Reds, whites, and blues : social movements, folk music, and race in the United States / William G. Roy.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Roy, William G., 1946-

Series:

Princeton studies in cultural sociology.

Princeton studies in cultural sociology

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Folk music--Political aspects--United States--History--20th century.

Folk music.

Social movements--United States--History--20th century.

Social movements.

Music and race--United States--History--20th century.

Music and race.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (311 p.)

Edition:

Course Book

Place of Publication:

Princeton : Princeton University Press, c2010.

Language Note:

In English.

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 1930's and 40's, and the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950's and 60's 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. Examining folk music's galvanizing and unifying power, Reds, Whites, and Blues casts new light on the relationship between cultural forms and social activity.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Preface

Chapter One. Social Movements, Music, and Race

Chapter Two. Music and Boundaries: Race and Folk

Chapter Three. The Original Folk Project

Chapter Four. White and Black Reds: Building an Infrastructure

Chapter Five. Movement Entrepreneurs and Activists

Chapter Six. Organizing Music: The Fruits of Entrepreneurship

Chapter Seven. The Highlander School

Chapter Eight. Music at the Heart of the Quintessential Social Movement

Chapter Nine. A Movement Splintered

Chapter Ten. How Social Movements Do Culture

Appendix. Coding of Songbooks and Song Anthologies

Notes

References

Index

Back matter

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

9786612692185

9781282692183

1282692186

9781400835164

140083516X

OCLC:

650312779