Reds, Whites, and Blues: Social Movements, Folk Music, and Race in the United States (Princeton Studies in Cultural Sociology)

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 1940s, And The Civil Rights Movement Of The 1950s And 1960s 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.--book Jacket. Social Movements, Music, And Race -- Music And Boundaries : Race And Folk -- The Original Folk Project -- White And Black Reds : Building An Infrastructure -- Movement Entrepreneurs And Activists -- Organizing Music : The Fruits Of Entrepreneurship -- The Highlander School -- Music At The Heart Of The Quintessential Social Movement -- A Movement Splintered -- How Social Movements Do Culture. William G. Roy. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [263]-276) And Index. Contents......Page 8 Preface......Page 10 CHAPTER ONE: Social Movements, Music, and Race......Page 16 CHAPTER TWO: Music and Boundaries: Race and Folk......Page 43 CHAPTER THREE: The Original Folk Project......Page 64 CHAPTER FOUR: White and Black Reds: Building an Infrastructure......Page 94 CHAPTER FIVE: Movement Entrepreneurs and Activists......Page 115 CHAPTER SIX: Organizing Music: The Fruits of Entrepreneurship......Page 141 CHAPTER SEVEN: The Highlander School......Page 178 CHAPTER EIGHT: Music at the Heart of the Quintessential Social Movement......Page 204 CHAPTER NINE: A Movement Splintered......Page 236 CHAPTER TEN: How Social Movements Do Culture......Page 257 APPENDIX: Coding of Songbooks and Song Anthologies......Page 274 Notes......Page 276 References......Page 286 B......Page 300 C......Page 301 F......Page 302 H......Page 303 L......Page 304 N......Page 305 P......Page 306 S......Page 307 W......Page 308 Z......Page 309 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. This title examines the political force of folk music through the social activities that make up movements.