Civil Rights Music

by Reiland Rabaka

  8. For further discussion of the Great Migration and African American labor at the turn and during the first decades of the twentieth century, and for the most noteworthy works that informed my analysis here, see Hahn (2003), A. Harrison (1991), Holley (2000), Lemann (1991), Marks (1989), Reich (2013, 2014), Trotter (1991), and Wilkerson (2010).

  9. For further discussion of the contention that black popular music provides one of the only mediums through which poor black folk have historically and continue currently to express their views and values to mainstream America, if not the wider world, see Burnim and Maultsby (2006, 2015), M. Ellison (1989), Ferris (2009), Lordi (2013), Sanger (1995), and J.M. Spencer (1990).

  10. For further discussion of the emergence and evolution of ragtime, and for the most noteworthy works that influenced my interpretation here, see Batterson (1998), E.A. Berlin (1980, 2016), Blesh (1971), Driggs and Haddix (2005), Gilbert (2015), Harer (2015), Hasse (1985), Jasen (2007), Jasen and Jones (2000, 2002), Jasen and Tichenor (1978), Milan (2009), Schafer and Riedel (1973), and Waldo (1976).

  11. For further discussion of Scott Joplin, James Scott, and Joseph Lamb’s respective lives and legacies, and for the most noteworthy works that influenced my interpretation here, see Argyle (2009), E.A. Berlin (2016), Binkowski (2012), Curtis (2004), DeVeaux and Kenney (1992), Gammond (1975), and Haskins (1978).

  12. For further discussion of the ways in which classic blues artists (especially classic blues women), in essence, popularized the sights, sounds, and sorrows of an emerging African American post-enslavement and post-Reconstruction worldview (circa the 1890s through to the 1930s), and for the most noteworthy works that influenced my interpretation here, see J. Anderson (1993), Barnet (2004), Batiste (2012), Bourgeois (2004), D.A. Brooks (2006), J. Brown (2008), A.Y. Davis (1998), J.B. Ferguson (2008), Griffin (2013), McGinley (2014), Sharpley-Whiting (2015), S. Vogel (2009), Willis and Williams (2002), and J.F. Wilson (2010).

  13. For further discussion of the blues backlash and the jazz controversy in the 1920s and 1930s, see my analysis in “remixes” 2 and 3 in Hip Hop’s Amnesia (Rabaka 2012, 19–166).

  14. My interpretation of the African American origins and early evolution of rock & roll, which eventually came to be called “rock” by the late 1960s, has been informed by Altschuler (2003), R.I. Bell (2007), Birnbaum (2013), Crazy Horse (2004), Gillett (1996), Guralnick (1989, 1999, 2015), Kirby (2009), Lauterbach (2011), Mahon (2000, 2004), Othello (2004), Scrivani-Tidd, Markowitz, Smith, Janosik and Gulla (2006), Strausbaugh (2007), Tosches (1999), and Wald (2009). For further discussion of Alan Freed and his controversial place in the emergence and early evolution of rock & roll, see Belz (1972), Bordowitz (2004), M. Fisher (2007), J.A. Jackson (1991, 2007), Martin and Segrave (1993), Redd (1974), and Shaw (1987b).

  15. For further discussion of the ways in which early rock & roll was viewed as an implicit expression of the politics and social justice agenda of the Civil Rights Movement, and how early white rock & rollers’ music in specific was seen as a challenge to both the musical segregation and social segregation of 1950s and early 1960s America, see Aquila (2000), Altschuler (2003), R.I. Bell (2007), Bertrand (2000), Crazy Horse (2004), Daniel (2000), Delmont (2012), Francese and Sorrell (2001), Friedlander (2006), Knowles (2010), and Runowicz (2010).

  16. For further discussion of Bill Haley, including a number of studies that arrogantly and erroneously hail him as either the “founder” or “father” of rock & roll, and for the most noteworthy works that influenced my interpretation here, see Birnbaum (2013), Cohn (1969), Dawson (2005), Fuchs (2011), Haley and Von Hoelle (1991), Swenson (1983), and Tosches (1999).

  17. For further discussion of Rosa Parks’s life and legacy, and for the most noteworthy works that factored into my commentary here, see, first and foremost, Parks (1992, 1994), as well as major secondary sources such as Branch (1988), Brinkley (2000a, 2000b), Hanson (2011), Houck and Dixon (2009), Kohl (2005), McWhorter (2001), and Theoharis (2013).

  18. My interpretation here and throughout this section is based on a number of works that not only view rhythm & blues as the foundation of, and essential inspiration for rock & roll, but that connect the emergence and early development of rock & roll with cultural, social, and political changes as a result of the rising Civil Rights Movement. The most noteworthy among the works I have relied on here include Aron (2015), R.I. Bell (2007), Broven (2009), M. Campbell (2007), Crazy Horse (2004), Daniel (2000), Daley (2003), Delmont (2012), Escott (1991, 1999), M. Fisher (2007), Friedlander (2006), Helper (1996), Kirby (2009), Pielke (2012), Redd (1974), Salem (1999), A. Shaw (1969, 1987b), and Strausbaugh (2007).

