#SONGS ABOUT FREEDOM WINDOWS#

Listen to “If I Can Help Somebody” by Dorothy Love Coates and the Gospel Harmonettes from the LP, Till My Changes Come. Some provided comfort in difficult times. Not all freedom songs were defiant in tone. Listen to “Up Above My Head, I Hear Freedom in the Air” by Sister Rosetta Tharpe.

This old spiritual became a favorite in the great singing protests of Albany, Georgia, and quickly spread throughout the South. “Up Above My Head, I Hear Freedom in the Air” Listen to “A Charge to Keep” by Betty Simmons.Ĩ. In the days before hymnals, a song-leader would sing or speak a line and the congregation, whether in a church or at a mass meeting, would sing it back, called “lining out.” One of the most popular lined-out hymns during the movement was the old hymn, “A Charge to Keep Have I.” Listen to “I Shall Not Be Moved” by the Mighty Wonders of Aquasco, Maryland. These two old union songs were quickly adopted and expanded by the civil rights movement of the '50s and '60s. When labor unions admitted African Americans in the 1930s and '40s, labor protesters quickly absorbed and adapted the great protest spirituals. “We Shall Not Be Moved” and “Which Side Are You On?” (Assistance provided by Baylor Libraries’ Digitization and Digital Preservation Services.)ġ0. Each song is available for listening in the digital collections of the Black Gospel Music Restoration Project. The Black Gospel Music Restoration Project at Baylor University has the world’s largest collection of digitized vinyl songs and sermons from gospel’s “golden age.” Not surprisingly, there are hundreds of freedom songs and protest spirituals in the collection as well.īelow is a list of some of the most influential, most powerful, most enduring and beloved songs that have inspired and encouraged sings for two centuries. Others have been adopted by freedom fighters in the Arab Spring, at Tiananmen Square and even now in Hong Kong. Many have been sung continually in the United States since the 1800s, right through the #blacklivesmatter and #metoo movements. WACO, Texas (June 19, 2020) – As the protests following the death of George Floyd began to roil the country, it was only a few days before the demonstrators began to sing an array of freedom songs and protest spirituals, as well as a few new adaptations, including Bill Withers’ “Lean on Me.” Some of these songs have been sung by people fighting nonviolently for freedom and justice for hundreds of years. Darden, Professor of Journalism, Public Relations & New Media, Founder and Director of the Black Gospel Music Restoration Project at Baylor University

#SONGS ABOUT FREEDOM WINDOWS#

After all, there's just something about cool '70s songs like 'Take Me Home, Country Roads' and rockin' '80s songs like 'Born in the U.S.A.' that seem like they were made for easy listening while going for a drive with the windows down or hanging out at a cookout.Īnd if you're planning Memorial Day or 4th of July activities, tracks such as Mariah Carey's 'Fourth of July' or Brad Paisley's 'American Saturday Night' will fit right in with your themed playlist.Media Contact: Lori Fogleman, Baylor University Media and Public Relations, 25įollow us on Twitter: Robert F. You can turn up the volume on these classics at any time, but they're especially great for when you want to feel tuned in to your country. The one thing they all have in common is celebrating this place we call home. The tracks on this list-including century-old classics like 'America the Beautiful' and country songs like 'Ragged Old Flag'-will please a multigenerational (not to mention, multi-genre!) crowd. Whether you're hosting a barbecue, taking an all-American road trip, or just relaxing in your backyard, a playlist of patriotic songs makes the perfect soundtrack for spring and summer.

Songs about freedom