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Over the past three years the United States has celebrated the anniversaries of three landmark achievements of the 1960s civil rights movement: the 1963 March on Washington, the 1964 Civil Rights Act, and the 1965 Selma March. In 2016 we mark two further milestones: the fiftieth anniversary of the 1966 March against Fear and the sixtieth of the conclusion of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, widely acknowledged as the inaugural event of the modern freedom movement.1 The movement's legacy too often appears to have been reduced to the celebration of Martin Luther King Day in January and the singing of "We shall overcome." Yet, lovers of congregational song have a considerable stake in what is frequently touted as a "singing movement." Many of the songs that expressed the aspirations of the struggle were rooted in the hymns, spirituals, and gospel songs of the church. This article will provide an overview of the freedom movement and its singing in the hope that worship leaders and their congregations may come to embrace more of the music that gave it voice. We will explore several of the era's major campaigns and their musical profiles, 'with a focus on the sacred repertoire which nurtured participants.
While the struggle for racial equality in the U.S. began long before the 1950s, the Montgomery Bus Boycott is often cited as the first of its great experiments in nonviolent resistance. Activities began on December 6, 1955, lasted 381 days, and inaugurated the era of directaction techniques: marches, demonstrations, boycotts, sit-ins. The boycott was launched at Holt Street Baptist Church on Sunday evening, December 5 th, with between 5,000 and 15,000 persons present to hear plans from the Montgomery Improvement Association, under its newly elected president, Martin Luther King, Jr. That meeting, and those to follow, closely resembled a church service, including song, prayer, Bible reading, opening remarks, a collection, committee reports, and, in King's own description, a "pep talk."2 Singing was an integral part of the proceedings.
"Onward Christian Soldiers"
"The opening hymn was the old familiar 'Onward Christian soldiers,' and when that mammoth audience stood to sing, the voices outside swelling the chorus in the church, there was a mighty ring like the glad echo of heaven itself," wrote Martin Luther King,...