Reds, Whites, And Blues: Social Movements, Folk Music, And Race In The United States (princeton Studies In Cultural Sociology)
by William G. Roy /
2010 / English / PDF
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Music, and folk music in particular, is often embraced as a form
of political expression, a vehicle for bridging or reinforcing
social boundaries, and a valuable tool for movements
reconfiguring the social landscape.
Music, and folk music in particular, is often embraced as a form
of political expression, a vehicle for bridging or reinforcing
social boundaries, and a valuable tool for movements
reconfiguring the social landscape.Reds, Whites, and
Blues
Reds, Whites, and
Blues examines the political force of folk music, not through
the meaning of its lyrics, but through the concrete social
activities that make up movements. Drawing from rich archival
material, William Roy shows that the People's Songs movement of
the 1930s and 40s, and the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and
60s implemented folk music's social relationships--specifically
between those who sang and those who listened--in different ways,
achieving different outcomes.
examines the political force of folk music, not through
the meaning of its lyrics, but through the concrete social
activities that make up movements. Drawing from rich archival
material, William Roy shows that the People's Songs movement of
the 1930s and 40s, and the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and
60s implemented folk music's social relationships--specifically
between those who sang and those who listened--in different ways,
achieving different outcomes.
Roy explores how the People's Songsters envisioned uniting people
in song, but made little headway beyond leftist activists. In
contrast, the Civil Rights Movement successfully integrated music
into collective action, and used music on the picket lines, at
sit-ins, on freedom rides, and in jails. Roy considers how the
movement's Freedom Songs never gained commercial success, yet
contributed to the wider achievements of the Civil Rights
struggle. Roy also traces the history of folk music, revealing
the complex debates surrounding who or what qualified as "folk"
and how the music's status as racially inclusive was not always a
given.
Roy explores how the People's Songsters envisioned uniting people
in song, but made little headway beyond leftist activists. In
contrast, the Civil Rights Movement successfully integrated music
into collective action, and used music on the picket lines, at
sit-ins, on freedom rides, and in jails. Roy considers how the
movement's Freedom Songs never gained commercial success, yet
contributed to the wider achievements of the Civil Rights
struggle. Roy also traces the history of folk music, revealing
the complex debates surrounding who or what qualified as "folk"
and how the music's status as racially inclusive was not always a
given.
Examining folk music's galvanizing and unifying power,
Examining folk music's galvanizing and unifying power,Reds,
Whites, and Blues
Reds,
Whites, and Blues casts new light on the relationship between
cultural forms and social activity.
casts new light on the relationship between
cultural forms and social activity.