2nd blog post "Mississippi Goddam"

-the song i chose was "Mississippi Goddam". when i read the lyrics to this song it felt like it was talking about slavery. the african americans are so fed up with the crualty and the lies that they get everyday. they want there freedom but the white americans refuse to give it to them because they are scared that if they give them some freedom they will abuse it and want more and more and it will end bad for them. for example in the song she says " picket lines/school boycotts/they try to say its a communist plot/all i want is equality/ for my sister my brother and me." during that time african americans were trying to fight for there rights by doing boycotts and picket lines and if they refused to stop they would be abused and beaten and even arrested, the government and the white americans were all afraid that the african americans would try to take over and have power but she says that not what we want we just want to have equal rights just like you.
-"How can you and i be looked upon as men, with black women being beaten, and nothing being done about it?...and nothing can be done about it except we sit around singing "we shall overcome"'
this quote was taken from malcom x speech at the freedom democratic national convention.
i felt like the relationship between mississippi and harlem is that when the whites were in the "white" poll they sent the blacks to swim in the mississppi river and that was the only place they felt free even though they were still segregated, and the same with harlem when african americans started relocating to the northern part of the united states harlem was the only place where they felt like they had some freedom.....to be continued

Once you've set up your blog, write your first post. In it, talk a little about your own relationship to "art, politics, and protest." Some questions you might think about: What kinds of expression - music, writing, art, sports - mean the most to you and why? Have you ever been part of a social movement, protested for or against something, or created a political work of art? Have you had your view of the world changed by a song, poem, movie or some other creative work? What would you like to learn about in this class?


When i first registered for this class i really thought it was more of a regular art class, but once i started class i relized that it was more than that , it was about how art was used for protest, and to send a message. to be honest i haven't listened to music in a while but i know that sometimes new artists use things that are happening now in the world and incorporate it in their music and for us it just sounds good or it makes sence with the song but back in the civil rights years many blacks would just incorporate the way they feel, how they are being treated etc.. i've never been part of a protest or a social movement but i think that if i was one of the people in that time i would probably be part of the protest. i learned alot in my history class last semester about the civil rights movement but it would be intresting to study how songs, arts, and protest was incorporated during the time.