  19. For further discussion of the social, political, and cultural world rock & roll emerged in, and for the most noteworthy works that influenced my interpretation here, see Aquila (2000), R.I. Bell (2007), Brash and Britten (1998), Brode (2015), Covach and Flory (2012), DeCurtis (1992), Ennis (1992), Friedlander (2006), Frith (1981), Gillett (1996), M.K. Hall (2014), Martin and Segrave (1993), J. Miller (1999), Strain (2016), Strausbaugh (2007), Szatmary (2013), Wald (2009), and T. Waldman (2003).

  20. For further discussion of the swing kids of the 1930s, as well as white appropriation and commercialization of jazz and black popular culture more generally speaking in the 1930s, and for the most noteworthy works that influenced my interpretation here, see Dance (2001), Hennessey (1994), Oliphant (2002), Schuller (1989a, 1989b), A. Shaw (1998), Stowe (1994), and Zwerin (2000).

  21. For further discussion of the Beat Generation, and for the most noteworthy works that informed my analysis here, see J. Campbell (2001), A. Charters (1983, 1986, 1993, 1994, 2001, 2003), Cook (1971), M. Evans (2015), George-Warren (1999), Johnson and Grace (2002), B. Knight (1998), Lawlor (2005), Maynard (1991), McDarrah and McDarrah (2001), B. Morgan (2010), Myrsiades (2002), Tytell (2006), Waldman (2007), Watson (1995), Weidman (2015), and Zott (2003).

  22. Although there has not been a book published to date that specifically focuses on the African American origins and early evolution of rock & roll, several more general rock histories informed my interpretation here, including Aquila (2000), R.I. Bell (2007), Birnbaum (2013), Crazy Horse (2004), Delmont (2012), Escott (1999), Friedlander (2006), Kamin (1975), Kirby (2009), Lauterbach (2011), Palmer (1995, 1996), Redd (1974), and Stuessy and Lipscomb (2012).

  23. For further discussion of Elvis Presley’s life and legacy, especially in relationship to black popular music, and for the most noteworthy works that influenced my interpretation here, see Bertrand (2000), Guralnick (1994, 2000), Guralnick and Jorgensen (1999), Jorgensen (1998), Keogh (2004), A. Webster (2003), and Williamson (2015).

  24. For further discussion of white youths’ “unarticulated hurt,” angst, and alienation in the 1950s, and for the most noteworthy works that influenced my interpretation here, see Brash and Britten (1998), Delmont (2012), Doherty (2002), Franzosa (1999), J.B. Gilbert (1986), Kallen (2000), and J. Savage (2007).

  25. For further discussion of Pat Boone’s life and legacy, as well as white rock & roll cover versions of black rhythm & blues songs in the 1950s and 1960s, and for the most noteworthy works that influenced my interpretation here, see Altschuler (2003), P. Davis (2001), D. Greene (2014), M.K. Hall (2014), Leszczak (2013, 2014), Silverman (2014), Strausbaugh (2007), Sweeting (2004), and Uslan and Solomon (1981).

  26. For further discussion of the emergence and evolution of the Chitlin’ Circuit, and for the most noteworthy works that informed my interpretation here, see Elam and Krasner (2001), Lauterbach (2011), McGinley (2014), M.A. Neal (1998), and Wertheim (2006).

  27. For further discussion of Otis Blackwell’s often overlooked life and legacy, and for the most noteworthy works that influenced my interpretation here, see Altschuler (2003), Blackwell (2012), Emerson (2005), N. George (1988), and Guralnick (1999).

  28. For further discussion of white popular music (i.e., “white pop”), especially the emergence and enormous influence of black rhythm & blues-derived white rock & roll in the l
ate 1950s and early 1960s, and for the most noteworthy works that influenced my interpretation here, see Altschuler (2003), Aquila (2000), Birnbaum (2013), Broven (2009), Daley (2003), Fatherley and McFarland (2014), Frame (2007), M.K. Hall (2014), Hartman (2012), Helander (1998), Kotarba (2013), Kubernik (2014), Loss (1999), R. Palmer (1996), Regev (2013), A. Shaw (1969, 1970, 1978, 1986, 1987b), and Zak (2010).

  29. For further discussion of the ways in which black rhythm & blues songs via white rock & roll cover versions, literally, revolutionized American radio, especially pop radio, in the 1950s and 1960s, and for the most noteworthy works that influenced my interpretation here, see Broven (2009), Cantor (2005), Daley (2003), Fatherley and McFarland (2014), M. Fisher (2007), Fong-Torres (1998), Gilson and Travis (2012), J.A. Jackson (1991, 1997, 2007), Leszczak (2013, 2014), Rochelle (2012), W. Smith (1989), and A. Webster (2003).

