Social Movement Studies

             As many of us know, racism has been around since as early as the 1400's. Gregory K. Freeland's article " 'We're a Winner': Popular Music and the Black Power Movement" examines cultural forms and political opportunities that are critical to political movements. It was clear the movement stood for cultural, economic, and political change. During the Civil Rights Movement many African Americans struggled to posses political and social rights. From that, the Black Power Movement called for blacks to "unite" and "inspire/drive social movements". Freeland stated, "Popular music was viewed as a vehicle for mobilization that could challenge the inequities of American capitalism and racism..." (Freeland 261) The artist who expressed their frustration and produced many songs that molded the BPM was Curtis Mayfield. Mayfield not only had black pride, but his determination helped BPM tremendously. "We're a Winner" which was written by Mayfield was seen as "...the essential ideological message of the BPM." (Freeland 262)

It's amazing how music can bring a community together to fight for whats right. How it has a way of connecting to the listener and being able to influence them to support the movement, in which many were fighting. Record producers were dedicating their work to music that would uplift mass audiences supporting black pride and power. As I read Freeland's article it was just astonishing the levels of power within the music makers and audience. It was clear that if an artist got a message out through music, everyone who listens will support them.  Through music the artist who supported the BPM were producing music they wanted in which would reflect their own future. It was amazing the power that came from the people fighting for whats right, and to gain rights deserved.  

Strange Fruit: Billie Holiday

One thing that really stood out to me while reading this article was the lynching of African Americans and how unjustified it was. Once these Africans were lynched their picture would be taken and sold. After I saw that I was completely disgusted with they way they were being treated. All people we created equal and thats what Billie was trying to explain in her songs. During class on Wednesday when we received the quotes and our was "The lynching of 20 black men in 1930 amounted to nowhere near the turn of the century or even the immediate aftermath of World War I". I found this quote interesting because lynching is a brutal way for a person to die and this process was taking many African American lives. This was what Billie Holiday was talking about in her Song Strange fruit. One main point she brought up in here song was racism. She was completely against it and this song really showed it. African have been mistreated all their live and Billie song was a way how she could express the pain her people went through.  

I found that the article "Strange Fruit" was an awesome read. It was also very interesting. I had heard the name Billie Holiday before but I had no idea who she was. I did not even know "she" was a woman until I read this article. When the article started I thought it was going to be an entire article written about white supremacy; a white man who made a black "uneducated" woman sing a song about the life of a black person. As the article went on and the songs Billie was singing began to become more meaningful to her, the more I enjoyed the read. Normally Believe that in order for a song to truly relate to the artist singing it, they had to have written it themselves. This article changed my perspective. In the beginning like I said earlier, the article was about a white man who told this black woman to sing the song "Strange Fruit". As the article went on Billie went through a life altering experience which resulted in the loss of her father due to racial issues. Billie started experiencing things similar to the events she was singing about and she started to change her entire repertoire around "Strange Fruit". That is when I started to re-think. Just because an artist did not write their music does not mean they do not feel the same pain and emotion they are singing about. The article comes full circle when in the end Billie decides to name her autobiography a line from the song. They decided that it would not be best and changed the name. In the beginning it was white power, she fought back, and in the end the power is back in the hands of the white men.

Strange Fruit

                  Prior to reading “Strange Fruit”, I had no idea who Billie Holiday was, or what “Strange Fruit” was. As I began reading it, I found it really amazing how she had used music to address the issues of ‘racial injustice’ and focused her whole repertoire around it. The mix of the blues and jazz was a great combination for the issues she was addressing. When I read that her father had died because of the care he could not receive due to the segregated hospitals it broke my heart. By the time he had reached Dallas, and was able to sick medical attention it was too late. He had pneumonia and passed way. When this happen, it really made me think more about segregation and why it had even existed. How was it ever right to allow someone more rights than another because of their skin color? How was it right to not receive medical attention because of the color of your skin? What I liked about Billie Holiday, was that after this had happened to her personally, she had become even that much more passionate about what she had done in her career. She loved what she sang about and how she perceived herself, and I think that is a very important trait to have as an artist. Although those were some of the things that stuck out to me in the reading, another thing had also stuck out to me.

