Nina Simone Songs as the Soundtrack to Civil Rights
Nina Simone's Songs as the Soundtrack to Civil Rights
One day I was on a road trip. Coasting north up a 12-hour strip of the interstate — yes I’m aware planes exist, but I like the peace of a long drive— when I randomly remembered a Netflix documentary I’d been meaning to watch: What Happened Miss Simone? A documentary that is deeply rich and occasionally heartbreaking about legendary recording artist Nina Simone.
Unfamiliar with her music or life I decided to dive into her catalog ahead of watching the film. Plus what better way to spend road time than discovering some new music.
If I could sum up her work in one sentence. Nina Simone created some of the most powerful and physically affecting recordings I’ve ever heard. Period.
I just couldn’t stop listening. Her rocky and raspy voice boomed through the speakers for the last few hours of my trip.
What’s this to do with history or humanity?
Well, not only was Nina’s music history-making, but she documented an era of American history in her verses. I’m always intrigued to find perspectives on Civil Rights. So I was also interested in Simone’s blend of poetry and song to express her thoughts on the civil rights struggle in America.
She took it as her responsibility to reflect the state of the nation on her albums.
“It’s an artist’s duty to reflect the times in which we live.”
— NINA SIMONE
One song “Mississippi Goddam” was inspired by the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing that happened occurred in 1963.
The song is equal parts depressing and fiercely intense. Simone seemed to capture the national outrage of black people right there at the moment. In one song. Unleashing the anguish spurred by the death of 4 innocent children at the hands of racist Klu Klux Klan terrorists.
Another song “Why? (The King Is Dead),” is a 12 minute 52-second slow burn of raw emotion mourning the death of Martin Luther King jr.
I highly recommend checking out Simone’s music catalog not only for her vocal greatness but also for its historic value. It’s so rare for music artists to document important national events as she did.
Written by Jewish communist Abel Meeropol, Strange Fruit was first performed and recorded by Billie Holiday in 1939. The message was a response to the violence carried out against Black Americans during that time. In the south especially, Black men, women, and children were terroized and lynched with barbaric frequecy Nina Simone said:
“That is about the ugliest song I have ever heard,” Simone later marveled. “Ugly in the sense that it is violent and tears at the guts of what white people have done to my people in this country.””
— NINA SIMONE