This is my prospectus a.k.a the thesis that I'm required to write as an undergrad for my arts degree.I wrote it on Bob Dylan. I rarely ever post school stuff but, I worked on this for the entire semester and it would be worth it if someone else read it other than my professor and my classmates.

Edit : I did tell Bob I was writing this and included a draft in the letter I gave him.Hopefully, he's okay with it :)


“The Times They Are A-Changin’ ”: Bob Dylan’s musical influence on The Civil Rights Movement


In the early 1960’s, there began a movement of change both politically and socially in America. The two most significant movements of the time were the changes in racial relations and the changes in popular culture. Racial tensions were at an all time high due to the emergence of the Civil Rights Movement that began in the mid-1950’s. By 1961, the movement began to make major strides as young people became more active in challenging American leaders who opposed change.
At around the same time, these new thoughts and ideas influenced other forms of popular culture, including music. The Civil Rights Movement was a catalyst for the songs that were popular during this time. According to the book “Exploring the World of Music”, participants in the Civil Rights Movement used songs “in order to uplift their spirits and keep their minds focused on what they were trying to achieve." (Hast, Cowdery, Scott 45). There were many musicians who participated and were influenced by the movement, but one of the most significant voices came from Bob Dylan. His lyrics and songs not only influenced the movement
and popular culture, but it was also the movement itself that influenced him in the early stages of his career.
One of the main reasons why Dylan was looked upon as a prominent voice in the Civil Rights Movement was because of the folk and protest songs he wrote in the early days of his career. It was also through his musical influences, and relationships with those involved in the movement that attributed to the establishment of his role. The Civil Rights movement thrived on the use of music in various protest marches and gatherings. By the time the Civil Rights Movement was gaining national attention, Bob Dylan was already on his way to becoming an important figure in music history. In “The Wicked Messenger”, author Mike Marqusee states “As the sixties wore on, the relationship between vanguards (or would be vanguards) and the masses of people they claimed to speak for and aimed to mobilize, was to grow more acutely troubled…..These political and cultural tensions were dramatized in Dylan’s music and the response to it. Throughout the decade, they drove his art at a breakneck pace.” (Marqusee 15).
Early Influences
Dylan’s musical evolution and direction were influenced by various figures in his life. Born Robert Allen Zimmerman in 1941 in Hibbing, Minnesota, he left for New York City in 1961, at the age of twenty, in order to pursue a career in music. He craved for a musical career modeled after his idol, Woody Guthrie. In his “Chronicles: Volume One“ memoir, Dylan writes “Woody’s songs were having that big an effect on me, an influence on every move I made, what I ate, and how I dressed, who I wanted to know, who I didn’t.” (Dylan 247). Guthrie was a folk singer who, according to Joe Klein’s book “Woody Guthrie: A Life” made a career of writing
protest songs (which became American folk standards such as "This Land is Your Land," "So Long, It's been Good to Know You," and "This Train Is Bound for Glory”) in order to “to enliven a union hall rally or to entertain the hobos and dust bowl refugees he traveled with.” (Klein 22). Dylan strived to emulate Guthrie, from his language to his personal and musical style. Guthrie would ultimately be not only a major influence to Dylan musically, but would also influence him to begin his own songwriting. Guthrie inspired Dylan to begin writing “protest” songs; songs that are associated with a movement for social change, as well as writing his own material. “The first song I’d wind up writing of any substantial importance was written for Woody Guthrie” (Dylan 54).
Another major influence in his progression as a musical voice in the Civil Rights movement was his girlfriend, Suze Rotolo, whom he met upon arriving in New York in 1961. Rotolo was a 17 year old left wing activist from Queens who was active in the theater, and participated in various protest activities. “Suze was instrumental in bringing out Bob’s social awareness…she was very active in various antinuclear and civil rights groups, including the Congress for Racial Equality. Rotolo helped Dylan take interest in Civil Rights and other social issues and also shared the belief that there needed to be change. “Suze and I were spending more and more time together and I began to broaden my horizons, see a lot of what her world was like.” (Dylan 268).

