4.7

• Faith and music were important elements of inspiration and community mobilization during the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s.
• Many freedom songs emerged through the adaptation of hymns, spirituals, gospel songs, and labor union songs in Black churches, which had created space for organizing and adapting this broad range of musical genres.
• Freedom songs inspired African Americans, many of whom risked their lives as they pressed for equality and freedom. These songs unified and renewed activists’ spirits, gave direction through lyrics, and communicated their hopes for a more just and inclusive future.
• Martin Luther King Jr. described “We Shall Overcome” as an anthem of the civil rights movement. Activists often sang the song while marching, while protesting, when they were arrested, and while in jail. Exemplifying the role of freedom songs as an inspiration for political protest, the anthem served as a muse for King’s 1966 speech of the same name.