                  “Billie Holiday’s recording of “Strange Fruit” achieved something far greater than the permanent preservation of her most important song, the aesthetic centerpiece of her career. Eventually, millions heard her sing this haunting antilynching appeal- more people than herself would have imagined (197)”. This quote really stuck out to me because millions had heard this song and it had influenced many to open the public’s eyes on not only the issues with lynching, but also the issues with racism. This was amazing to me because issues that people had to become aware of, she made that happen. She had a huge impact on those issues and people had tried harder and harder to have something done about it. Holiday wasn’t only out for herself because the issues were relevant in her life; she was trying to protect everyone. The song, “Strange Fruit” really did make people aware of the issues going on at the time.

Before I read the article I decided to google “strange Fruit” and of course the audio version of Billie Holiday singing it came up.When I first saw the title Strange fruit I did not have any idea what it  could be about. But After hearing billie Holiday singing it I realized it was about the social injustice going on in the world.Obviously As an African American who have previous experience with discrimination I understood  why  this song is so powerful but for others who can’t relate to it. it might take them much longer to understand that her purpose  in singing this song was to  brought  the issue of racial inequalities to the mainstream audience.

This song was written  in 1939. Around that life was just horrible for African Americans.They did not have any freedom. Their life was full with restrictions any little things if other race ( White American) oppose to what they said or did it  would have resulted in their death. In the article  strange fruit mentioned how Billie holiday was discouraged ‘After nine years of hard work” and felt” at a loss as to why the public had failed to respond to her” (182)Billie holiday’s musical genre is the blue. The blue  as we mentioned in previou s discussion in class, most of the blue songs were seens an indirect personal protest and were used to highlight pain ; domestic abuse,alcoholism , Racial inequalities  I believe due to the fact  she was trying to reach out to the individuals that were racist they did not care to listen to her song because racial injustice did not have any impact on their life.Most people if something doesn’t affect them they don’t care about it

Normally when I find out that artist aren’t the one who their songs . it make me think differently 
about them but  it’s different for Strange fruit. I find it really interesting that Strange Fruit was written
by Abel Meeropol who was Bronx jewish high school teacher. I found out that he wrote strange fruit
 after  seeing the picture of the  lynching of Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith in Marion, 
Indiana.Although it Wasn’t african American the Holocaust was occurring around that period. The holocaust started 1933 around that time Jews were being killed just because they were jewish just like how African American were being killed just for being African American. “ But unless one is an incurable racist it is difficult to listen to Billie Holiday singing”strange fruit” without recognizing the plea for  human solidarity, and thus for the racial equality”(1940 this quote is saying that anyone with any compassion  should understand strange fruit and should understand that by lynching people just because of the color of the person’s skin  their human rights is being stolen from them. Abel 
Meeropol had a lot of compassion and a lot  understand of the issues that were occurring during those periods.

Strange Fruit

The Story Behind "Strange Fruit"

       When you take the time to listen to Billie Holiday's song "Strange Fruit," it is hard not to get an eerie feeling of dread. It may cause you to wonder what it was that brought the song into light. Throughout the article Strange Fruit there are multiple different accounts of how the song came to be placed in Billie Holidays’ hands. However, I found Holiday’s account the most convincing. 

In her version of the events, she discusses how Lewis Allen came into the Café Society to show her the poem. Allen knew about the events that surrounded her fathers’ death, and suggested that her accompanist assist them in turning it into a song. She felt as though it really resonated with the story of her father and I believe that is what allowed her to sing the song so passionately. The topic surrounding the song held strongly to the anti-lynching theme. Although Holidays father was not killed by lynching in the direct sense, she felt as though racism and the Jim Crow laws led up to his untimely death. If her father had been able to receive treatment in the state in which he became sick in, instead of having to drive further away to receive treatment at a hospital that had a “Jim Crow ward,” he may not have developed pneumonia due to lack of treatment. Which is what lead to his death in 1937.

        This leads in to how I believe that personal stories are what can make or break an artist. It is also why I seem to find Holiday’s version so convincing. She was able to put her passion and anger towards racism into that song. People are often moved by other peoples grief. I believe that the death of her father allowed for her to fight for this song more passionately and ultimately bring awareness and light to the lynching deaths taking place during that time.