Early beginnings of the Civil Rights Movement
According to the book “The Origins of the Civil Rights Movement: Black Communities Organizing for Change”, author Aldon D. Morris explains that the roots of the Civil Rights
movement trace all the back to the end of the Reconstruction Era in the late 1800’s, which “left many former slaves on plantations as sharecroppers in conditions similar to slavery.” The movement’s progression began its acceleration in the mid-1950’s, with the integration of major league baseball, U.S President Truman’s plan to integrate the armed forces, and the integration of schools in 1954.
There was also the emergence of many other significant events jumpstarted the movement including the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the emergence of many protest affiliations who were actively participating in various protest marches, rallies, and sit-ins. Martin Luther King Jr. was also having a tremendous effect on the crowds of people who would gather to hear him preach about the importance of racial equality. During this time, many African Americans were being murdered, and this initiated concern from many American people. These concerns would spread with the political and protest songs from Dylan’s music in these years.

The Voice of A Generation
After being signed to Columbia Records in 1962, and with the release of his albums “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan” and “The Times They Are A-Changin’”, Bob Dylan would soon become known as “The voice of a generation”. Dylan’s songs are not recognized as being original, but instead are noted for their significance as protest songs. These songs that Dylan wrote matched the feelings and thoughts of what was occurring at the time of the upsurge of the civil rights movement. In her article “The Popularization of American Folk Music”, Author Kim Roehl states that Dylan’s compositions, “were not the first to bring social issues back into folk music, but he was certainly seen as a hero in that arena.” In influencing the Civil Rights
movement, it was Dylan’s compositions that predominantly projected his image as the ‘voice of a generation” in the 1960’s. People took his words and messages through his songs “The Death of Emmett Till”, “The Times They Are A-changin”, “Only a Pawn in their Game”, “The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll”, “Hurricane” and not only applied it to their own lives, but they also associated the thoughts and feelings of the songs with the ideologies and beliefs of Dylan himself. This is a belief that Dylan has publicly refuted. “I’ve always said the organized media propagated me as something I never pretended to be…all this spokesman of conscience thing. A lot of my songs were definitely misinterpreted by people who didn’t know any better, and it goes on today. If you examine the songs I don’t believe you’re going to find anything in there that says I’m a spokesman for anybody or anything, really” (Scott 48). In spite of his own personal opinion of the public’s reception, the success of his career, based on the influence and impact that his compositions had on the movement and its people is undeniable.

The Death of Emmett Till
Dylan’s musical influence upon the Civil Rights movement began when he heard a story about a young African American boy from Chicago. The story was one of the catalysts that led to the advancement of the Civil Rights Movement and initiated Dylan’s heightened awareness in writing songs about real life situations of the time. It concerns the story of the vicious killing of a fourteen year old African American boy named Emmett Till in 1955.At the time, Till was living with a family member in Mississippi, and told his friends that he had a white girlfriend in his class in school back home. His friends persuaded him to talk to a white woman that was in a nearby grocery store. The woman was Carolyn Bryant, a twenty one year old married white
woman. There are conflicting reports about the incident, with Bryant claiming Till asked her on a date and touched her inappropriately, to Till simply saying the words “bye baby” to Bryant. Later, when Bryant’s husband, Roy was informed of this incident, he and his half-brother kidnapped Till from his bedroom. They then brutally murdered Till that night. He was beaten then dumped into the Tallahatchie River, weighed down by a fan around his neck. The missing body of Emmett Till missing body created attention as well as initiated disbelief from the National Association of the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

The brutal murder of Emmett Till inspired Dylan to write his song “The Death of Emmett Till”. The lyrics of the song were not only extremely audacious but it was also expressive for the current time in that it served as the framework for the details behind murder based on racial injustice. The lyrics successfully illuminate the illustration of how the white man was entertained by the capability to beat the young African American boy. There were many who wanted to see a trial, but at the same time, they were unwilling to take any action on the matter. Dylan also introduced the idea of corruption behind these kinds of murders. In the song Dylan sings “But on the jury there were men who helped the brothers commit this awful crime, And so this trial was a mockery, but nobody seemed to mind.” The song was also illustrated the resentment that emerged out of the death. Dylan successfully portrayed this feeling when he sang the song live at various areas around Greenwich Village in the early 1960’s.

