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AFRICAN AMERICAN CIVIL RIGHTS {FREEDOM} SONGS
This page contains examples of,
and information, comments, & questions about African American civil rights
songs.
Like other folk songs, the words to these songs may be improvised and the order
of the verses may be changed and/or new verses added as the spirit moves the
singers. For example, some of these songs {such as "We Shall Overcome" and "We
Shall Not Be Moved"} were used by Black people and White people during workers'
union movements before being spontaneously or purposely picked up by persons
active in the 1960s African American Civil Rights movement.
Many of these songs are modifications of 19th century or earlier African American spirituals.
Some were composed by anonymous African Americans as post-slavery emancipation songs.
When a song's composer is known, I have included that composer's name with the
lyrics.
Most of the songs on this page are from my memories of the Civil
Rights movement, early-mid 1960s.
I learned these songs in
Atlantic City, New Jersey 1962-1965. During that time
civil rights songs were also called "freedom songs".
Please send in the words to other Civil Rights songs!
click here to submit the words to
additional
Civil Rights Songs {Freedom Songs} or other versions of the songs that are already listed.
Also, click that link to send in any any comments, questions, information, about
and any video links to
Civil Rights songs.
Thanks to all who contribute to this effort to
raise awareness of and appreciation for these songs!
EXAMPLES OF CIVIL RIGHTS SONGS
A,B
Aint Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me 'Round
Aint gonna let nobody
turn me 'roun
turn me 'roun
Aint gonna let nobody
turn me roun
I'm gonna keep on walkin'
keep on talkin
walkin into freedom land
Aint gonna let {name a prominent segregationist}
turn me 'roun
turn me 'roun
Aint gonna let {repeat name}
turn me 'roun
I'm gonna keep on walkin'
keep on talkin
walkin into freedom land
Aint gonna let no jailhouse
turn me 'roun
turn me 'roun
Aint gonna let no jailhouse
turn me 'roun
I'm gonna keep on walkin'
keep on talkin
walkin into freedom land
Aint gonna let no policemen
turn me 'roun
turn me 'roun
Aint gonna let no policemen
turn me round
I'm gonna keep on walkin'
keep on talkin
walkin' into freedom land
Aint gonna let no playa haters
turn me 'round
turn me 'round
Aint gonna let no playa haters
turn me 'round
I'm gonna keep on walkin
keep on talkin
walkin into freedom land
-snip-
This song is based on an African American spiritual. The word "marchin" may be substituted for
"walkin". The last verse was added 6/2007 to update the song a bit. A "playa
hater" {player hater} is a person who is jealous of another person's
possessions, accomplishments, looks etc. A playa hater could also be
antagonistic toward the person for no reason at all.
****
C,D
Certainly Lord
{based on an African American spiritual}
Do you want your freedom?
"Certainly, Lord"
Do you want your freedom?
"Certainly, Lord"
Do you want your freedom?
"Certainly, Lord"
Certainly, Certainly, Certainly Lord
Will you march for your rights?
"Certainly, Lord"
Will you march for your rights?
"Certainly, Lord"
Will you march for your rights?
"Certainly, Lord"
Certainly, Certainly, Certainly, Lord
Will you go to jail?
"Certainly, Lord"
Will you go to jail?
"Certainly, Lord"
Will you go to jail?
"Certainly, Lord"
Certainly, Certainly, Certainly, Lord
Jail over bail?
"Certainly, Lord"
Jail over bail?
"Certainly, Lord"
ail over bail?
"Certainly, Lord"
Certainly, Certainly, Certainly, Lord
E,F
Freedom
F-R-E-E-D-O-M What does that spell? FREEDOM! That's what we need.
FREEDOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
-Anonymous; 6/7/2007
Editor:
Anonymous 6/7/2007, thanks for sending that chant in. It reminded me of this
chant which was widely used during Civil Rights demonstrations in the USA:
What do we want? Freedom!!! When do we want it? Now!!!