     The article Blame it on the Blues: Bessie Smith, Gertrude “Ma” Rainy and the Politics of Blues Protest by Angela Davis really stood out to me. Blues originated in African American communities at the end of the 19th century. Blues came out of struggle and oppression, it helped people to express how they were feeling and allowed people to bring awareness to issues that were going on such as racial tension. It evolved from slave song and grew from there, they used it as a way to spread political awareness and draw attention to certain issues. Blues was and sung with a lot of emotion they cried, shouted, screamed and involve themes such as love, power, anger. 

     I found it interesting to see that early on African Americans used this music as a way to express how they were feeling, often telling about their troubles that they experienced in the African American society. They often told about their own personal encounters which is amazing to me. An example that I liked most from this article was Ma Rainey’s “Chain Gang Blues” which talks about a African American women who committed a minor crime who got hung for it. It tells about the experience of the chain gang along with the convict lease system, and shows how black women were still liable. These songs help you to really see and have insight into what struggles and the reality that African Americans faced even after slavery was abolished and maybe even helped people who were going through the same thing relate to it. 

     Blues as a result shows how powerful music can actually be. But blues isn't always just depressing and sad sometimes they bring in humorous elements into it, but still manage to portray that they are serious about the topic they are singing about, which I thought was a good to point out because I feel that most people don't think of blues as being anything but sad and in a sense serious. People were able to express themselves, relate to each other, tell their own story and even protest through this music. It gave African Americans a chance to have a voice and express how they were feeling in a time where they had little say and as a result we will now always be able to remember the struggles and oppression that they faced each and every day even after they escaped slavery. 

By reading the “Strange Fruit” I could not stop myself from experiencing a mix of lots of feelings such as indignity, anger and disappointment.  Well it is always disappointing to read about lynching in America and not ask yourself why and how were people not able to feel angry about of how society treated people and not be touched especially if you are an African American yourself.  One of the many interesting things about “Strange Fruit” is how a poetry with so much meaning became a song of huge prestige and became really famous among artists, performers and musicians especially taking in consideration that political protests were not expressed in musical form at that time.  “Strange Fruit” brought awareness to real problems and it also expressed the brutality of that time period and made it visible to everybody to see since a lot of people tented to hide the fact that lynching was a common thing in every African American life.  “Strange Fruit” was considered the first protest song and if you really think about it gave space to other protest songs that until today plays a huge role on today’s society.  Poetry was too quiet for people to understand the message so they decided to add music which definitely made it louder.   By hearing to “Strange Fruit”   the song version it is hard not to picture what was happening in every single lyric. ” Black body swinging in the southern breeze” shows the exactly who were the people being lynched: African American.  ‘Strange Fruit hanging from the poplar trees” which meant bodies of people hanging on tress as if they were fruits on tress, but strange ones.  I believe when you found yourself listening to songs such as “Strange Fruit” you more likely will look at music differently.  You will see more than just a few lyrics put together to match the wave of the beat, but you also will understand that music can be an important and efficient way to deliver message to people. 

Strange Fruit

After reading “Strange Fruit”, I was completely surprised by some of the things that I was reading. I was first very shocked that a white Jewish man named Lewis Allen originally wrote the song. I figured since the song was such a powerful and strong message about slavery that it would be written by Billy Holiday herself. I was also very moved by the description of how they tortured the black people before the lynched them. It was so sad to read what they went through just because of the color of their skin.

Singing “Strange Fruit” must have been such an important and meaningful song to Billy Holiday considering what happened to her father and how he passed. It was written that “he developed chronic lung problems, and in March of 1937, while on tour in Texas, with Don Redman’s band, he contracted a chest cold for which he received no treatment because of segregated hospitals in that state” (187). It was very upsetting to me that her father died because he could not be given treatment right away when he needed it just because he was not white. This really opened my eyes and also made me realize that Billy probably sang this song so well because of the close relation she had with the song.

I had also found it very surprising that the publishers would not even allow Billy to name her own autobiography whatever she wanted. She really had no freedom of choosing what she wanted to do when it came to music. Reading about Billy Holiday made me sympathize for what her and every other person of color when through at that time.

