Bob Dylan's Song Analysis

Great Essays
The civil rights movement has been one of the largest, ongoing battles in America over equality of black citizens. Not everything had changed under the 1964 Civil Rights Act and there is still inequality occurring today. In 1960 there were still several problems such as the police force, the lack of education in black schools and the segregation in many public places. The police force was still racist and black citizens were not given the same amount of respect as the white citizens were given. Also, several the members of the police force were members of the Ku Klux Klan, which meant that towns and states were, ran with social inequality. By the 1940s much had changed however, there was still progress to be made.
The 1954 education ruling
…show more content…
This is in source 3. This song showed that the Americans weren’t paying attention and discrimination against the African Americans. The song also states the darkness that black people were feeling and how much upset and anger they had built up over tension due to their skin colour. It also includes about how the police men beat up the black people. The song also states about the other racial inequalities and problems such as segregation and how the black people were treated like second class citizens. For example in the song it says “Guns and clubs followed him down”, showed the police beating up the African Americans and how they were meant to be equal but they weren’t. The song depicts how racism was shown in the 1960’s. It also shows that black people are waiting on authority to change the laws of the black people. This shows that white people were starting to understand the problems of the racial abuse that was given to the African-Americans therefore some change had occurred since the …show more content…
For example the freedom rides in the 1950s and the bus boycott. Non-militant campaigners did not start any violence but they provoked the white people. Some other strategies have been used such as the race riots in source 15. On paper great progress had been made with changes such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. However, they still believed that they weren’t equal so they kept on arguing their case for equality. This source shows what the reaction by some people in 1968 America. This shows that the civilians want equality as they source states that the racists will go down with the people who provoked the violence. This shows that the majority of the people wanted peace, this shows that opinions had changed since the 1940’s as people are more willing to get along with one another. Source ten shows Martin Luther king’s strategies from Alabama in 1963. From this source he shows what they had to do as a consequence of the attacks. This showed that he hoped to attract violence and watch the white people suffer from the consequences. This showed that not a lot had changed and that white people would still attack the black people from a non-violent but provoked attack. Source 11 had a completely different approach; it was militant and causes the violence rather than provoke it. This shows the extremes that the black people were willing to take in order to gain

Related Documents

  • Superior Essays

    The civil rights movement was a mass movement against racial segregation and discrimination. Even though African Americans were freed from slavery, their social status was still not the same as White Americans, especially in the South. Blacks were not given equal opportunities in their education, job opportunities, or allowed to access white facilities. The Jim Crow Laws were established in 1874 and lasted until 1975. They were laws created intended “to separate the white and black races in the American South” (“Jim Crow Laws”). The purpose of these laws were to keep blacks “seperate but equal”, when in reality they weren't equal to White Americans at all. Dennis Sullivan discussed in class how people believe our society should be rights based,…

    • 1241 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    1945 through 1968 was a prominent period of time in United States history as it saw the rise of civil rights movements and an era of more progressive presidents. The federal government was partly in sync with the ideals of civil rights activists as both sides wanted the discriminated, which mostly included African Americans and women, to be officially recognized as equal and eliminate any segregation acts. While the government acted with a plan to gradually do so, activists wanted immediate change and took it upon themselves to do so through boycotts which some may or may not have been nonviolent protests.…

    • 776 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The civil rights movement of 1960’s was a set of movements in the United States to end racial discrimination against the black Americans and to get them a legal recognition. The movement also attempted to gain federal protection of the rights of citizenship as explained in the constitution. In the late 19th century, black Americans were stripped of their rights by numerous discriminatory laws in the South. Unlawful violence became a normal scenario for the blacks of South. Separate institutions and facilities for blacks and whites became a basic rule. The concept of equal rights as allowed by the 13th, 14th and the 15th amendment were completely ignored and abolished. The whole situation remained there till 1950’s when in…

    • 1620 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    1945 To 1968 Dbq Analysis

    • 893 Words
    • 4 Pages

    From 1945 to 1968, many groups of people were asking for rights, but the main focus was on the African-American community. They were asking for equality in the country, especially in the South. During this twenty-three period time frame, many events took place that changed their role in society. Although it did face great backlash, the government continued to work in their favor. Leaders in the African-American community unified the people and had them voice their opinions. They created different demonstrations so that they could be noticed by the government.…

    • 893 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The mid- twentieth century was a challenging time for African Americans. The Jim Crow laws had a huge effect on the black community and they were local and state segregation laws. These laws were passed to separate blacks and whites. They made these laws to supposedly have equal accommodation for both races, but as many may know blacks were often getting treated as second class citizens. Blacks were separated from many things such as restaurants, public restrooms, schools, and basic stuff such as water fountains in both Northern and Southern states. Discrimination deprived southern blacks of decent jobs. In reality blacks were often treated again as lower class citizens to whites and put at a disadvantage getting the worse part of everything. Dr. King, a leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement, stated in Where Do We Go From…

    • 1485 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Decent Essays

    The American Civil Rights Movement of the 1960’s was perhaps the most important stepping stone towards social equality this country has ever had. The Civil Rights Movement called into question the country’s morality.…