G,H
Hold On {also known as "Keep
Your Eye On The Prize"}
{based on an African American spiritual}
Paul and Silas bound in jail
with no money to forgo their bail
Keep your eye on the prize
and hold on, hold on
chorus:
Hold on
Hold on
Keep your eye on the prize
and hold on, hold on.
If religion was a thing
that money could buy
the rich would live and the
poor would die
Keep your eye on the prize
and hold on, hold on.
chorus
One and one
that makes two
tell you what I'm-ma gonna do
Keep my eye on the prize
and hold on, hold on
chorus
Editor:
Thanks, Mama Kemba for sending in an additional verse to this song on 2/26/2008.
Here's that verse:
Know the one thing we did wrong
stayed in the wilderness far too long
Know the first thing we did right
was the day we started to fight
Keep your eye on the prize hold on, hold on
I,J
If You Miss Me At The Back Of The Bus
{adapted from the song composed by C. Neblett}
If you miss me at the back of the bus
If you can't find me back there
Come on up to the front of the bus
I'll be sittin right there
I'll be sittin right there
Come on up to the front of the bus
I'll be sittin right there
If you can't find me in the school room
If you can't find me in there
Come on out to the picket line
I'll be standin right there
I'll be standin right there
Come on out to the picket line
I'll be standin right there
If you can't find me in the picket line
If you can't find me out there
Come on down to the jail house
I'll be singin in there
I'll be singin in there
Come on down to the jail house
I'll be singin in there
If you can't find me in jail house
If you don't see me in there
Come on over to the church yard
I'll be prayin out there
I'll be prayin out there
Come on over to the church yard
I'll be prayin out there.
[Here are some additional verses from a 1963 book
on Civil Rights songs edited by Guy and Candie Carawan, published by Oak
Publications; New York ; p. 50; {Library of Congress Number 63-23278}. I lost
the cover page of the copy I reproduced and don't have a title page].
If you miss me from the front of the bus,
and you can't find me nowhere,
Come on up to the driver's seat,
I'll be driving up there. etc.
If you miss me from Jackson State,
and you can't find me no where
Come on over to Ole Miss,
I'll be studyin' over there. etc.
If you miss me from knockin' on doors
and you can't find me nowhere
Come on down to the registrar's room,
I'll be the registrar there. ect.
If you miss me from the cotton field,
and you can't find me nowhere.
Come on down to the court house,
I'll be voting right there. etc
If you miss me from the picket line,
and you can't find me nowhere.
Come on down to the jail house,
I'll be rooming down there. etc.
If you miss me from the Mississippi
River
and you can't find me nowhere
Come on down to the city pool
I'll be swimming in there. etc.
-snip-
See this Mudcat discussion forum post for more
information on this song:
http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=36629&messages=101#2095880
"Back of the Bus" songs; with permission from Q. Thanks for the information, Q!
****
I'm Gonna Sit At The Welcome Table
{adapted from an African American spiritual}
I'm gonna sit at the welcome table,
I'm gonna sit at the welcome table one of these days,
Hallelujah!
I'm gonna sit at the welcome table,
I'm gonna sit at the welcome table one of these days.
I'm gonna walk the streets of glory,
I'm gonna walk the streets of glory one of these days,
Hallelujah!
I'm gonna walk the streets of glory,
I'm gonna walk the streets of glory one of these days.
I'm gonna get my civil rights,
I'm gonna get my civil rights one of these days,
Hallelujah!
I'm gonna get my civil rights,
I'm gonna get my civil rights one of these days.
I'm gonna sit at the Woolworth counter,
I'm gonna sit at the Woolworth counter one of these days,
Hallelujah!
I'm gonna sit at the Woolworth counter,
I'm gonna sit at the Woolworth counter one of these days.