“The Death of Emmett Till” was the song that initially sparked the relationship between Bob Dylan as a songwriter, and the Civil Right’s movement’s need for a musical voice. Though the influence of “The Death of Emmett Till” was not as wide spread since it did not make the cut on Dylan’s second album “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan”, Dylan continued to convey its message through various live performances of the song. In Robert Shelton’s book “No Direction Home: The Life and Music of Bob Dylan” he states that “The Death of Emmett Till was “a song that was a staple among Dylan’s early performances in the years 1962 and 1963.”(Shelton 148)

Blowin’ In The Wind
Perhaps the most famous Dylan song associated with the Civil Rights Movement is his early composition “Blowin’ in the Wind”. According to Shelton, “the civil rights movement was cresting, and this understated song summed up the passions and questions of the time”. (Shelton 155). Written in 1962, in “a café across the street from the Gaslight” (Shelton 155) , "Blowin' in the Wind" raises questions of morality in the world at the time of the Civil Rights movement: oppression, war, and abuse upon humanity. Dylan uses rhetorical and literary techniques to express his message, by formatting the song with three stanzas each containing three rhetorical questions, many of which have double meanings, followed by the refrain, "Blowin' in the Wind". All of Dylan's questions are answered with the same phrase, so people can reach a clear conclusion for themselves. Dylan provokes even more attention upon the listener by never directly answering his questions. Dylan uses repetition on "how many" to show that there has already been enough suffering and oppression, and an additional amount is not needed to solve this problem of injustice.
"Blowin' in the Wind” contains many messages about society, and asks the questions about the world that most people ask in their heads each day, but nobody knows the answer to. In the first verse, Dylan asks, "How many seas must a white dove sail before she sleeps in the sand?" This is an analogy, asking how many wars must there be until there is peace. Shelton states that the “white dove is a symbol of peace, and the "seas" she "sails" are different countries and parts of the world waging war.” (Shelton 162) In the second verse, Dylan asks, "How many years can some people exist before they're allowed to be free?" He is asking for how long people in the world be ruled under tyranny before they are allowed to be free and independent, a major desire and goal of the Civil Rights Movement. Next, he asks, "How many times can a man turn his head and pretend he just doesn’t see?" Dylan is asking how many instances will there be in which people can turn away, still remain ignorant to the events occurring in the world, and still not react to them. He also asks, "How many ears must one man have before he can hear people cry?" This question mocks the lack of compassion by some members of the public, instead wondering how some people can be advocates of the infliction of pain upon others, and wonders what has to be done so they are aware of this suffering they have caused. He also asks, "How many deaths will it take 'til he knows that too many people have died?" This refers to the ignorance of the people in the world, or people who simply act as bystanders in the midst of change, those who just refuse to act on any sort of desire for change. Dylan is wondering how many people must die until they wake up and realize what is going on in the world around them and do something about it.
Throughout the song, the only consistent idea that Dylan plants in the listener’s mind is that "the answer, my friends, is blowin' in the wind". This is believed to have a double meaning.
Shelton states that perhaps it means “that the answer cannot be found, because wind is a fleeting, invisible thing that comes and goes; it is not permanent and it is not written out in stone.” or “Perhaps, the answer must be found within themselves, or within society.” (Shelton 163) Regardless of the true meaning, the song is both inspirational and optimistic with its messages of peace and freedom.
The lyrics of “Blowin’ in the Wind”, resonates with the thoughts and feelings with those involved in the Civil Rights Movement at the time. It not only asks questions that were on the minds of the participants, but it also fostered a musical voice for those in the movement, one that expressed the same sentiment of freedom for all. Upon writing the song, Dylan began performing it around Greenwich Village, most notably in Gerde’s Folk City, a popular folk club in the early 1960’s.This was initially where the song’s popularity spread, and other musicians hanging around Washington Square Park began to cover the song. The song later became a massive hit, not for Dylan himself, but for the folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary, and ultimately became the “anthem” for the Civil Rights Movement.
March On Washington
On August 28, 1963, one of the most prominent civil rights activists, Martin Luther King Jr., led the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The march brought thousands together, black and white, to listen to speeches and stories about freedom and racial equality. The most notorious speech was King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. This was also an important time in Bob Dylan’s protest singing and writing. With all the progression of events occurring within the
movement, Dylan was inspired to “continue it to start writing and singing about what was happening.” (Shelton 198). Dylan released his third album in 1964, titled “The Times They Are A-Changin’”. The album is universally considered the most successful and effective in relation to Dylan’s impact on the Civil Rights movement since it contained three very considerably important songs about murder due to race, as well as represents the idea of change.
The Times They Are A-Changin’
The opening track on the album and most important that captured this change was aptly titled “The Times They Are A-Changin’”. The song was “a summation of the sixties mood. No cautious questioning now, but a prophetic voice trumpeting a changing order.” (Shelton 212) The song rallied all people, mothers, fathers, critics, writers, sons, and daughters, to wake up and recognize that there is a light at the end of the tunnel, there is something that they will be able to look forward to. The song also rallies the government to not “stand in the doorways” and to not “block up the hall”. According to Clinton Heylin’s book “Bob Dylan: Behind the Shades Revisited”, this was one of the most significant songs in the midst of the Civil Rights movement because “the delivery of the song was the strong” (Heylin 116).The song also “not only inspired the progression of the movement, but it also gave comfort to those seeking a voice.” (Heylin 116).
The title of the song (and album) was also significant in the context of the state of the movement. Shelton states that “the line “The times they are a-changin’” is significant since it ignites the desire and public’s anticipation for change. “the line states that the change is
happening and is in progress at that certain time in history. The lyrics contain many uses of the pliant –in’ added to verbs: savin’, swimmin’, and changin’. These all restore the importance of that the change is in progress when the song is delivered to an audience.” (Shelton 126). The song also represented the participants in the movement’s belief that racial equality was an idea that was changing, and that will continue to change until it is made possible. “The main thought derived from the song is that the Civil Rights movement is what is happening and is going to be happening during the sixties. The movement is going to draw a line and cast new meaning on life in America.” (Shelton 127).
The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll

