Pop Culture

Pop culture incredibly influenced the Civil Rights movement. Many African Americans needed a way to let out how they felt about being treated unfairly. This caused many of them to put their feelings into the arts. They would right songs, poems, and books about what was going around them. This also influenced the African Americans to create visual representations of their feelings and the events that were occurring. 

Listen to Sam Cooke's song "A Change Gonna Happen"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-X9JkM9Bgo 

The African Americans would also take part in movies. It wasn't very common to have a black filmmaker or a black actor but they made it common. Many movies were made that went against the typical black stereotype. These movies drew large audiences, mostly filled with African Americans. 

A big event that took place during the Civil Rights movement, influenced by pop culture, was the desegregation of African Americans and white people in professional sports. The most known person for this is Jackie Robinson. He was on the baseball Negro League, a team known as the Kansas City Monarchs. In 1946, he broke the division between the two different leagues and was signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers. A year later, Larry Doby was signed by the Cleveland Indians. Both of these men ended the Negro Leagues and Major League Baseball became desegregated. How would you have felt if you were on an all white team and an African American joined? How do you think you would've felt if you were in Jackie's or Larry's shoes?

Watch Jackie Robinson steal home!! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XY-XshGhMU