Editor:
This song is based on an African American spiritual with the same title. It was
part of a play written by the students of the McComb, Mississippi, Freedom
School in 1964. Source:
http://www.ed.uiuc.edu/courses/ci407ss/welcometable.html
See
http://www.ed.uiuc.edu/courses/ci407ss/freedomschools.html
for information about freedom schools.
See also information about and sound clips of
this Folkways record:
http://www.smithsonianglobalsound.org/trackdetail.aspx?itemid=17322
The Nashville Sit-in Story: Songs and Scenes of
Nashville Lunch Counter Desegregation (by the Sit-In Participants)
See, also a discussion of this song on
http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=93754&messages=21
Origins: Gospel song 'The Welcome Table'
****
I'm On My Way
{based on an African American spiritual "I'm On My Way to Canaan Land",and
"I'm Bound For The Promised Land"}
I'm on my way to the freedom land
I'm on my way to the freedom land
I'm on my way to the freedom land
I'm on my way, praise God
I'm on my way.
I asked my brother to come with me
I asked my brother to come with me
I asked my brother to come with me
I'm on my way, praise God
I'm on my way.
I asked my sister to come with me
I asked my sister to come with me
I asked my sister to come with me
I'm on my way, praise God
I'm on my way.
If they say no, I'll go alone
If they say no, I'll go alone
If they say no, I'll go alone
I'm on my way, praise God
I'm on my way.
I'm on my way, and I won't turn back
I'm on my way, and I won't turn back
I'm on my way, and I won't turn back
I'm on my way, praise God
I'm on my way.
http://www.songsforteaching.com/billharley/imonmyway.htm
-snip-
See this note from
https://www.oldtownschool.org/resources/songnotes/songnotes_I.html :
"I'm On My Way
The Civil Rights movement in 1960s was the singingest movement in American
history. Old African American spirituals like, “I Will Overcome,” “I'm On My Way
to Canaan Land” and dozens of others were adapted by marchers and demonstrators
throughout the South and across the nation. By design, the repetitive nature and
“call back” structure of a spiritual make it ideal for improvised group singing.
Source: Sing for Freedom, edited and compiled by Guy and Candie Carawan. Sing
Out! Publications.
Recordings on file by: Carter Family, Mahalia Jackson, Various artists".
****
I Woke Up This Mornin'
{based on an African American spiritual}
{Well I} woke up this mornin' with my mind
stayed on freedom.
Woke up this mornin' with my mind,
stayed on freedom.
Woke up this mornin' with my mind
stayed on freedom.
Hallelu, hallelu, hallelujah.
Oh well I walked and talked
talked and walked
with my mind
stayed on freedom.
Walked and talked
talked and walked
with my mind
on freedom.
I walked and talked
talked and walked
with my mind
stayed on freedom.
Hallelu, hallelu, hallelujah.
K,L
Lift Every Voice And Sing
{composed by James Weldon Johnson}
Lift ev'ry voice and sing,
Till earth and heaven ring,
Ring with the harmonies of Liberty;
Let our rejoicing rise
High as the list'ning skies,
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us;
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,
Let us march on till victory is won.
Stony the road we trod,
Bitter the chast'ning rod,
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;
Yet with a steady beat,
Have not our weary feet
Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?
We have come over a way that with tears has been watered.
We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered,
Out from the gloomy past,
Till now we stand at last
Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.
God of our weary years,
God of our silent tears,
Thou who hast brought us thus far on the way;
Thou who hast by Thy might,
Led us into the light,
Keep us forever in the path, we pray.
Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee,
Lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee;
Shadowed beneath Thy hand,
May we forever stand,
True to our God,
True to our native land.
Editor:
This song is considered the African American National Anthem. There
was a time when this song was taught in public schools attended by Black
children. However, it appears to me that increasingly fewer younger people know
the words of this song. Nor do they know that Black people {and every one else
present} are supposed to stand up while singing this song. Traditionally, men
were also supposed to take off their hats, but I have noticed for some years
that that custom is no longer practiced. And if it were not for older
people reminding others to stand out of respect for our ancestors and the
memories that this song is supposed to evoke, younger people wouldn't know to
stand up while singing this song.
