This paper will give a better look into ten songs that are incorporated with either racism, civil rights, social injustices, or self-identification. These songs will describe what it was like around the times that they were made but it will show how much current times have not truly changed neither.
The songs: Strange Fruit, Mississippi Goddam, Four Women, Revolution (Parts 1 and 2), To Be Young, Gifted, and Black, Fuck the Police, They Don’t Care About Us, Beautiful Me, Big Black Buck, The Colored Section, and Wildlife all have something to do with self-identification, social injustices, racism or civil rights. These songs were made between the years of 1956 and 2002 but even with there being some changes that may have occurred, the people who were the oppressors back then are still currently the oppressors in this day in age. Nothing has truly changed for black people besides that they have a little more opportunity now than they have before.
The song ‘Strange Fruit’ that was sung by Billie Holiday was about black people that were hung on trees, hence the name “strange fruit”. These people were burnt alive and being left for different animals to eat from. The theme of this song was about the social injustices that black people had to go through during these times and even up until recently when they have passed a law to make lynching illegal in 2020. Referring to the textbook, “the disapproving European attitudes toward dark-skinned people in general but did not prevent most Europeans from maintaining a view of the African as barbaric and liable for enslavement.” (Even the Rat Was White: A Historical View of Psychology). The song ‘Mississippi Goddamn’, sung by Nina Simone is about all the trouble that had happened in the south from being hunted down by white people and their dogs to school aged children being put in jail and her thinking that everyday would be her last day because of how bad racism and the social injustices were. When Nina said “…but this whole country is full of lies” people constantly say that the United States is the land of the free, however black people cannot do anything without being scared.
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‘Four Women’ by Nina Simone is about four women who are black, but they are different colors of black and they have different interpretations of life because they have lived different lives. The theme of this song is self-identification because these women are describing their appearances and acknowledging their skin colors and hair types. When the woman named Siffronia came up she said “ My father was rich and white, forced himself on my mother one night” that implies that her father had raped her mother, causing her to be mixed raced and able to live in two different worlds as a black or white woman. “Black women often became sexual objects for the disposal by white men.” (Even the Rat Was White: A Historical View of Psychology). ‘To Be Young, Gifted, and Black’ is about being black and gifted youth and that these young people need to know that they have something to look forward to in life. ‘Beautiful Me’ and ‘The Colored Section’ by Donnie is about being proud of being black and having beautiful black features. The theme for this song self-identification because of he is aware of his black beauty and Afrocentric features. “Africans in America who are victimized by these Eurocentric procedures.” (African/Black Psychology in the American Context: An African-Centered Approach. Nubian Nation Publications). There are many people who are not happy with their black features, but these songs will help to appreciate being black.
‘Revolution’ (part 1 and 2) by Nina Simone is about being ready for all the social injustices and racism to end. The theme for this song is social injustice and civil rights because this song went on during the Black Power Movement. Nina mentioned that she would “swim the ocean” to communicate about the injustices so that white people would understand the wrongs that they were doing. The song ‘Fuck the Police’ by N.W.A is about the social injustices that the police is constantly doing to black people, even the black police officers were doing black people wrong just to “entertain” the white officers. These injustices were not talked about because of the location that they had happened in which were urban neighborhoods and black people were treated wrong because they looked “suspicious”. ‘They Don’t Care About Us’ by Michael Jackson is about all the injustices that people of color were being put through because a lot of them were being put in prison for no true reason and were treated any kind of way. The lyrics “they don’t really care about us” refers to how badly black people are being treated and no one cares. (Michael Jackson’s ‘They don’t really care about us’).
‘Big Black Buck’ by Donnie is about black people buying into white people’s businesses and while they are doing that they’re losing all of their money and never investing into themselves causing them to be more of a stereotype of not having enough money. Until this day black people are still not willing to invest their money into making a business for themselves. ‘Wildlife’ by Donnie is about how whites made black people seem like they were animals even though white people were normalizing killing black people, meanwhile they did not want black people to get mad about dying. “Eurocentric meandering supporting the intellectual superiority of whites has been more than a nuisance for Blacks” (Even the Rat Was White: A Historical View of Psychology).
In conclusion, the majority of these songs’ themes were about social injustices and racism and how much black people are deeply affected by it even over the course of forty-six years plus, nothing has truly changed because people are still treating black people as if they are animals. For the songs that had the theme of civil rights, it was quite empowering, and it was made to lift up black people, so they knew that better times were on the way. The songs that were about self-identification gave a look into how some black people felt about the color of their skin and their features whether if it was positive or negative.
Reference
- [bookmark: _Hlk39604771]Guthrie, , R. V. (2004). Even the Rat Was White: A Historical View of Psychology (2nd ed.).
- (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.mesaartscenter.com/download.php/engagement/jazz-a-to-z/resources/archive/teacher-resources-2015-2016-season-lift-every-voice-september/teacher-resources-2015-2016-season-lift-every-voice—september/historical-and-rhetorical-song-analysis-form–mississippi-goddam
- Shelton, J. (2019, May 15). ‘Young, Gifted and Black’ by Nina Simone. Retrieved from https://www.songmeaningsandfacts.com/young-gifted-and-black-by-nina-simone/
- Michael Jackson’s ‘They don’t really care about us’. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://prezi.com/azteopy3cgfk/michael-jacksons-they-dont-really-care-about-us/
- Kambon, K. k.k. (1999). African/Black Psychology in the American Context: An African-Centered Approach. Nubian Nation Publications.