Many of Dylan’s protest songs that he wrote during the progression of the Civil Rights Movement dealt with the justice system, especially racial injustice. The stories that he transformed into songs were true cases. In 1964, Dylan had been playing many of his protest songs during various protest rallies, marches and folk congregations where supporters and followers of the movement would come together. It was here that Dylan wrote another significant song that was influenced by the movement, and as well as the racial injustice in the government system. The song was called “The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll”. The song focused on the injustice that affected many African Americans during the Civil Rights Movement. “A news item inspired this ballad about racist justice. On February 8, 1963, a Baltimore socialite struck Mrs. Carroll with a lightweight cane. She collapsed and died the next day of a massive cerebral hemorrhage. Her attacker, whose father was active in Maryland
politics, was convicted of manslaughter and assault, and escaped with a light sentence”. (Shelton 214).
The most interesting idea that emerges from this song is that Dylan never actually reveals that Hattie Carroll is African American and that Zantzinger is a White man, even though the idea is basically implied in the context of the song. “He told the story with the economy of a news reporter and the imagery of a poet, without needing to state the underlying fact that William Devereux Zantzinger was white and Hattie Carroll black,” (Sounes 142). The idea that justice in terms of class discrimination is also implied, perhaps alluding to and bringing awareness to another racial injustice, being that Zantzinger belonged to a wealthy family, and Hattie Carroll was of a lower social status. This conclusion is judged by Zantzinger’s light sentence, as well as Dylan’s tone throughout the song. Nevertheless, it became another influential song for the supporters of the Civil Rights Movement. When Dylan performed the song on “Steven Allen Show” in 1964 he “ duly delivered such a compelling performance that viewers couldn't help but be convinced of the singer's civil rights credentials,” (Heylin 238).
“The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll” also symbolized and called upon the pessimists and critics of the Civil Rights Movement. The lyrics in the chorus “But you who philosophize, disgrace, and criticize all fears.” are actually addressing the people (critics and pessimists) who are opposed to racial and social change (all fears). “These critics are the ones who “philosophize” the fear of desegregation and use their wealth to escape justice. The impact of the song is that is clearly states the facts of the brutal killing of an innocent black woman. The song
most effectively showed how the courts had no strong position on Civil Rights, and would do the least to please the public.” (Heylin 239).

