Civil Rights anthems is a relational concept to protest song

Protest song

A protest song is a song which is associated with a movement for social change and hence part of the broader category of topical songs . It may be folk, classical, or commercial in genre...

, but one that is specifically linked to the African-American Civil Rights Movement

African-American Civil Rights Movement (1955-1968)

The African-American Civil Rights Movement refers to the movements in the United States aimed at outlawing racial discrimination against African Americans and restoring voting rights to them. This article covers the phase of the movement between 1955 and 1968, particularly in the South...

. The songs were often sung during protests or marches related to the movement. Participants in the Civil Rights Movement referred to these songs as "Freedom Songs" rather than "anthems."

In several cases these songs began as gospel or spiritual, the most famous being

• "We Shall Overcome
  We Shall Overcome
  "We Shall Overcome" is a protest song that became a key anthem of the African-American Civil Rights Movement . The title and structure of the song are derived from an early gospel song by African-American composer Charles Albert Tindley...
  
  " and
• "Go Tell it on the Mountain
  Go Tell It on the Mountain (song)
  "Go Tell It on the Mountain" is an African-American spiritual song, compiled by John Wesley Work, Jr., dating back to at least 1865, that has been sung and recorded by many gospel and secular performers...
  
  ".

Nina Simone

Nina Simone

Eunice Kathleen Waymon , better known by her stage name Nina Simone , was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, arranger, and civil rights activist widely associated with jazz music...

 is also known for writing of such songs, such as:

• "Mississippi Goddam
  Mississippi Goddam
  Mississippi Goddam is a song written and performed by United States singer and pianist Nina Simone. It was first released on her album Nina Simone in Concert which was based on recordings of three concerts she gave at Carnegie Hall in 1964...
  
  ", from Nina Simone in Concert
  Nina Simone in Concert
  Nina Simone in Concert is an album by singer/pianist/songwriter Nina Simone. It was her first album for the record label Philips and was made up of three live recordings in Carnegie Hall, New York City in March and April 1964...
  
  (1964).
• "To Be Young, Gifted and Black
  To Be Young, Gifted and Black
  "To Be Young, Gifted and Black" is a song by Nina Simone with lyrics by Weldon Irvine. It was written in memory of Simone's late friend Lorraine Hansberry, author of the play Raisin in the Sun. The song was originally recorded by Simone for her 1970 album Black Gold; released as a single, it became...
  
  ", from Black Gold
  Black Gold (album)
  Black Gold is a live album by Jazz singer/pianist/songwriter Nina Simone recorded in 1969 at the Philharmonic Hall, New York.The album is especially notable because it features the civil rights anthem song "To Be Young Gifted And Black"...
  
  (1970), this song was also dubbed the "official civil rights anthem".

Activist Fannie Lou Hamer

Fannie Lou Hamer

Fannie Lou Hamer was an American voting rights activist and civil rights leader....

 is known for singing songs at marches or other protests. Zilphia Horton

Zilphia Horton

Zilphia Horton was American musician, community organizer, educator, Civil Rights activist, and folklorist. She is best-known for her work with her husband Myles Horton at the Highlander Folk School where she is generally credited with turning such songs as "We Shall Overcome", "Keep Your Eyes on...

 also played a role in the conversion of spirituals to civil rights songs.

Additional civil rights anthems

• "A Change Is Gonna Come (song)
  A Change Is Gonna Come (song)
  "A Change Is Gonna Come" is a 1964 single by R&B singer-songwriter Sam Cooke, written and first recorded in 1963 and released under the RCA Victor label shortly after his death in late 1964. Though only a modest hit for Cooke in comparison with his previous singles, the song came to exemplify the...
  
  ": Composed and performed by Sam Cooke
  Sam Cooke
  Samuel Cook, , better known under the stage name Sam Cooke, was an American gospel, R&B, soul, and pop singer, songwriter, and entrepreneur. He is considered to be one of the pioneers and founders of soul music. He is commonly known as the King of Soul for his distinctive vocal abilities and...
  
  ; #12 on the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list of Rolling Stone magazine
• "Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me 'Round"
• "Certainly Lord": based on a spiritual
• "Hold On" (also known as "Keep Your Eye On The Prize")
  Keep Your Eyes on the Prize
  "Keep Your Eyes on the Prize" is a folk song that became influential during the American civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. Although the song was composed as a hymn well before World War I, the lyrics to this version were written by civil rights activist Alice Wine in 1956...
  
  : Based on a spiritual
• "If You Miss Me at the Back of the Bus": Adapted from a composition by Chico Neblett
• "I'm Gonna Sit at the Welcome Table": Adapted from a Spiritual
• "I Woke Up This Mornin'": Adapted from a Spiritual
• "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing
  Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing
  "Lift Every Voice and Sing" — often called "The Negro National Hymn", "The Negro National Anthem", "The Black National Anthem", or "The African-American National Anthem"— is a song written as a poem by James Weldon Johnson and set to music by his brother John Rosamond Johnson in...
  
  ": Composed by James Weldon Johnson
  James Weldon Johnson
  James Weldon Johnson was an American author, politician, diplomat, critic, journalist, poet, anthologist, educator, lawyer, songwriter, and early civil rights activist. Johnson is remembered best for his leadership within the NAACP, as well as for his writing, which includes novels, poems, and...
  
  
• "This Little Light of Mine
  This Little Light of Mine
  "This Little Light of Mine" is a gospel children's song written by Harry Dixon Loes in about 1920. Loes, who studied at the Moody Bible Institute and the American Conservatory of Music, was a musical composer, and teacher, who wrote, and co-wrote, several other gospel songs. The song has since...
  
  ": Originally a spiritual, associated with Fannie Lou Hamer.
• "We shall not be moved": Also, likely originally, a labor union song.
• "If I had a hammer": A labor union song by Pete Seeger
  Pete Seeger
  Peter "Pete" Seeger is an American folk singer and was an iconic figure in the mid-twentieth century American folk music revival. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, he also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of The Weavers, most notably their recording of Lead...
  
   and Lee Hays.
• "The Father of a Son": A song by the band " The Ark
  The Ark (band)
  The Ark was a Swedish glam rock band formed in 1991 by Jepsson Mikael , and Lasse Ljungberg, when Ola Salo and Leari were only fourteen years old. Martin Axén officially joined the band in 1997, and Sylvester Schlegel in 1999. In late 2005, Jens Andersson joined The Ark as an official member...
  
  " about homosexuals' right to have children

External links

• The Songs - University of Illinois
• "People Get Ready": Music and the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s - History Now
• PBS
• Coco Jams
• About.com Top 10 Civil Rights Songs
• The Power of Freedom Songs ~ Civil Rights Movement Veterans