Five Songs With Powerful Lessons on Black History
Billie Holiday in 1947 (photo: Michael Ochs Archives)
Music is typically viewed as a form of entertainment that moves listeners to dance, sing, or just feel good, but sometimes it empowers. In celebration of Black History Month, Yahoo Music spotlights five songs that not only sound great but also share compelling stories: About Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the horrors of lynching in the South, police brutality, and more.
1. Billie Holiday “Strange Fruit” (1939)
Billie Holiday’s “Strange Fruit” is a bold protest to the lynching of blacks in America and was originally written as the poem “Bitter Fruit” by teacher Abel Meeropol. The lyrics are graphic: “Southern trees bear a strange fruit / Blood on the leaves and blood at the root / Black bodies swingin’ in the Southern breeze,” and continue, describing crows eating the decomposing flesh. Even though Holiday had a recording deal with Columbia Records, the company thought the song was too controversial for its label, and gave Holiday a one-session release from her contract to record the song for Commodore.
2. Marvin Gaye “What’s Going On” (1971)
It would be tough to find a protest song more compassionate and empathetic than Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On.” The title track of the late Motown singer’s 1971 album was written by Al Cleveland, Reynaldo Benson, and Gaye.
The song was initially inspired by an incidence of police brutality witnessed by Benson, a member of the Four Tops. But his bandmates passed on it, leading him to offer the song to Gaye. Gaye personalized it; changing the melody and adding lyrics about the Vietnam War, as his brother Frankie had served for three years.
The relatable, heart-wrenching lyrics helped the song reach No. 2 on the pop charts. Gaye sang, “You see, war is not the answer / For only love can conquer hate,” and “Don’t punish me with brutality / Talk to me, so you can see / What’s going on.”
3. Stevie Wonder “Happy Birthday” (1981)
Stevie Wonder wrote “Happy Birthday” to rally support to establish a national holiday in remembrance of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Efforts to get legislation passed had been in the works since 1968, the year King was assassinated; however, it initially did not generate enough votes in the House of Representatives. The song from Wonder’s album Hotter Than July helped bring awareness to the cause and includes the lyrics, “I just never understood / How a man who died for good / Could not have a day that would / Be set aside for his recognition.” Wonder joined King’s widow Coretta during her second petition to Congress. Their plea, along with six million signatures of support, helped get the bill passed. President Ronald Reagan signed the bill for the holiday in November 1983 and the first official celebration took place in January 1986.
4. Public Enemy “By the Time I Get to Arizona” (1991)
Stevie Wonder’s “Happy Birthday” song in support recognizing Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday as a national holiday is tame in comparison to Public Enemy’s song and video for “By the Time I Get to Arizona.” The hip-hop group’s track from its 1991 album, Apocalypse 91…The Enemy Strikes Back, was written in response to Arizona’s opposition to honor the holiday. In 1990, 76 percent of voters rejected the day, and in 1987, then-governor Evan Mecham rescinded acknowledging the celebration.
Frontman Chuck D raps, “I’m on the one mission to get a politician to honor / Or he’s a goner by the time I get to Arizona.” The video, which details a plot to kill Mecham, juxtaposes a reenactment of King’s assassination with racist acts of the 1960s. The video wraps with Mecham dying after Chuck D detonates a bomb that had been placed under Mecham’s car.
In a 2010 interview with Spin, Chuck D said he knew the video would be controversial. “The question is: What am I making the song for?” he said. “Am I making a song for high school kids? [laughs] So I can be popular? When it came to Public Enemy, those weren’t our reasons for writing and doing songs.”
5. KRS-One “You Must Learn” (1989)
The lyrics of Boogie Down Production’s “You Must Learn” from their album Ghetto Music: The Blueprint of Hip Hop read like a syllabus for a black history course. KRS-One gives a nearly six-minute overview of lessons he feels should be taught in school – history of black inventors, origins of white supremacy, and Egypt’s correlation to modern times.
The lyrics are steeped in history: “Alkebulan is the original name of Africa, now stripped of its fame / It’s good to know that in ancient times / Egyptians developed all sciences of the mind.”
The video opens with KRS-One lecturing a classroom of high school students about black history lessons from the Bible before the school’s administration fires him for not sticking with the approved curriculum.