Only A Pawn In Their Game
Perhaps the most influential and moving piece that supported and influenced the Civil Rights Movement was the song “Only A Pawn In Their Game”, another track off “The Times They Are A-Changin’” album. The song‘s main focuses on yet another murder, one of racial injustice, and in every word puts the blame on the killer. The song also illustrates how the white man is not the main cause of the killing, but is a victim of the society who supports segregation in the South. “Evers had been shot dead in Jackson a month earlier. Byron De La Beckwith, a local member of the Ku Klux Klan, was indicted for the crime. Bob sang that the killer was a pawn of ignorance, prejudice, and hatred.” (Sounes 134).
The first time Bob Dylan had traveled to the South, he performed “Only A Pawn In Their Game” in Mississippi during a black voter registration convention. Sounes states that “Bob rarely took a public stance on a political issue, but it was a powerful event.”(Sounes 134). However, the most significant performance of the song was at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Dylan performed “Only A Pawn In Their Game” live on the Lincoln Memorial and in front of many supporters of the Civil Rights Movement, including Martin Luther King Jr.. This performance in particular is significant because he took on his role as “The voice of a generation”. Dylan became “the role model for the middle class white American who believed in the movement and middle class activists. It was the public reception to “Only A Pawn In Their
Game” that influenced Dylan to continue writing songs like “The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll” and “The Times They Are A-Changin’”.(Shelton 263). Marqusee further implements the significance of this performance by stating that “on a day when everyone else was singing about freedom and deliverance and unity, Dylan was outlining a class-based analysis of the persistence of racism- and the central weight of white-skin privilege within the American polity.” (Marqusee 10)
The song “Only A Pawn In Their Game” is consistent with the other significant influential songs that Dylan wrote in that it portrays a true story, and calls upon people to fix and change what has been done wrong in the situation. He first explains the reality that the Civil Rights movement experienced a significant loss with the killing of Medgar Evers.However, the structure of the song is similar to that of “The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll”. Dylan applies phrases in the song that sounds like it came from a newspaper article. Then, it addresses the problem attributed to racial injustice. “The lyrics tell how the Southern state’s law, like Mississippi, was corrupt and favored the wealthy white man. Dylan deliberately reveals that the Southern politicians, sheriffs, soldiers, cops, and governors are the ones who play the game.” (Shelton 273). With each composition, Dylan is further publically revealing the real-life racial injustices as well as implementing that these stories symbolize the desperate need for change in the racial ideologies of American society.
Hurricane
By 1975, Dylan had experienced many different musical transformations, but his role as a protest singer, and voice of the Civil Rights movement had all but diminished. Dylan’s popularity as a Civil Rights activist convinced Rubin “Hurricane” Carter to send Dylan his autobiography “and because of his prior commitment to the civil rights struggle.”(Sounes 286). Dylan had read Carter’s memoir “The Sixteenth Round” and connected with the story. “Bob, who was so, moved by the book that he visited Carter in prison. They liked each other and Bob offered to write a song about the case.” (Sounes 287). Carter was notorious for being a successful African American boxer and devout Muslim. But his downfall occurred after two African American males robbed a bar in New Jersey and killed three people in the process. “The first on the scene was Alfred Bello followed by resident Patricia Valentine. Valentine reported to the cops that the killers had fled in a white car, that night Rubin Carter and a friend where traveling in a white car. The rest of the story is told in the song.” (Sounes 286).
The song titled “Hurricane” illustrates Dylan using the technique that he had during the progression of the Civil Rights movement of the early 1960’s.The song reads like a news story, accounting every detail, including Carter’s wrongful imprisonment, and at the end of the song, calls for justice and for his release. “The song is an excellent piece of journalism, condensing a complex case into eight minutes” (Sounes 288).The song would ultimately become the most significant of all of his songs about the Civil Rights movement since it was majorly effective in its result. Dylan’s meeting with Carter in Jail persuaded him to publically advocate the release of Carter from Rahway State Prison. Dylan also held a benefit concert as a part of his “Rolling Thunder Revue Tour” and titled the show “The Night of the Hurricane” (Sounes 289), and also in which many prominent Civil Rights activists were in attendance. As a result of the public attention due to Dylan’s efforts, Carter was successfully granted another trial.