Blog #2

Kayla Leland

Professor Santos

ENG 003

February 5^th, 2016

Blog Entry #2

The Blues

This week in class we discussed the history of the blues and the impact the lyrics can have to tell a story in one’s life. One particular reading that stood out to me was a chapter from Angela Y. Davis’s book, Blues Legacies and Black Feminism: Gertrude “Ma” Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Billie Holiday called, “Blame it on The Blues”. My first thought when reading this chapter was how African Americans used such allusive lyrics to tell a story and express their emotions during those tough times. Although the blues during this time period was meant to be about political protest they were mainly about the personal experiences one has gone through. They know by singing they will not fix all the problems so they have to accept to live with them. As a result, they use their lyrics as a means to try to communicate and unite others on the issues.

 

One particular song that stood out to me was the song “Ma and Pa Poorhouse Blues” recorded by Ma Rainey and Papa Charlie which talks about the struggles faced with poverty. The song uses humor in an interesting aspect as to tell the story of poverty but still continue to remain serious about the subject. As a result by using humor this makes the idea of poverty and the poorhouse seem more approachable along with allowing people to come together because “the key is togetherness and solidarity”. An interesting thing I found was how black people learned to use the strategy of humor in order to keep people from crying during the slave era.

 

             Similarly to the other readings we have discussed in class is that Billie holiday had to deal with the music industry as they had a big say in the decisions made based off of the song “Strange Fruit”. Most record producers at the time were white and as a result many songs about the harshness of African Americans that may leave negative thoughts or distress about whites would be rejected. Many would argue that most songs during this time period were meant to be a means of protest but in reality it all depends on how you interpret the song. The song “Washwoman’s Blues” which was seen as a protest song about the work poor black women were forced into can portray alternate meanings. In this particular song like many others she is just expressing her emotions toward the topic as a way to communicate with one another.

Melanie Santos

Professor Santos

Strange Fruit

February 5, 2016

When reading Strange Fruit, I realized how much people can really express them selves threw music. Billie Holiday is an example. Billie Holiday sang Strange Fruit, which addressed racial injustice in the black culture. One of the quotes that stood out to me the most while reading the article on page 194 was, “So illuminated human situations as to give the listener a rare, if frightening, glimpse into the realities of experience. Where others fear to treat, she reached out and touched, where others mask their eyes, she defiantly kept hers open”, said by Burt Korall about Billie Holiday. Just by reading this quote, you can understand more about Billie Holiday and what her purpose was. What I understood from this quote was that her purpose was to give the listeners of what’s going on and happening to the black culture, and all the racisms. For those who didn’t understand, or feel comfortable with the situation, her goal was for them to be touched by her words in her song.

Strange Fruit

After reading Strange Fruit, I was able to put a lot of her points in perspective. Billie was singing to raise awareness. Obviously we learn about racism all throughout school, but it really hit me after listening to Strange Fruit. She wasn't just singing for black women, but black people in general and the struggles they faced every day. A prime example of how they were treated was when the bar manager at the club she was singing at the time, asked he to sing Strange Fruit. "He paints her as an illiterate, ignorant, and passive women willing to sing Strange Fruit simply because he asked her to do it." "You want me to sing it. I sings it." (186) He mimicked her. Once she started singing Strange Fruit she became obsessed with it, and she really connected with it's meaning. "I worked like the devil on it she said, because I was never sure I could get it across to the nightclub audience how much it meant to me." (183) Essentially, Josephson (the nightclub owner) was wrong. It meant more to Billie than they could ever imagine.

Although Billie herself never experienced lynching, she connected it to her father's death. "Her father jazz guitarist, Clarence Holliday had inhaled poisonous gases during a battle in WW1." (187) Unfortunately, because of the color of his skin,  he didn't receive the proper treatment needed because of the segregated hospitals in the state of Texas. "According to Holiday's account, the antilynching theme of Strange Fruit resonated with her own anger about her father's death, and with the desire to protest the racism that had killed him." (187)

One part of this article that really stood out to me was, "Strange Fruit was a frontal challenge, not only to lynching and racism but to the policies of a government that implicitly condoned such activities, especially against its refusal to pass laws against lynching." (196) "The was the first significant protest in words and music, the first unmuted cry against racism." (196) Billie Holiday really started paving a way for others to express their concern about racism and the dangers it poses on society. It helped mold the lives of people today. He movement really helped to change the way we live. I give her so much credit for doing what she thinks is right, and standing up for what she believes in.