    • 267 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Civil Rights Movement was considered one of the darkest moments in black history. Although African Americans were freed from slavery, their human rights were held captive. Despite the Supreme Court’s effort to afford blacks a fair education, white America contrived to devalue African Americans. Regardless of the systematic roadblocks in place African Americans always persevered. Instead of violence, African Americans used influence, political power, and protesting to voice their displeasures. This strategy angered many southern whites even more during this time.…

    • 911 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Ray Sprigle wrote in his book I was a Negro in the South for 30 Days, “there are 38 children in her school, divided into seven grades. She teaches them all.”4. This quote shows how poor the schooling system was for African Americans. Lastly during the Reconstruction Era many Northerners saw owning slaves as unmoral. They felt that slaves should be viewed as people not just property. During the 1960s African Americans sparked a huge civil rights movement. African Americans were still dealing with the results that came from the Jim Crow Laws. There were many people during the 1960s that were fighting against the Jim Crow laws who were still in place. Blacks were still viewed as the inferior race during the 1960s, and they dealt with the same discrimination as blacks faced during the Reconstruction Era. Rosa Parks is an example of one African American who stood up for her right, when she sat where she wanted to on a bus. She was faced with a struggle for the equality, which she gained many years before when the Emancipation Proclamation was put into place5. Although both movements shared the similarity of trying to gain rights for African Americans, they also had differences in regard to their…

    • 548 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Positive Social Change

    • 1709 Words
    • 7 Pages

    It is common to hear what great pride our country takes in talking and teaching our younger generations about the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950’s and 60’s, and portray it as a heroic episode in the history of America. Where many activist such as Martin Luther King Jr, Rosa Parks, and Malcom X risked and for some, lost their lives in the name of freedom and equality. Civil activists participated in nonviolent protests and civil disobedience for change. They wanted African Americans to have the same citizenship rights that white people had and took for granted. Although the federal government made legislative improvements by passing the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that gave the African Americans the right to…

    • 1709 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Many people take for granted not having to sit on different sides of the bus or being able to eat in the same restaurant and even walking on the sidewalk. African Americans before the Civil Rights movement were harassed or treated very disrespectfully by whites. The Civil Rights movement is when blacks became as respected or as important as whites this was when whites noticed that African Americans were just like whites and deserve to be treated equal and not to be separated. Many Supreme Court cases concerning slavery or separation between blacks and whites helped America get closer and closer to were whites were able to understand that there not much different than blacks: (Dred Scott…

    • 726 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Dbq Civil Rights Movement

    • 1153 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Through targeting the worst cases of injustices and discrimination, the members of the movement created media attention and made more people aware of the gross disrespect and prejudices African-Americans faced. They were extremely disciplined in using nonviolent direct action to protest in order to gain the moral high ground. This made the protesters look innocent and helpless, these acts affect the whole society and economy. Through boycotting public busses and getting arrested for sit-ins and marching in the streets peacefully the government was pressured into acting. For example, in Birmingham, Alabama police used high-pressure water hoses and police attack dogs on children and adult protesters. This horrendous act drew the world's attention to racial segregation in the South. It burnished Martin Luther King's reputation and made the Birmingham Police Department look extremely cruel and intolerant. This act gained high political conversation and later forced desegregation in…

    • 1153 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Davis declares “The Civil Rights Movement was a mass popular movement to secure for African Americans equal access to the opportunities for the basic privileges and rights of U.S citizenship” (Davis). America was moving more toward what the ideal America was thought to be, but still had a long way to go. Even though the movement ended slavery there was still segregation against blacks. James Patterson mentions” Racial Discrimination deprived southern blacks of decent jobs and schools and of elementary rights of citizenship, including voting” (Patterson 1). Whites felt that they were still better than the blacks. Blacks had to live with threats that included violence and lynching. Real America still was not what America was perceived as in the Declaration of Independence. To this day the struggle for equality still…

    • 950 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This song was released on October 7, 2016. The song is about President Donald Trump actions and words along with other issues we face. One theme of this song is hate. The lyrics talk about what good is history, if we repeat it? Repeating horrible acts such as bigotry and tyranny. A person wearing a Donald Trump mask spews words of hate-filled messages to the masses in the video for this song. The song lyrics are also in regards to Trump’s ignorant policies and his racism. Within Green day’s lyrics and video for troubled times, they feel that Donald Trump will usher in another era of civil unrest in…

    • 803 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Through the usage of poetic devices, the author, Bob Dylan is able to portray meaning of a past relationship. In this past relationship, Dylan’s partner pretends to be someone that she is not in order to climb the social ladder. Dylan effectively uses methods such as hyperbole, symbolism, and diction to give meaning to one of his most famous songs.…

    • 857 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The album I chose to focus on was the second one in Bob Dylan’s career. “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan,” which was released in 1963, is considered to contain some of his best compositions and original work. It is considered folk music and uses the classic instruments such as the acoustic guitar and harmonics. The album was both a top seller in the United States and Great Britain, and has become apart of the Library of Congress’s collection of music. The songs portray the social unrest of the time, such as civil rights and the effects of the Cold War and became an obvious representation of how a generation was trying to bring on change within American culture.…

    • 117 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays