The 1960s were a period of cultural radicalism. During the civil rights era, counterculture became prevalent. From the hippie movement to London’s Notting Hill Carnival, cultural expression emerged not simply as a means of voicing oneself but also as a form of protest. Civil rights and music culture in America were notably intertwined and expressed in a range of genres such as folk and gospel through the voices of those including Jamila Jones, Pete Seeger and Mahalia Jackson. Martin Luther King Jr. would acknowledge songs of freedom as “playing a strong and vital role in our struggle” and their importance in establishing “a radiant hope, in the future, particularly in [the] most trying hours.”
A key player in popular music was songstress Nina Simone. Her song Mississippi Goddam was the first of her many protest songs, but arguably also a defining aspect of the civil rights era, not only because of its popularity but also due to its radical and intersectional redefinition of the aims of the movement. According to Ruth Feldstein, the song was effective because it, “challenged principles that are still strongly associated with liberal civil rights activism in the period” and dismissed calls for ‘gradual’ racial harmony in favour of radical change.
Simone’s relationship with cultural activism had always been a close one. “I don’t think I’m just out there to entertain,” she once remarked. At age 12, she acted in defence of her parents who were forced to inferior seating during a recital of hers, boycotting the concert until they were moved back to their original seats. Mississippi Goddam, however, marked a watershed moment in her career where her output became increasingly explicit in its social commentary.
Mississippi Goddam was written in response to the murders of Emmett Till and Medgar Evers and Alabama’s 16th Street Baptist Church bombings of 1962 and 1963. The opening lines “Alabama’s gotten me so upset, Tennessee made me lose my rest, and everybody knows about Mississippi, goddam…” express an unrestrained rage in response to ongoing racial inequality and racialized violence. Throughout the 1960s and into the 1970s, Simone continued to change these opening lines in response to contemporary events. In 1968, on the occasion of Martin Luther King Jr.’s murder, she changed a line to “Memphis made me lose my rest”.
The most biting line, however, was that which addressed her view of more moderate civil rights activists. She complained, “do things gradually, too slow… But bring more tragedy, too slow”. Simone rejected the non-confrontational passivity of other supposed protest songs like We Shall Overcome, and distinguished herself as one of the defining cultural expressions of the era.
The song’s controversy followed Simone for much of her career. Even the use of the word “goddam” was a major point of contention and she spoke openly about the detriments it had on her success. In 1970, she moved to Barbados for an extended period to avoid a warrant for her arrest which was put out after she had refused to pay tax as an additional point of protest.
J.E. Baumann identifies Mississippi Goddam as, “not simply a song that preached for militant action” but “a song that demanded civil rights for all through whatever means available”. Simone was not the first to question the effectiveness of gradualism, but she was one of the few musicians who actively rebuked it. References to cotton picking additionally characterise movement as a continuation of abolitionism in the face of ongoing racial oppression in spite of concurrent decolonisation.
Simone’s life was continually fascinating. She dated Barbadian Prime Minister Errol Barrow, released over 30 albums, and her real name was Eunice Waymon. However, in spite of her other protest songs, including To be Young, Gifted and Black (1966) and Old Jim Crow (1964). Mississippi Goddam remained Simone’s most potent political work. It has been covered by Andra Day and lyrically referenced by St. Vincent. John Legend quoted Simone in his 2015 Oscar speech, and Jay-Z’s sample of her songs has made its way into several of Obama’s often controversial playlists: allegedly, Sinnerman is one of his top ten workout songs.
Culture and civil rights were fundamentally intertwined and inspired one another in these periods of racial activism. Malcolm X went as far as to claim that music was, “the only area on the American scene where the Black man has been free to create”.
Simone’s work is notable due to its radical tone, but it was also part of a new and growing canon of protest songs. Following Simone’s tradition, Bob Dylan and John Coltrane wrote on the same murders that are protested in Mississippi Goddam in their songs, Only a Pawn in Their Game (1964) and Alabama (1963). These works showed a necessity for culture in creating a breadth of reach in a time of political dissent. The legacy of Simone’s radical and intersectional musical activism continues on in the music of Lauryn Hill and Janelle Monae.
Works like Mississippi Goddam show the significance of how culture does not just have the power to voice protest, but also to engage and inform contemporary discourse.Mississippi Goddam as a postcolonial song. Its contents acknowledge the civil rights
By Rory Bishop