Annabel Polles ( Poster and Advertise your Research )
School of Humanities
Poster
The Magic of Motown and the Soul of Stax : Did African American Soul and Rhythm & Blues Music Influence the Black Freedom Struggle of the 1960s ?
When Motown founder Berry Gordy released ‘ Dancing in the Street ’ sung by Martha Reeves and the Vandellas in 1964 , no one could have expected that it would be taken as a call for mass riot . When Reeves sung out ‘ everywhere around the world , there ’ ll be dancing , dancing in the street ’, the innocence of dancing side by side with friends was lost and the interpretation of the song proved tensions embedded in Detroit ’ s community were close to boiling over ; a short three years later , in the 1967 riots , they eventually did . From eroding racial barriers to proving integration could succeed , the two most famous black music labels of the 1960s , Motown and Stax , had great influence over the black fight for freedom and the empowerment of African Americans . As there is a lack of in-depth detail surrounding this topic , this research is not only going to explore , in complexity , the influence these labels contributed to the black freedom struggle but , compare and discover similarities and differences between the influences of the two . It will unravel a story of not only the power of music , but one of community , collective identity and racial advancement ; one that is so often unheard .
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Music was the Soul of the Movement
Too often the words of Martin Luther King Jr . and Malcolm X drown out the mass of voices responsible for the success of the African American civil rights movement and the black freedom struggle that encompassed most of the 20th century . Research is being undertaken to understand how the emergence of a black popular music form – rhythm & blues and soul – was substantially influential to the black freedom struggle of the 1950s and 1960s . From Detroit ’ s ‘ Motown ’ label , producing artists such as the Supremes , that eroded racial barriers and became the most successful black business ever to exist . To Memphis ’ ‘ Stax ’ label , that proved that integration could not only work but thrive and that southern race relations were evolving . Black music and its cultural politics is the perfect representation of the community spirit , collective identity , and the dreams of the ordinary that permitted the achievements of the civil rights movement .
Postgraduate Conference 2021 Page 34