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Ben Forrest
@benfrombradford
Music, as an art form, has been used as a vehicle for social and political protest for hundreds of years, particularly within the United States. Even during the colonial era, Black Americans would often use music and song on plantations in order to combat the horrific realities of life as slaves. Within the 20th century, Black Americans would once again turn to music as a form of protest against institutionalised racial discrimination through styles like jazz, soul, R&B and, later, disco. No artist captured the zeitgeist of the mid-century civil rights movement quite like Nina Simone.
Originally establishing herself as a jazz performer during the 1950s, with the release of her stunning debut album Little Girl Blue in 1959. However, as the 1960s loomed and the civil rights movement began to heat up, Simone turned her attention to more mainstream musical styles, as well as the political struggle of Black Americans like herself. Simone had always been an incredibly defiant, outspoken figure, and her involvement in the civil rights movement was almost inevitable. However, few people could have predicted the groundbreaking nature of the music she penned during this time.
Simone’s first move towards politically charged music came in 1964, with the release of her seminal protest track ‘Mississippi Goddam’. The song itself was written in response to the racially motivated murder of civil rights activist Medgar Evers in Mississippi, as well as the bombing of a Baptist church in Alabama, both in 1963. Seemingly, it was these events that radicalised Simone’s musical material and led to a change in her discography.
‘Mississippi Goddam’ quickly became a rallying cry for civil rights activists, with the song a defining moment in the cultural aspect of the movement. Simone’s deeply emotional, compelling performance of the song captured the deep anger and hurt felt by the Black community all over the United States and would be expanded upon tenfold by Simone over the next few years. Every track Simone wrote or recorded after ‘Mississippi Goddam’ felt imbued with the same defiant activism and outspoken rhetoric.
The next track written by Simone, which was overtly connected to the civil rights movement, was 1966’s ‘Four Women’, which detailed and subverted various racial stereotypes of Black women in America. With the often overlooked track, Simone incorporated elements of the feminist movement with the fight for civil rights, an element of the era which is often overshadowed by male activists. The release of the 1966 song would also signal an uptake in Simone’s political activism, which culminated in the 1968 album ‘Nuff Said.
A year prior, Simone had included an incredible cover of Billy Taylor’s ‘I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free’ on the record Silk & Soul, but ‘Nuff Said would undoubtedly be her more political record yet. For starters, the album features one of Simone’s defining songs, ‘Ain’t Got No, I Got Life’, which adopted a more optimistic angle to the civil rights movement; it was joy and celebration in the face of discrimination and subjugation. The pinnacle of that album, however, came with Simone’s recording of ‘Why? (The King of Love Is Dead)’.
Originally written by Gene Taylor, ‘Why?’ was performed beautifully by Simone in response to the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. earlier that year. Simone had worked closely with the civil rights leader, and his death was often drawn upon within her work. In fact, the murder of King was likely a contributing factor to the unavoidable political protest encased on ‘Nuff Said.
Simone remained politically active throughout the rest of her career, penning multiple tracks which went on to become civil rights anthems. ‘Revolution’ was a prominent example, written in response to the spineless complacency of The Beatles track of the same name. There was also ‘To Be Young, Gifted and Black’, which became an anthem for Black excellence in the face of discrimination across the globe. In addition, Simone also covered songs like ‘Strange Fruit’ – first popularised by Billie Holiday – updating them for the age of civil rights.
Perhaps more so than any other musical artist, Nina Simone was an essential figure for the civil rights movement. Her music and performance came to define the cultural aspect of that political struggle, and she certainly helped to introduce the plight of Black Americans to mainstream audiences worldwide, as well as providing solace and representation for those facing oppression. If you need an example of music being used as an effective form of protest, look no further than the discography of Nina Simone.
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Nina Simone