Unappreciated Blues Movement

While reading the chapter “Blame It On The Blues” out of Angela Y. Davis’s book, Blues Legacies and Black Feminism: Gertrude “Ma” Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Billie Holiday, I was in shock with the amount of depth and meaning the songs presented.    The blues that African Americans sung during this time told stories of political and social movements.  Some whites did not find any movement represented in the songs that these female African Americans were singing.

            In Bessie Smiths song “Poor Man’s Blues” she recites stories of history and events that took place at the time of the production.  She is singing of the struggle for blacks compared to whites when a “Poor working man’s wife is starvin’, your wife’s livin’ like a queen” and “Mister rich man, rich man, open your heart and mind, Give the poor man a chance, help stop these hard times.”  These lines hit home when you understand the time period she is singing this in.  War was over with but opportunity for blacks were slim.  Segregation during this time split the whites and blacks by a large margin.  The song really spoke out for black males, socially and politically.

Another song by Bessie Smith, “Washwoman’s Blues”, talks about the struggle for women during this time.  The song described the “impact of labor to which so many black women were condemned” and how housework was “the paid work most available to black women.”  Bessie uses history and her present times to paint an image over a blues song.  The blues is appreciated by only those who clearly heard the message. These songs were movements that could only be recognized by the aware.  The silent social and political protest was to be heard.

While growing up in this time was hard for women, growing up as a black women was worse. Through blues many stories of history are told.  A handful of the music didn’t impact hard until it did.   Bessie wasn’t the only woman to engage in movement socially and politically through blues, but she was like many other female blues musicians, black, under-appreciated, and looking to make a change.  Bessie's music and many more will forever remind us of these horrible times.

            After I read the article Strange fruit about Billie Holiday, and her career after singing strange fruit, it feel like I understand a lot more how hard it was during that time, Not just for black female singers, but for black people in general. I think the song itself opened up the eyes of a lot of people, black and white about racism, and lynching itself. Something that really stood out to me was that fact that it specified Billie holiday didn’t understand the meaning of the song when it was first brought to her attention, and that Allen Lewis had to explain it to her. It stated “At first, Lady was slow to understand the songs imagery, but her bewilderment decreased as Allen patiently emphasized the cadences, and their significance.”- (184-185) At first I found it hard to believe because when I first heard the song and it’s lyrics, I automatically knew that I was about lynching, but as I continued to read the article I understood why she wouldn’t have known.

            Billie Holiday said herself that she had never experience seeing lynching or being around it, but she did connect the song to her father’s death. On page 187, it was said that her father inhaled poisonous gases during World War I and due to the hospitals being segregated, he had to wait until they reached a black hospital to get him treated. By the time he reached the hospital, it was too late to help him and he died in the hospital from a hemorrhage. In Billie Holidays eyes “...Strange Fruit resonated her with her own anger about her father’s death and with her desire to protest the racism that had killed him.” – (187) After reading this it helped me get a better understanding of how she felt about the song from first hearing it to after understanding what it entailed. I feel like because of how today is where people are now educated on racism and lynching, I think that’s why it automatically clicked in my head to what the words were saying compared to Holiday because this was taught to me, where it wasn’t taught to her.

            Another part that really stood out to me and made me kind of upset was when she would perform, some black people would even know the meaning of the lyrics. For example when she was going to perform strange fruit at a club in Los Angeles but then changed her mind over a comment a women made. The woman questioned “Why don’t you sing that sexy song you’re so famous for? You know the one about naked bodies swinging in the trees.” – (195) I found this to be both sad and ridiculous because of how completely oblivious the woman was to the message in the song. I know that her previous songs were about love, but it is honestly not that hard to figure out it’s a black man hanging from a tree, dead. I also think the song became more important to her, especially after occasions like that because it probably want her to make black people more aware of what’s happening in the world at that time.

            Today, thanks to Billie Holiday singing “Strange Fruit” and many other artist after her \ raising awareness of racism in the world, it has helped shape lives to a lot of black people and people in general as well as open eyes to some who might have not experienced racism, but now know it is everywhere.  

