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Keep Your Eyes on the Prize (Pete Seeger, 1963)

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Staples Jr. Singers - When Do We Get Paid (Official Audio)

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Oh Freedom! - The Golden Gospel Singers (Lyrics in Description)

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Here is some examples of primary resources that were used to create the inclusion conclusion about Chinese immigration issue song in the column label examples of protest songs

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Created by the 2022-2023 Bromley Fifth Grade Class

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Shervin Hajipour - Baraye (full version with English lyrics)

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Grammy Awards: First Annual Song for Social Change Special Merit Award 

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Grammy Awards: First Annual Song for Social Change Special Merit Award 

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FIRST LADY JILL BIDEN Presents First Ever Best Song For Social Change Award | 2023 GRAMMYs

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Clarksville Elementary students record adorable "We Are the World" music video

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OneRepublic - Truth To Power (Lyric Video)

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Designed by: Amy R. Kenny
Selinsgrove Area Middle School, Selinsgrove, PA

Summary
Through singing and listening to famous protests songs students will learn to discuss the musical significance as well as the social and historical context of these songs.

Suggested Grade Levels: 6-8
Country: United States
Region: North America
Culture Group: American
Genre: Protest songs
Instruments: Voice, guitar
Language: English
Co-Curricular Areas: History, Social Studies, Civics
National Standards: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9
Prerequisites: For Lesson Segment 2, intermediate ability on a band instrument

Objectives:

Listen to various examples of famous protest songs to describe musical characteristics and evaluate performances

Discuss the role of protest songs in a social and historical context

Sing "This Land Is Your Land"

Play the bass line to the chorus of "This Land Is Your Land"

Learn the melody by ear on their instrument

Notate the melody of the chorus

Improvise melodic or rhythmic variations

Create alternate lyrics to the chorus

Lesson Segments:

1. An Introduction to the History of Protest Songs (National Standards 6, 7, 9)

2. Musical Performance of "This Land is Your Land" (National Standards 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)

1. An Introduction to the History of Protest Songs

1. Listen to recordings of familiar protest songs:

1. "This Land is Your Land" (track 7)

2. "Turn, Turn, Turn" (track 8)

3. "We Shall Overcome" (track 22)

2. Watch video of Freedom Singers (civil rights)

Music was essential to the African-American struggle for civil rights and equality. "We Are Soldiers in the Army" demonstrates how the Black American traditional song repertoire and older styles of singing were used to inspire and organize the Civil Rights Movement. The singers here remind us that the days of open discrimination and bigotry are not far behind us, and that "it's people's hearts we're trying to change now." The a cappella quartet features legendary civil rights activists and singers Rutha Harris, Charles Neblett, Bettie Mae Fikes, and Cordell Reagon.

3. Ask students to describe and evaluate what they heard in musical terms

4. Discuss history of protest songs in general, as well as the specific background of the songs listened to; look at liner notes for ideas

Assessment:
Divide students into small groups. Assign each group a different question to discuss. After an allotted time each small group will present to the class.

Sample discussion questions:

Protest songs have been around as long as humans have had conflict. Why are songs often used for protest?

Protest songs in America date back to the American colonists objecting to British rule. What are other conflicts in American history that have inspired protest songs?

What are some current political events or social situations that might inspire a protest song? In today's songs, what types of music are protest songs often heard?

2. Musical Performance of "This Land is Your Land"

1. Listen to "This Land Is Your Land;" discuss background of the song/composer (access liner notes)

2. Distribute lyric sheets; sing the song with focus on the chorus

3. Teach the tonic chord tones (I, IV, V) and have students play on their instruments

4. Ask one group of students to make tone changes by ear (using their three choices of notes) while the rest of the class sings the chorus; switch groups

5. Choose from any of the following activities

1. Teach the students to play the melody by ear on their instruments

2. Have the students notate the melody of the chorus

3. Ask for volunteers to improvise melodic or rhythmic changes to the chorus

4. Show video of Pete Seeger performing "English is Crazy"

6. Divide students into small groups and have them create new lyrics to the chorus

Assessment:
Students will be divided into groups to perform accurately on their instrument the melody and/or the bass line. Other students may be selected to improvise a chorus. If any group has created new lyrics they may share with the class. Members of the class may be given an opportunity to reflect on the performances.

