Publisher's Synopsis
More often than not names like Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr drown out the real stories of the African American fight for freedom during the mid twentieth century. However, by resurrecting and researching the unknown stories and truths of this history it has revealed surprisingly interesting tales that not only speak about the past, but speak to the present and the future.
This book highlights how the emergence of a black popular music form - rhythm & blues and soul - was substantially influential to the black freedom struggle of the mid-twentieth century.
From Detroit's 'Motown' label, producing artists such as the Supremes, that eroded racial barriers and became the most successful black business ever to exist. To Memphis' 'Stax' label, that proved that integration could not only work but thrive and that southern race relations were evolving.
Both labels played unique and interesting roles in the Black fight for freedom and are the epitome of how black music and its cultural politics is the perfect representation of the community spirit, collective identity, and the dreams of the ordinary that permitted the achievements of the African American civil rights movement.
