Nina Simone's Gospel Music Analysis

During the slavery period slaves were tormented by their masters. Slaves wanted to escape from their misery. Many of these slaves tried running away. Most of these slaves were not able to succeed. The slaves dreamed of reaching Canon Land (Heaven). The slaves thought they would at least be happy, if they escaped this world through death. Even after the slavery period, they were treated much more inferior than whites. They were deprived of their basic human rights.

The Civil Rights movement began with the teachings of the Christian Church. The church stated that everyone is equal. In this church, they also talked about reaching Canon Land. Gospel Music was the basis of the Civil Rights Movement. Going to the church was mandatory so the music

Instead of announcing on the radio about a rally, they would use a song like “People Get Ready”. It was illegal for black and white musicians to perform together on stage in Memphis. Tennessee. Music was one of the first things to integrate both of the races.

Nina Simone was a very prominent singer. She went Juliard. She wrote the song “Mississippi ___________”. She was very made about the Birmingham bombing. She was mad about the four little girls who died in the blast. She also mad about the death of Medgar Evers. In this song she says that she’s tired of going slow (non-violent, calm). She said she wanted equality right then.

In 1967 a movement called Black Power started. This is the way to show that the African Americans were no longer going to take it. Violence erupted everywhere. There were riots, and people burned down buildings. RESPECT was the song Aretha Franklin wrote. Originally it was intended to be a love song. it became the anthem of black power.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. went to Lorraine Hotel in 1968. She was in room 307. He was there for advancement of civil rights. His last words were encouraging international non-violence. He went out to the balcony where his assassin shot