I particularly like the reading written my Maureen Mohan. I liked this article because I could directly relate to it. Like I read in some other blog posts, the beginning was very confusing for me and hard to understand but I picked up on the general argument that singers a categorized by race and the way they look. I completely agree with that statement. It is something I realize without actually realizing what I was doing, if that makes any sense. unfortunately I am part of the group of people that judge artists based on how they look. Not all the time, and never have I thought that an artist belonged un a different genre based on how they looked, but I have been thrown back from time to time when I see an artist that looks as if they don't "belong" in the genre they are in. By no means do I agree that is right, but I do acknowledge that I have been one of those people. I think that even though there is still a lot to work on in this world with race and racial equality, i think its safe to say that we have come far enough for it to not matter how people look and what type of music they enjoy singing. 

I’m not going to lie, when I first read these two articles I did not understand a single thing, especially half of the vocabulary. It was frustrating trying to keep up on the first couples of pages, as well as the density of it because it felt like I was reading a thick textbooks. But as I continued, it all started to make sense as well as educate me to things I never even knew. For instance, the article ‘Music, Power, and Practice” by Maureen Mahon, it was both eye opening and made me see things that were already there but I just never paid close attention to. The fact that people are categorized automatically into certain genres of music based on their identity and that they are not aren’t expected to thrive in others where they might be the minority is unfair. I feel like people should be entitled to be or do who they want and not have to worry about people thinking they do not belong. After reading this article, when I think about it, I do notice that it’s rare to see things like a Black Country singer, or a white rapper who are actually famous because it’s as if they never had a chance. When these kinds of things happen, it is as if they are going against the rules of people in power of music, which is kind of true because they’re thinking outside the box. Since I’m not a musician, I can’t really relate to this article, but it was interesting to learn about. When reading “Music and Movements:  The Tradition Continues” by Peter Dreier and Dick Flacks, I really enjoyed this piece because of music’s impact on people. What really spoke to me was that folk music didn’t just speak to people in America, but it also spread to different parts in the world and was used during protest and boycotts. Also just the fact that music can create such a huge change is really powerful in my eyes because it brings out a lot of emotions and unites people. What stood out to me in this article was all the songs being mentioned from the mid 1900’s such as “Respect”, and “A change is gonna come” that were used for protest really did make a difference around the world because it gave, for example black people confidence to go fight to equal rights, as well as come together. Those specific songs, and others like it aren’t just songs to dance to with friends, they were created with messages to people to stand up and fight for what’s right. Whether you hear it or not, there is always a hidden message in music. I like how music, out of all things can be a very powerful weapon to protest with, and that one voice can impact millions, such as Joan Baez, who worked with a number of monumental people. I can personally relate to this article by having music impact my life and lift me up when I was going through hard times. Whenever I am having a bad day I can just listen to my favorite song, and I seem to feel a lot better. Similarly, just like today in the twenty-first century, the impact of folk music still continues by artists such as the late Michael Jackson who created songs like “They don’t really care about us” , and “We are the world” which are still used today for campaigns like world hunger.  When it comes the 1900’s, that was probably the century where a lot of different groups of people were fighting for multiple things such as, freedom, jobs, integration, voting rights, citizenship, and many more but did not have nothing in common except, music. Music, in my opinion, is the key to everything, because come on, who doesn’t like music? Whenever I listen to music I get goose bumps on my arms, as if the beat is vibrating through me because it’s just that powerful, no matter what genre. In the end, both articles really educated me on the power music holds, and the positive effects it can put out during hard times.

           Music is the first thing I hear in the morning and throughout the day. I've listened to music

since I was born and today is the first day I've actually ever questioned it. Listening to music not 

only is for enjoyment but expression as well. While reading Maureen Mahon's article, "Music, Power,

and Practice" I was shocked at the musical factors that are taken into consideration before music 

labels sign an artist. Maureen Mahon said "Extra- musical factors, such as race, ethnicity, gender,

class, and nationality influence which genre an artist is slotted into..." (Mahon 328) and I can say I 

never actually thought about if an artist should be in a different genre because of their race or gender. 

