Homework #2

1) The first myth about the civil rights movement was that it began almost spontaneously. The events that led up to the movement were aided by the local activists and the excessive amount of time and effort they put into making this movement possible. The focus was primarily on African American males, when in reality the people that put the most effort and time into the progression of the civil rights movement were women. Many women that played key roles in the movement were forgotten in history and primarily African American males were given substantial credit to be remembered in a movement that took many prior events to its beginning. Another myth about the civil right movement was the exaggerated role of whites. The majority of the people that was included in the fight for African American rights were the African Americans themselves.
T.V. Reed's way of describing the civil rights movement differs from what I was taught growing up in America's public school system. I was taught that Martin Luther King Jr. was primarily the only African American fighting for equality alongside Rosa Parks. Within the civil rights movement, whites were portrayed as people that played a large role in the progression of the movement as well. This has changed my view of the civil rights movement substantially because it puts into perspective the real people that fought for equality without the deserved recognition.

2)Reed argues that music was crucial to the civil rights movement because alongside the college students and the NAACP, the churches played a large role in the movement as well. The music used in the fight for equality was called "freedom songs", this music played a large role in the progression of the movement because it reached people of all ages, genders, and races. Music helped bring the liberation messages from African American people to mainstream America. In an orally rooted culture, music was also a great way to pass down the message of hope to the people.
In American culture today hip hop addresses a lot the problems that deals with politics and society today.