M,N
Maching 'Round Selma
Marching ‘round Selma like Jericho,
Jericho, Jericho
Marching ‘round Selma like Jericho
For segregation wall must fall
Look at people answering
To the Freedom Fighters call
Black, Brown and White American say
Segregation must fall
Good evening freedom’s fighters
Tell me where you’re bound
Tell me where you’re marching
“From Selma to Montgomery town
-snip-
See this note from
http://www.negrospirituals.com/song.htm
"Sometimes the words of
traditional Negro spirituals were slightly changed and adapted to special
events. For example, the words of “Joshua Fought the Battle of Jericho (and the
walls came tumbling down)” were changed into “Marching ‘round Selma”.
-snip-
Editor's note: The 'n' in the word "Negro" was written in lower case on this
website. I capitalized it because of my remembrances of the struggles in the
1950s and early 1960s to get this word capitalized like other group referents.
****
No More Auction Block For Me {Many Thousands Gone}
{an immediately post Civil War African American freedom song}
No more auction block for me
No more, no more
No more auction block for me
Many thousands gone
No more driver's lash for me
No more, no more
No more driver's lash for me
Many thousands gone
No more pint of salt for me
No more, no more
No more pint of salt for me
Many thousands gone
No more auction block for me
No more, no more
No more auction block for me
Many thousands gone
****
Oh, Freedom
Oh-o freedom.
Oh-o freedom
Oh freedom over me,
(Over me.)
And before I be a slave
I'll be buried in my grave.
And go home to my Lord and be free.
(and be free.)
No segregation
No segregation
No more segregation
Over me
(Over me)
And before I be a slave
I'll be buried in my grave.
And go home to my Lord and be free.
(and be free.)
No more weepin
No more weepin
No more weepin
Over me
(Over me)
And before I be a slave
I'll be buried in my grave.
And go home to my Lord and be free.
(and be free.)
No more tommin *
No more tommin
No more tommin
Out of me
(Out of me)
And before I be a slave
I'll be buried in my grave.
And go home to my Lord and be free.
(and be free.)
Oh-o freedom.
Oh-o freedom
Oh freedom over me,
(Over me.)
And before I be a slave
I'll be buried in my grave.
And go home to my Lord and be free.
(and be free.)
Editor:
*Tommin': {verb}: " actions by a Black man or Black men
which demonstrate any or extreme submissiveness toward
a White person or White people {from fictitious Harriet
Beecher Stowe's fictitious character 'Uncle Tom' in Uncle
Tom's Cabin} ; its female form is "Aunt Jemima""
O,P
Q,R,S
T,U,V
W.X,Y,Z
We Shall Not Be Moved
{based on an African American spiritual}
We shall not,
we shall not be moved
{shall not be} *
We shall not,
we shall not be moved
Just like a tree that's planted by the water,
We shall not-ot be moved.
We're fighting for our rights {and}
we shall not be moved
{shall not be} *
We're fighting for our rights and
we shall not be moved
Just like a tree that's planted by the water,
We shall not-ot be moved.
We shall all be free {and}
we shall not be moved
{shall not be} *
We shall all be free {and}
we shall not be moved
Just like a tree that's planted by the water,
We shall not-ot be moved.
God is on our side {and}
we shall not be moved
{shall not be} *
God is on our side {and}
we shall not be moved
Just like a tree that's planted by the water,
We shall not-ot be moved.
Black and White together
we shall not be moved
{shall not be} *
Black and White together
we shall not be moved
Just like a tree that's planted by the water,
We shall not-ot be moved.
We shall not,we shall not be moved
{shall not be} *
We shall not,we shall not be moved
Just like a tree that's planted by the water,
We shall not-ot be moved.
