Emotional courage is an underestimated characteristic of successful Black life in the segregated, unjust US south. Author Greg Freeland reflects on how music reflected, impacted, and influenced Black life in 1950s and 1960s North Carolina.

The celebratory aspect of the Black rhythm and blues, jazz, and gospel music of Freeland’s life is one of his clearest memories of the time. In this book, he recalls and reflects upon how music was integral to the solidary and resilience of his Black community in an unequal and unjust society. Through examples of music in the household, church, clubs, parties, and schools, this book explores how music worked in a manner that facilitated the development, mobilization, and realization of Black life.

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• v
• viiContents
• ixLearning objectives
• Introduction
• 1 Music and community
• 2 Durham, North Carolina
  • Hickstown
  • Hickstown/Crest Street versus North Carolina Department of Transportation
• 3 Musics in Durham: from rhythm and blues to gospel
  • Some reflections on the music forces
    • Rhythm and Blues: 1957–1963
    • Music and Hillside High School
• 4 The church and gospel music
  • The holiness church
  • The Baptist Church
  • Gospel music and the soul of the church
• 5 Intersection of music and everyday life in segregated society
  • Movement into political action with music
  • Club scene to ease the pain of segregation
• 6 Music in the Civil Rights Movement
  • Music and the Movement in Hickstown
  • Transitioning party songs to Movement songs
• 7 Hayti: the Black Wall Street
  • The deconstruction of Hayti
  • The survival of Hickstown
  • Durham construction before deconstruction
• 8 Dining in Durham
  • Royal Ice Cream Parlor
• 9 Roots in slavery
  • Spirituals from slavery days onward
• 10 Women in Hickstown; women in North Carolina; women in the struggle
• 11 A change is going to come
  • Reflections on riding the segregated bus
  • The bus stop(ped)
• 12 Reflections on music and dance
  • We insist on equality and justice
  • Insisting on new survival modes
  • Freedom rides and freedom riders
• 13 Radio and WLAC
  • Music’s role in political positions
  • Music as a reflection of everyday life
  • July 4th: Independence Day from a segregated perspective
• 14 Music as a transcendent force
  • Transitions between the horizontal and vertical with music
  • Reflection on experiences outside legally segregated North Carolina
  • Is it rhythm and blues? It still fits, doesn’t it?
  • The Twist: are we still in rhythm and blues?
• 15 School days
• 16 Segregation in; segregation out
  • SNCC singing, meeting, and marching
• 17 Sam Cooke takes it to another level
  • Heat Wave
  • It’s All Right
  • Jazz
• 18 Improvisational survival
  • Demonstrating into the sunset
  • Singing to finish the job
• 19 The music encompasses the struggle
  • Food and music
• 20 Back to the Movement and out
• Conclusion
• Activities and learning objectives
  • Teachers
  • Objectives
  • Activities
    • Activity one
    • Discussion questions
    • Activity two
    • Discussion questions
    • Activity three
    • Discussion questions
    • Activity four
    • Discussion questions
    • Activity five
    • Discussion questions
    • Activity six
    • Discussion questions
  • Activity learning objectives
• 236237Bibliography
• 246Index

Gregory Freeland PhD is Uyeno-Tseng Professor of Global Studies and in the Department of Political Science for California Lutheran University. A member of the Caribbean Studies Association and the Western Political Science Association, he teaches courses on Social Movements, Latin American/Caribbean Politics and Culture, and Music and Civil Rights Movement. In April 2017, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Central Coast Alliance for a Sustainable Economy (CAUSE) in recognition of outstanding and invaluable service to the community.

On Thursday June 21, 2023, we held a seminar in our Topics in Black Studies series:

The Lens of Lived Experience: Music and Black Community in Segregated North Carolina

This free seminar was a conversation between author Gregory Freeland and Chris McAuley, Lived Places Publishing Collection Editor. They talked about the pivotal role that music played in keeping a community together during one of the most legally segregated times in U.S. history.

>> VIEW SESSION REPLAY