MUSIC, POLITICS AND CIVIL RIGHTS

BLACK MUSIC IN BROADSIDE MAGAZINE

Abstract

This article aims to analyze the relationship between music and politics through Broadside magazine, in the context of Civil Rights, one of the most important social movements of the twentieth century. The magazine circulated in the United States between 1962 and the early 1970’s, and its goal was spreading topical folk songs to the whole country. We’ll focus, specifically, on how Broadside used the concept of authenticity to legitimize a specific type of folk songs, how it set music as a political tool and, finally, how the integration of black people in the American society of the 1960s was seen by the journal.