Additional Resources: The Folkways Collection (1 hour podcast from Smithsonian Folkways)

Program 8: Woody Guthrie

An original folk hero, Woody Guthrie transformed the folk ballad into a vehicle for social protest. Guthrie wrote literally hundreds of songs, many of them now revered classics, including the unofficial anthem "This Land Is Your Land." He was also a major influence on music superstars such as Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan. Moses Asch, who recorded much of Guthrie's material, thought of Woody as nothing less than a full-blown genius. Program eight is devoted to a portrait of this giant in American folk music.

Program 12: Pete Seeger

Born of a renowned musical family, Pete Seeger's name is synonymous with the post-War American folk music revival. A contemporary of and collaborator with Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger casts his own long shadow over the folk music genre. This program overviews Seeger's life and music, including his work with Guthrie, and features recent interviews with Seeger and those who have known him well.

Program 14: Music and the Winds of Change: The Civil Rights Movement

The second of three programs on music as an instrument of social activism, this episode pays particular attention to material in the Folkways collection which documents and reflects the civil rights struggle, especially through the ten year period between 1955 and 1965. The program draws on such Folkways albums as "Voices of the Civil Rights Movement (Black American Freedom Songs, 1960-1966) and an audio-verite recording of the 1963 civil rights march on Washington entitled "We Shall Overcome." Original interviews with Bernice Johnson Reagon of the SNCC Freedom Singers and one-time Black Panther activist Angela Davis blend with archival interviews from Smithsonian Folkways to recapture the spirit of the struggle and to provide contemporary context to its meaning.

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Designed by: Amy R. Kenny Selinsgrove Area Middle School, Selinsgrove, PA Summary Through singing and listening to famous protests songs students will learn to discuss the musical significance as well as the social and historical context of these songs.

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Many protest songs are about rank-ism of some kind, and made by people trying to create change, during times when the status quo wants things to stay the same. From the Robin Hood ballads of the 1400s to contemporary hip hop, there's an expressed plea for fairness. For example, a classic theme is relevant to songwriters throughout the centuries: the rich and powerful want to stay that way, even if others are exploited.

A song can be an effective tool for common people in non-violent struggle. But information tentacles reach both in and out of a protest song, and, yes, although it can change things, it can also get you into trouble, same as any other act of non-violent self-expression. My 1963 song "Universal Soldier" impacted thousands of soldiers, students and families during the Vietnam war. It made a difference to the lives of people who are still thanking me 50 years later. On the other hand, along with "Now That the Buffalo's Gone" and other Native American issue songs, it got me blacklisted by two political administrations and effectively silenced my voice in the United States, just when Native peoples most needed to be heard.

I wrote "Now That the Buffalo's Gone" about a specific incident: the building of the Kinzua Dam, which pushed the Senecas off their land in the 1960s, breaking one of the oldest treaties in America's history, authorized by George Washington. Although the song is emotional, the story it tells is factually bulletproof, although under-reported. It surprised audiences, most of whom had never thought about Indians much. I believed people would help if only they knew about the greed, the unfairness, the way Native Americans were and sometimes are treated. And a lot of people did help, both Indian and non-Indian.

For me, the power of a protest song is not about getting a hit or making a buck. It has to do with how useful it is to making the world better, to crystallizing raw emotions into thought because of a well-turned phrase, reaching people and ripening those inner inspirations they're just starting to understand. If a song is useful to a movement impacting the lives of people in need, I'm happy. The current, globally viral Idle No More action, which originated with four women in Canada deals with reservation poverty, the environment and exploitive legislation. They are using my song "No No Keshagesh," and it's pretty humbling to be part of that grassroots effort. A song can be a lens through which people can focus and see unfamiliar issues better.

