangled banner" at this rock concert where no doubt many other anti-war views and songs are being performed. i just wonder, why would he play -- even though he's

certainly altering, you know, experimenting with the tune, why would he play the national anthem? but bear in mind that in those days, if you played the national anthem in any -- if you didn't play it straight, if you used it sort of as a platform for artistic expression, you could get in big trouble. it would be interesting to see how that was received by the mainstream press. i know jose feliciano performed the national anthem at a world series game or something in the 1960s. he gave it a very sort of latino flavor. people were outraged. so how do to you that to the national anthem? you get a sense of how people's notions of national and cultural identity were hostile to any kind of notions of cultural, multi-culturalism or cultural differences.

any other questions? we still have some time. oh, i'm sorry. >> that's okay. going back to the slide that had the notice about not playing black records, do you think that it was just the fact that they were african-american artists, or was it the fact that rock and roll was starting to come into play with artists like chuck berry and that was all very provocative when it came to music? >> yeah. i think it was certainly the fact that it was black artists, but i think what was really scaring the, i guess, the city fathers of the white south was that at these rock 'n' roll shows, embarcadero -- bear in mind, you know, in the south, and you know this from having

read ann moody, these public gatherings were supposed to be segregated. in the movies, the whites are in the mezzanine. the blacks are in the balcony. at these concerts, what they would do is they would run a tape down the middle of the auditorium, and whites are supposed to stay on one side, blacks on the other, or they would just be, you know, totally segregated. white-only events, et cetera. so people really thought that black music, rock 'n' roll, was transgressing those social boundaries. that's one of the points i was trying to make. i think it was maybe in the text, but i don't know if i really gave full voice to it in the presentation. music, popular music, through the radio dissemination and radio and television and to some extent in public performances, really transgressed the kinds of rigid social and racial boundaries that the segregationist south was so deeply committed to maintaining at all costs. so it wasn't just that it was

black music. it was really in some ways a kind of unacknowledged campaign for the hearts and minds of white southern youth. i mean, if you think about youth who grew up in the south, who came of age during the civil rights movement and during this era of the music, i would gather that they have a very different way of looking, generally. i mean, you know, if we were to generalize, of looking at the issue of civil rights than say the generation older than them and perhaps even the generation younger. part of it had to do with being alive during this tremendous moment of political and social and cultural change. but part of it had to do with the saturation of all this music. the music just awakens in people a new image of african-americans.

associating african-americans with one's own leisure, one's own recreation. and to some extent, i do think that the entertainers were sort of on the front lines of segregation, and you go back and you look at stories of people like nat king cole, who was assaulted while performing in birmingham at an all-white gathering. some klansmen objected to him singing a love song directed to some woman or something. he was physically assaulted during the performance. i mean, it's really -- you can sort of see how the image of african-americans as equals, as dignified and talented can really sort of challenge a lot of, you know, white supremacist assumptions. any other questions? well, it does appear that we are

at the end of our time. you probably have classes you need to get to. so thank you all for taking part in this taping. i'd like to thank c-span for being here. i'd like to thank members of the c-span audience for hearing the presentation. thank you very much. [ applause ] with congress on break this week, we're featuring some of american history tv's weekend programs in prime time on c-span 3. friday night we look at the history of alcohol and drug use in america. at 8:00 p.m. eastern, historians ed ayers, and brian bellow

explore the history of beer and spirits. at 9:30 eastern, go behind the scenes at the recreated george washington distillery at mt. vernon. and later, a class focusing on opium addiction in america with bowling green state university professor scott martin. that's at 10:00 p.m. eastern. v american history tv in prime time all week in prime time on c-span 3. the 16th street baptist church was built in 1873. actually it was called the first baptist church for colored people. and it was on the corner of fourth avenue and 12th street. it moved to this site around 1883 and was renamed the 16th street baptist church. it moved to this site around 1883 and was renamed the 16th street baptist church, moved here because of the land that it

was on previously. it was co-opted by the city and they moved the church here and this land had a lot of red clay on it, so they moved here, 1883, called it 16th street baptist church, renamed it, and then it was a beautiful church what we're told. we're also told the power structure said no black church should be that beautiful. the steeple does not meet the ordinance, take it down, and they did. the only black architect in the state that was a member of the church designed the church we're in now, and 16th street baptist church had a dual purpose. it was a place for spiritual form nation. it was also a place for social gatherings because in the jim crowe south, african-americans couldn't go to the alabama theater, they couldn't go to the civics center, they couldn't go to a club or a party house. so many of the events socially were brought to 16th street oratory speeches, booker t. washington, paul roberson, mary anderson doing the concert, saw was at 16th street baptist church. because it became not only a

place for spiritual formation, but also a place for social activity as well. 1960s, this became the quote, unquote, headquarters of the children march, operation "c." dr. fred solicited dr. martin luther king to come to birmingham after a couple of failed campaigns that dr. king had, particularly after the one in albany, georgia. and dr. shuttlesworth wanted to confront the power structure here in birmingham about desegregating the schools. he was already unsuccessful in enrolling his children in phillips high school. matter of fact, he was beaten very badly when he tried to enroll his kids to the high school. so they began to meet here in april and may on mondays, then they would strategize in the basement, come up to a packed house, and then they would go out into the park and demonstrate, confronting the power structure of birmingham to desegregate. the church bombing happened months after the whole operation

"c." the demonstration, the water hoses, the dogs and the park happened after dr. king's famous "i have a dream" speech in washington, d.c. 18 days after that speech, a bomb went off in this church. then ironically the sunday school lesson that day was a love that forgives. and it was also youth sunday. so kids were in charge. so four girls, actually five girls were changing in the bathroom to get into the choir robes and the bomb went off and four girls were killed. one girl was blinded in one eye by the shrapnel. the congregation, again, was shocked that somebody would bomb a church. the 11:00 or the sunday morning hour was supposed to be the most sacred hour, the place where you are sending your kids to learn the golden rule, to learn about different attitudes on how to treat your neighbor right. on a day where you are learning a lesson of a love that forgives, it was shock and awe

that somebody would actually bomb a church, of all places, a church. a sanctuary, a safe haven. so it was shock and awe. in the church. in the community, i think there was a lot of introspection that went on. people began to quietly introspect. what are we doing? what did we sign up for? we don't want blacks and whites to go to school together, that was apparent. but we didn't sign up for murder and terrorism. which that was on september 15th of 1963. blanton, cherry were the major guys that were convicted for the bombing and for the bombing of the 16th street baptist church. but we believe that there are more people that conspired to the bombing but they were the ones that were actually caught matter of fact, frank cherry was one of the perpetrators, or blanton was one of the perpetrators that actually beat

reverend shuttlesworth when he was trying to enroll his kids in the high school. they had that on tape. and one of his niece was talking about how they were conspireing to bomb the church. so that's how they pretty much convicted him. but it was some 14 years later. then some 30 years later after that, after the bombing to get bobby frank cherry. the church had to go through a lot of -- i guess a lot of rebuilding, because some people blamed the pastor for allowing them, the marches and the movement in the church. so he wound up leaving. then the church had the history of going through pastors. so you know, it had resolved and i guess the way the church rebuilds was going back to the