Music should be about an artist doing what they love, singing what they want. The music industry

shouldn't be selling their female artists sexuality, they should be selling their voice. As I continued to

read the article Mahon mentioned how she was studying the history on African American women and

rock and roll. Mahon claims history emphasizes the "great men" of rock and roll and how there aren't

any women in rock. Many of these men had privileges because of their gender and race. Some of

these artists were The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. As time has passed music has been a key part

of spreading messages and has helped the world change over time.

  I found the article Music and Movement: The Tradition Continues very powerful that gives a strong idea of how music was used as a key and also a weapon during the early 1940s through 1960s to fight for equality, beliefs and express feelings such indignity, sadness and oppression.  It is really interesting how the article talks about music and it was used in favor of those who wanted their voices hard but in a different way.  Probably in a way that people would pay more attention to it as the message is being delivered, which still happens now a days. Singers/rappers or any other artist that belongs to the music environment still uses music as a way of sharing with people their message.  The article itself gives numerous examples of both singers and songs that were used at that time in order to deliver a message to other people.  In the article songs like “Solidary Forever, There is Power in the Union, and The Preacher and Slave” were songs that were used in 1900s in movements such as strikes, picket lines, and rallies by industrial Workers of the world to spread their message.  Interesting how even now a day’s people still use these actions in order for their voices to be heard.  In the article it is also mentioned how music was integrated into the civil rights movement and it mentioned some of the songs such as “Oh Freedom, Keep Your Hand on the Pillow, and I Shall Not Be Moved” that were used in order to raise hopes and lift morale for people that were going through periods of intense struggle.  Also along with the civil rights movement came the freedom song which besides the performance of African Americans it also had performances of white artists.  A new generation of folk troubadours in the early sixties came out to link their music and the social struggles for social justice.  In the future much more movements were linked to the civil rights and most of them had the aspect of involving music to help spreads the message.  Until today movements or just a single individual tend to use music in they favor in order to spread the message and make sure their message is heard.  That shows how much power music has either on people’s lives and the societies in general. 

 The article Feminism: A Movement To End Sexist Oppression really spoke to me.  I found it interesting to read about the different ways people perceive feminism.  Before reading this article I myself had vey little knowledge about feminism, just the perception that woman want the same equal rights that men have. I now know that some people see it as a lifestyle instead of just a choice to believe in. It is difficult to create a set definition for the word because many people have defined the word in their own way. 

Many people are embarrassed and uncomfortable with being associated with Feminism.

There are many personal and political stigmas that are attached to this concept. Some people see Feminism as a racist movement in the white woman's right's movement and other people have homophobic views that they will be associated with being a lesbian. I believe some people are against feminism or scared of it because they don't want to be considered a political radical.  I am all for woman's rights but I don't think I could embrace feminism as a lifestyle to the extreme.

Although this article wasn't about music, I like the idea of relating the two. Feminism does play a role in music. Now a days more woman are playing their own music and singing about topics you'd expect to come from men. Female singers such as Jenifer Lopez and Beyoncé are in huge support of woman power and embracing their sexuality.

Feminism: A Movement to End Sexist Oppression

Erin Shaw
Professor Santos
Women, Music, and Power
January 31, 2016

Although the reading, "Feminism: A Movement to End Sexist Oppression", was not focused on music, it opened up my eyes about the word, "feminism". I've heard this word before, but never really knew what it meant, or why it was such a big deal. Many people throughout the United States would probably be able to agree with me on that. After reading this article, I gained much better knowledge about what feminism is, and also the history behind it. Some may look at feminism in a negative way, others may not. Although I choose not to express my opinion on it in this post, I'd like to share some thoughts about it.

Women don't want more rights than men, or to be more "powerful", they want equality in all ways. "Feminism is a struggle to end sexist oppression" (26). Many women experience barriers in their life that stop them from doing many things. For example, a woman might want to work as a construction worker, but won't because she feels as if it is a man's job. "It is not surprising that the vast majority of women who equate feminism with alternative lifestyle are from middle class backgrounds, unmarried, college educated, often students who are without many of the social and economic responsibilities that working class and poor women who are laborers, parents, and wives confront daily" (27). When it comes down to it, everyone should be equal, no matter gender, race, ethnicity, or any other characteristic.  There is such a big controversy with the word, 'feminism', and it is a very controversial topic. "Without challenging and changing these philosophical structures, no feminist reforms will have a long range impact"(31).