Both the style and the emotional content of protest songs vary. Consider the musical diversity of this list: "We Shall Overcome" by Pete Seeger; "Fortunate Son" by John Fogarty; "Say It Loud, I'm Black and I'm Proud" by James Brown; "Imagine" by John Lennon; "I Ain't Marching Any More" by Phil Ochs; "Big Yellow Taxi" by Joni Mitchell; "Masters of War" by Bob Dylan; "Waving Flag" by K'Naan.

For me, a good protest song is like good journalism: brief, well-focused and catchy for the short attention spans of ordinary people. Quick and engaging, like Sesame Street. For a protest song to be effective you need to make your point clearly in about three minutes, and do it in a way that truly engages people who might not know they'd want to hear it.

My song "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" is shocking to people who hear the list of facts around which the song is built. Therefore I deliberately wrapped the words in a hard-rock track, so that the listener is already caught up in the music before ever hearing the tragic story it tells about Anna Mae Aquash, Leonard Peltier and uranium exploitation on Indian lands. All I did was connect the dots...in music. Although the information is factual, most audiences have had no previous exposure to the facts of grassroots Native America. Sometimes the system misses the boat, in spite of education and journalism, and a song can help.

Other Native American songwriters beside myself have written protest songs. Peter LaFarge (Narragansett) wrote "The Ballad of Ira Hayes," "Custer," "As Long as the Grass Shall Grow" and more, several recorded by Johnny Cash; and my friend Floyd Westerman (Lakota) wrote one that I sing at almost every concert, "Relocation Blues," which deals with the residential boarding schools. He also wrote "B.I.A.," "Custer Died for Your Sins," and more. Shannon Two Feathers, Curtis Jonnie a.k.a. Shingoose, and Art Napoleon are a few of the Aboriginal Canadian songwriters who have written protest songs.

Some "Indian" protest songs are more authentic than others, and, like Wikipedia, they may or may not reflect accuracy. Some are full of well-intentioned second-hand emotion but lack any Native experience, and factually just don't hit the mark. On the other hand, I've always been impressed that Bob Dylan, although not Native, wrote "The Walls of Redwing," a scathing indictment of the Minnesota reform school in the heart of Indian country, and "With God on Our Side," both songs tangentially but pointedly related to Indian issues.

When I was recording my own latest CD, Running for the Drum, I included a version of the famous "America the Beautiful," for which I wrote new sections. That beautiful melody has carried a lot of diverse messages in anonymously written verses, some of them rather racist. Besides my own new sections, which added Native information little known to most people, I selected the anonymous verses that I thought expressed the kindest, most enriching Native American-like values: America not as nation-state, but America as Mother. One of the loveliest anonymous verses says "America, America, God shed His grace on thee; til selfish gain no longer stain the banner of the free." Very strategic, very positive. And check out Ray Charles' gorgeous version of "America the Beautiful," noted in Wynne Alexander's book Get It from the Drums: A History of Protest and Protest Songs of the 1960s and 70s.

Protest songs can mirror the violence and pain of real life; or they can soft-pedal it and still be effective. Pete Seeger's "Where Have All the Flowers Gone" and Bob Dylan's "Blowing in the Wind" are examples of treading easy in the system. And each has its message, but they are subtle. Contrast that approach with Dylan's "Masters of War," or my own "My Country Tis of Thy People You're Dying," which I wrote as a six-minute "Indian 101" for people who knew nothing about the historical and contemporary genocide of everything Native American. This more cutting approach does shake people up, but it also delivers rare factual information.

Loud or soft, abrasive or seductive, protest songs have confronted rank-ism of every kind for a very long time, and been effective tools for ripening social change. I say long live the courageous, strategic, informative art of the great protest song.

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The Power of Protest Songs | NMAI Magazine

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Many protest songs are about rank-ism of some kind, and made by people trying to create change, during times when the status quo wants things to stay the same. From the Robin Hood ballads of the 1400s to contemporary hip hop, there's an expressed plea for fairness.

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Buffy Sainte-Marie: How to Write a Protest Song

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Songfacts category - Songs in the public domain