  30. With regard to the either unsuspecting or subtle reflections on, and references to race, racism, and anti-racism during rock & roll’s first decade—from the Chords’s “Sh-Boom” in 1954 through to the Rolling Stones’s acclaimed eponymous debut in 1964, several works factored into and influenced my interpretation here, the most noteworthy among them, Aron (2015), R.I. Bell (2007), Covach and Flory (2012), Daley (2003), Daniel (2000), Delmont (2012), Gillett (1996), Lawson (2010), R. Palmer (1995, 1996), Petigny (2009), Pielke (2012), Redd (1974), and Vazzano (2010).

  31. For further discussion of Jimi Hendrix’s remarkable life and legacy, and for the most noteworthy works that influenced my interpretation here, see Cross (2005), D. Henderson (2008), Hendrix (2012, 2013), Lawrence (2006), McDermott (1992), C.S. Murray (1989), J. Perry (2004), Roby (2002), Roby and Schreiber (2010), Shadwick (2003), Shapiro and Glebbeek (1991), and Stubbs (2003).

  32. For further discussion of black sexuality in early rhythm & blues-cum-rock & roll songs, and for the most noteworthy works that informed my analysis here, see Altschuler (2003), Aquila (2000), R.I. Bell (2007), Brake (1995), Cottrell (2015), Crazy Horse (2004), Daniel (2000), Escott (1999), Lauterbach (2011), J. Miller (1999), Othello (2004), Palmer (1995, 1996), Redd (1974, 1985), Reynolds and Press (1995), and Tosches (1999).

  Bibliography

  Note on the Bibliography

  The simultaneously musicological and sociological, interdisciplinary and intersectional nature of this book necessitated idiosyncratic authorial and bibliographic decisions—decisions that will not make any self-respecting environmentalist shudder. My personal commitment to our fragile ecology and the economic realities of making this volume affordable demanded economy of expression and citation wherever possible. As a consequence, I have eliminated citations that are obvious. For example, popular music and popular film citations in most instances have been omitted. Musicologists and film studies scholars are likely to cringe, but I suspect non-academic intellectuals, artists, and activists will greatly appreciate a more affordable and eco-friendly volume.

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  ___. (Ed.). (2014). Readings in African American Church Music and Worship (Volume 2). Chicago, IL: GIA Publications.

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  Abbott, Lynn, and Seroff, Doug. (2002). Out of Sight: The Rise of African American Popular Music, 1889–1895. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi.

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  ___. (2010). Blues Music in the Sixties: A Story in Black and White. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.

  ___. (2011). “Black, White and Blue: Racial Politics in B.B. King’s Music from the 1960’s.” Journal of Popular Culture 44 (2), 195–216.

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  Allen, Carrie Anne. (2009). “A Mighty Long Way: Community, Continuity, and Black Gospel Music on Television in Augusta, Georgia, 1954–2008.” Ph.D. dissertation, Hugh Hodgson School of Music, University of Georgia, Athens, GA.

  Allen, James. (2005). Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America. Santa Fe: Twin Palms.

  Allen, Ray. (1991). Singing in the Spirit: African-American Sacred Quartets in New York City. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.

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  Alston, Vermont R. (2011). “Cosmopolitan Fantasies, Aesthetics, and Bodily Value: W.E.B. Du Bois’s Dark Princess and the Trans/Gendering of Kautilya.” Journal of Transnational American Studies 3 (1). Retrieved from: http://escholarship.org/uc/item/8r74n6wq.

  Altschuler, Glenn C. (2003). All Shook Up: How Rock & Roll Changed America. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

  Anderson, Carol. (2003). Eyes off the Prize: The United Nations and the African American Struggle for Human Rights, 1944–1955. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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  ___. (Ed.). (2008). Against the Wall: Poor, Young, Black, and Male. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.

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  Anderson, Paul Allen. (2001). Deep River: Music and Memory in Harlem Renaissance Thought. Durham: Duke University Press.

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  Andrews, Kenneth T. (2004). Freedom Is a Constant Struggle: The Mississippi Civil Rights Movement and Its Legacy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

  Apel, Dora. (2004). Imagery of Lynching: Black Men, White Women, and the Mob. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.

  Apel, Dora, and Smith, Shawn Michelle. (2007). Lynching Photographs. Berkeley: University of California Press.

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  Aquila, Richard. (2000). That Old-Time Rock & Roll: A Chronicle of an Era, 1954–1963. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.

  Ashford, Jack. (2003). Motown: The View from the Bottom (with Charlene Ashford). New Romney: Bank House Books.

  Ashmore, Susan Y. (2008). Carry It On: The War on Poverty and the Civil Rights Movement in Alabama, 1964–1972. Athens: University of Georgia Press.

  Askew, Kelly M. (2002). Performing the Nation: Swahili Music and Cultural Politics in Tanzania. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

  Askin, Allan Bradley. (1970). “An Economic Analysis of Black Migration.” Ph.D. dissertation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA.