Coyjgoodson - The Fight for Rights lyrics

If the 1920's and the Harlem Renaissance brought about a black artistic revolution, then the Civil Rights period from 1940-1980 brought about a political one. The United States, embroiled in the Cold War, could no longer politically afford to deny African American's equal rights and opportunities. Tired of seeing the American dream praised, but institutionally denied to them, African Americans fought against inequality in many ways. Confidence provided by the early 20th century African American literary and arts movement emboldened artists, authors, and civil rights activists to partake in radical actions. 1940 - Native Son The controversial novel's protagonist Bigger Thomas provides a stark example of what the lack of opportunity, due to institutional racism, does to the heart and soul of black youth. 1951 - Harlem Langston Hughe's poem encapsulates the angst of the African American civil rights movement prior to the 1954 watershed Brown v Board case. 1954 - Brown v Board of Education Justice Earl Warren reversed the Supreme Court's views of "separate but equal" public institutions that had been in place since Plessy v Ferguson (1896). 1964 - Letter from Birmingham Jail King's letter, addressed to other clergymen, calls for a denunciation of segregation laws on the basis that legality does not equate to justice. 1964 - A Change Is Gonna Come Cooke strikes at the heart of the optimism of many African Americans during the Civil Rights era. 1969 - Black Art Amiri Baraka, the father of the Black Arts Movement, gave Black Power artistic expression. 1970 - Abraham, Martin and John Gaye commemorates pioneers in the Civil rights movement. The song talks about the contributions and eventual a**a**ination of Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr., and John Kennedy. 1971 - What's Going On? Gaye went against the wishes of Motown executives by producing an evocative album criticizing injustices ranging from taxes to war.