Reds, whites, and blues : social movements, folk music, and race in the United States

Resource Information

The work Reds, whites, and blues : social movements, folk music, and race in the United States represents a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in University of Liverpool. This resource is a combination of several types including: Work, Language Material, Books.

Label

Reds, whites, and blues : social movements, folk music, and race in the United States

Title remainder

social movements, folk music, and race in the United States

Statement of responsibility

William G. Roy

Creator

• Roy, William G., 1946-
• Roy, William G., 1946-

Author

• Roy, William G., 1946-
• Roy, William G., 1946-

Subject

• Folk music -- Political aspects -- United States -- History -- 20th century
• Music and race -- United States -- History -- 20th century
• Social movements -- United States -- History -- 20th century

Language

eng

Summary

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 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. --From publisher's description

Member of

• Online access with EBA: JSTOR
• Online access with subscription: Proquest Ebook Central
• Princeton studies in cultural sociology

Cataloging source

CaPaEBR

Dewey number

306.4/84240973

Index

index present

LC call number

ML3918.F65

LC item number

R69 2010eb

Literary form

non fiction

Nature of contents

• standards specifications
• bibliography