-snip-
* these words were sung by some of the group, male or
female
Notes: See this verse of "We Shall Not Be Moved"
used as a
motivational union song:
"We shall not, we shall not be moved
We shall not, we shall not be moved
We'll building a mighty union,
We shall not be moved"
-online source:
http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/7840/song6.htm
****
We Shall Overcome
{based on an African American spiritual}
We shall overcome, we shall overcome
We shall overcome someday
Oh-o deep in my heart
I do believe
We shall overcome someday
We shall all be free
We shall live all be free
We shall all be free someday
Oh-o deep in my heart
I do believe
We shall overcome someday
Black and White together
Black and White together
Black and White together someday
Oh-o deep in my heart
I do believe
We shall overcome someday
We'll walk hand in hand
We'll walk hand in hand
We'll walk hand in hand someday
Oh-o deep in my heart
I do believe
We shall overcome someday
The truth shall make us free
truth shall make us free
The truth shall make us free someday
Oh-o deep in my heart
I do believe
We shall overcome someday
We are not afraid
We are not afraid
We are not afraid today
Oh-o deep in my heart
I do believe
We shall overcome someday
Editor:
Here is some Information on the song "We Shall Overcome":
The Encarta.com website says that "'We Shall Overcome' is one of many songs
written during the sit-ins, prayer vigils, and poster walks during the civil
rights movement in the late 1950s and early 1960s" and that it is "loosely based
on gospels and spirituals. For an historical overview, see
http://www.pipeline.com/~rgibson/overcomehistory.html
Here is an excerpt from that website:
"The song [We Shall Overcome] was born in slavery.
It began as a field song, a work refrain that helped men and
women in bondage endure from sunup to sundown. They would
sing: "I'll be all right."
Like many songs that began in slavery, it had no one author
and no standard version. It spread and changed with the
seasons and generations and as slaves were sold from one
place to another in the American South.
In time there was a war, and the slaves won their freedom,
but only in a legal sense. The song survived in a new time
of lynching and Jim Crow. In 1901, as laws decreeing
separation between the races were being erected, a Methodist
minister named Charles Albert Tindley published a kindred
version: "I'll Overcome Someday."
It was a song of hope, a hymn for a better tomorrow. It
spread through black churches in the South and in the North,
and then through the Southern labor movement.
And in the year that the second World War ended, a faction
of black women were on strike, picketing the owners of a
tobacco plant in Charleston, S.C., at a time when mill
owners controlled almost everything and everyone, white and
black, and at a time when standing up for your rights could
mean a one-way trip in the back of a police car.
The strike dragged on and the women grew disheartened, and
as the rain came down, many dropped off the picket line.
One of the holdouts began to sing the song, vowing to
overcome the odds. Soon they all were singing. In the spirit
of union, they sang "we" instead of "I." And they invented a
new verse:
We will win our rights.
And when the strike was over, they had won their rights, or
at least a contract, and in that time and place that meant
something.
Two of the women visited a union and civil rights training
school far from home, in the Tennessee countryside. It was
at the Highlander Center that they taught the song and its
new verse to a new generation.
Along the way, the "will" became "shall," an old word, one
that had the sound of the Bible in it, and people sang
We shall overcome
We shall overcome
We shall overcome someday.
Oh, deep in my heart, I do believe
We shall overcome someday."
**
Here's some additional comments that I wrote about this song:
"We Shall Overcome", the civil rights song, was usually sung while people stood
and held the hands of the persons standing at their side and swayed right
& left in time with the music. When folks stood and held hands while singing "We
Shall Overcome", their arms were criss-crossed at their waists, with the person
on each side holding another individual's. My sense is that this symbolized
unity & determination. I believe the proper way of doing this is for the right
arm to be above the left arm, but I'm not certain about that.
Since I wasn't in the freedom movement, I'm not sure if this style of holding
hands and singing was done for other songs.
