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Activist and folk singer Pete Seeger noted the importance of music in the Civil Rights Movement and was a notable conduit of music within the movement. Seeger was known to have helped spread the song ‘We Shall Overcome” to civil rights workers at the Highlander Folk School, which became an anthem of civil justice activism.
Although not often highlighted in American history, before Rosa Parks changed America when she was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white passenger on a Montgomery, Alabama city bus in December 1955, 19th-century African-American civil rights activists worked strenuously from the 1850s until the 1880s for the cause of equal treatment.
The second influential book about African-American spirituals was the 1872 collection Jubilee Songs as Sung by the Jubilee Singers of Fisk University, by Thomas F. Steward, comprising songs sung by students of Fisk University on their fund-raising tours throughout the county, arranged and harmonized according to 19th-century classical music ...
Dates of birth and death are unknown for several composers whose music, published during the 19th century, is described in "Historical Notes on African-American and Jamaican Melodies". These composers include Harry Bloodgood, Samuel Butler, Dudley C. Clark, Harry Davis, Pete Devonear, Fred C. Lyons, Henry Newman, James S. Putnam, and Francis V ...
The influence of African Americans on mainstream American music began in the 19th century with the advent of blackface minstrelsy. The banjo , of African origin, became a popular instrument, and its African-derived rhythms were incorporated into popular songs by Stephen Foster and other songwriters.
The music world also found white band leaders defying racist attitudes to include the best and the brightest African-American stars of music and song in their productions. The African Americans used art to prove their humanity and demand for equality. The Harlem Renaissance led to more opportunities for blacks to be published by mainstream houses.
Worcester Art Museum's recent acquisition of paintings by Edward Mitchell Bannister and Charles Ethan Porter helps bridge an important gap in history.
African-American women promoted the arts, focusing on "celebrating African American traditions and culture." [142] These included African-American music, theater and dance. [142] Clubwomen saw themselves as carrying on both art and tradition of their lives in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century. [143]