Overall, music on its own can be seen as being one of the most important sources of communication since it is widely acknowledged and celebrated in all different forms and genres. The significance of music, specifically Dylan’s music, has unquestionably impacted the Civil Rights movement, one of the most influential movements in American history. The movement implemented the idea that race should not be a factor in deciding the legal and moral rights of an American citizen. Throughout the movement, there have been countless speeches, demonstrations, and marches took place, but it was the music that came from the thoughts and ideology behind these speeches, demonstrations, and marchers was the most essential. Dylan himself has said that “Music is the only art form that describes the temper of the times; that’s where people hang out.It not in books; it’s not on the stage; it’s not in the galleries.” (Scott 36)

With an extensive audience from TV, Radios and live performances, Bob Dylan was able to heavily influence on the Civil Rights movement. This was in large part due to his ability to write songs, like “Blowin’ in the Wind”, that resonated with his peers who possessed the same ideology about the movement.“With and through his songs, Bob was articulating the thoughts of millions of young people.”(Sounes 112) .Dylan had taken the news on murder due to racial injustice as well injustice associated with African Americans to a popular form of music and to the white middle class man. Dylan’s songs and lyrics took the stories of the killings of Emmett Till, Hattie Carroll, and Medgar Evers and revealed them to the public as a way of artistic expression, and also as stories with the ability to profoundly alter the American people’s state of mind, which popular music did not deliver prior to Dylan. Even though it took more than ten years to officially release Carter, his story was able to bring stories behind the corrupt judicial system into the forefront.

The stories that were told in all of Dylan’s protest songs can never be lost. Most of the songs are performed in Dylan’s recent performances. The Civil Rights movement was successful in bringing equal rights to African Americans, and the music of Dylan was instrumental in keeping up with the effectiveness in working towards the goal of racial harmony on Civil Rights issues.


Bibliography



Hast,Cowdery,Scott,Exploring the World of Music,Kendall Hunt Pub Co, 1997.

Dylan, Bob. Chronicles: Volume One. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2004.

Morris, Aldon D. The Origins of The Civil Rights Movement: Black Communities Organizing
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Shelton, Robert. No Direction Home: The Life and Music of Bob Dylan.New York, NY: Da
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Film: "No Direction Home"Dir. Martin Scorcese 2005

Klein, Joe, Woody Guthrie: A Life, Knopf, 1980.

Heylin, Clinton: Bob Dylan: Behind the Shades revisited,New York,NY: HarperCollins, 2001


Gray, Michael. The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia. New York, NY: The Continuum International
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