This performance tradition helped symbolize the unity and helped raise the
spirits of an often integrated group of singers.
This song can be tremendously moving, particularly when sung in such an
environment, or-even more I can imagine-when sung by protesters during their
civil rights demonstrations and/or while they were in jail because of those
demonstrations.
Thanks to all who were [and are] in that and/or in other freedom movements! "
****
In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, whose
birthday is January 15th, see this tribute to Dr. King- a Dr. King photo
collage, and excerpts of his "We shall Overcome" speech. This high quality video
ends with a performance of the song "Abraham, Martin, and John' by Moms Mabley.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zxc8QxQfYbs&mode=related&search=
January 13, 2007 ; From riesen2b
****
VIDEO LINKS TO CIVIL RIGHTS SONGS:
Ruthie Foster - Woke Up This Mornin'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVRcMECcI2E
****
Joan Baez - We Want Our Freedom Now - We Shall
Overcome
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHTjK1IyvJM
****
Joan Baez -Marching up to freedom land
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-np4Ke4o94E&NR=1
****
Information About Civil Right Songs:
Additional information on Civil Rights songs may
be found on
http://folkmusic.about.com/od/toptens/tp/CivilRightsSong.htm
http://rs6.loc.gov/ammem/aaohtml/exhibit/aopart9b.html
and
http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/strangefruit/civilrights.html
-snip-
Also, see this Mudcat Discussion forum thread
about the song "Keep your eyes on the prize" also known as "Hold On":
http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?ThreadID=4136
****
Memories of "We Shall Overcome"
This is a re-post of a comment I wrote in the Mudcat Discussion Forum thread
entitled "60's music and spirituality"
Click
http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=76784#1364323here to read the
entire thread.
I had the honor of hearing Dr. Martin Luther King preach at my home church in
Atlantic City, New Jersey in the 1960s. This may have been immediately prior to
or during the Democratic Convention and the protest efforts of Fanny Lou Hammer
and the Freedom Democratic Party. Or it may have been before the 1963 March on
Washington.
My church, Union Baptist Temple, was a center of the both efforts in Atlantic
City, and I distinctly remember an African American choir from the South singing
the gospel version of "We Shall Overcome" there. Their rendition of "We'll
Overcome" was much faster than the civil rights version, but had similar words.
No one held hands to sing that song. Instead the song was sung with handclap
{and piano/organ} accompaniment. This precluded the holding hands with those
next to you in the criss crossed fashion that is symbolic of the civil rights
version of "We Shall Overcome". I mean no disparagement of the unifying
symbolism of such hand holding and moving side to side while singing that Civil
Rights song. It works, at least on an ephemeral level to show people that we are
linked together...
But the spirit that I felt from the Gospel singing of "We'll Overcome" was so
much more.
As I wrote in another thread, that Southern church choir reminded us so-called
"Middle class" African Americans from the North of the difficult life
threatening conditions that they constantly face and that our ancestors faced in
the South. They exhorted us to put our souls in our singing and not worry about
form and fashion.
That singing was a real spiritual experience for me.
I also had the honor of attending the 1963 March On Washington. However, there
were so many thousands of people there and I was so very far away from the
stage, that I was not aware that Joan Baez or anyone else sang "We Shall
Overcome" at event.
The atmosphere at the March On Washington was carnival-like in the best sense of
that word. There was a feeling of disregard for those things that normally
separate people from each other such as race, age, and economic class. You could
feel the energy of so many people united in a positive cause. It felt good.
That also was a spiritual experience for me, and I dare say for -most of the
others there as well.
-Azizi Powell, 12/27/2004
****
click here to submit the words to
additional
Civil Rights Songs {Freedom Songs} or other versions of the songs that are already listed.
Also, click that link to send in any any comments, questions, information, about
and any video links to
Civil Rights songs.
****
Don't forget to visit Jambalaya!,
Cocojams' page for readers' comments & questions.
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