Explore By Events
Explore the music through their relating events:
1939
Release of Strange Fruit
Strange Fruit was orginally a poem by Abel Meeropol called 'Bitter Fruit' which he wrote after seeing a photograph of the lynching of Tom Shipp and Abe Smith in Marion, Indiana.
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1955
Montgomery Bus Boycott
This was a protest against the policy of racial segregation on the public transit system in Montgomery, Alabama. This happened the Monday after Rosa Parks was arrested for her refusal to surrender her seat to a white person on a bus. The protest ended by the U.S Supreme Court ruling that segregation on public buses is unconstitutional.
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1961
Albany Movement
The Albany movement sought to fight the system of racial segregation. It was made up of multiple Civil Rights Movement organisations in Albany such as the SNCC, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) to name a few.
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1961
Freedom Rides
During freedom rides, civil rights activists rode interstate buses to the segregated parts of Southern US. The rides took place as the Southern states ignored the ruling that segregated buses were unconstitutional and the federal government did nothing to enforce them. The activists were confronted with arrests from police as well as violence from white protestors.
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1962
James Meredith Enrolment into University
James Meredith was the first black student in America to be enrolled into the racially segregated University of Mississippi. He was denied admission twice, however riled a court case against them stating that the University only rejected him due to his race. After several back and forths with the government, he was eventually enrolled.
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1963
16th Street Baptist Church Bombing
A bomb explodes on Sunday morning services, in Birmingham, Alabama, tragically killing four young school girls. This church was commonly used as a meeting place for civil rights leaders like MLK. A member of the Ku Klux Klan was charged with murder and burying the bombs.
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1963
March on Washington
This protest march consisted of around 250,000 people participants. The march aimed to draw attention to the continued discrimination black Americans were facing. At the end of this march, Dr Martin Luther King Jr., stood in front of the Lincoln Memorial and delivered his ‘I Have Dream Speech’
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1963
Sam Cooke Turned Away From Hotel
Sam Cooke - one of the most influential soul artists, made a reservation at the Holiday Inn in Louisiana, however when he got there he was turned away because he was black.
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1965
Selma to Montgomery March
This was three protest marches, from Selma to Montgomery. They were non-violent marches which demonstrated the desire of black Americans to use their right to vote. The march led to the passing of the Voting Rights Act which was a landmark achievement of the civil rights movement.
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1968
Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther king Jr, was the prominent leader of the Civil Rights Movement and a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. He was tragically shot at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee.
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