James Brown's Role In The Civil Rights Movement

Throughout the course of the semester we have learned about so many artists, and the transitions to different music genres. We have seen how music has grown throughout the years, and how artists use their songs to express their feelings, and their concerns over issues. As the years have progressed, we have seen how artists have become more vocal on issues that are have been occurring in the United States. One of the main points in history that we have seen in this course, in my opinion, has been the Civil Rights Movement.
One of the artists that without a doubt stood out to me the most, was James Brown. He was nicknamed "The Godfather of Soul," "Soul Brother Number 1," "The Hardest Working Man in Show Business," and "Mr. Sex Machine." James Brown had a great amount of influence in the soul style, and not only that, but also the way "funk" came to develop. James Brown was one of the artists that was very involved in the Civil Rights Movement and Black Pride. He has some of the most famous statements which are "don’t terrorize, organize" and "don’t burn, learn" which to me say a lot. At this time there was a lot of chaos, but he always tried to stimulate a more peaceful approach the issues at …show more content…
This song describes the horrifying lynching and racism that took place in the Southern part of the United States. Despite this song not being too long the lyrics cut straight to the point, and addressed everything that African Americans had to deal with. With the lyrics "southern trees bear strange fruit blood on the leaved and blood at the root" and "the sudden smell of burning flesh" this song poetically describes the horrific lynching. This song exposes the truth of the actions inflicted on African Americans, and even though it might be something that people try to ignore, it was put out for everyone to