Project Title: Protesting with Music: The Politics of 1960s Folk and Rock
BASIS Advisor: Matthew Goldman
Music has long played a tremendously important role in American culture. Is it fair to assume then, that if popular music is suffused with political messages, songs are an effective form of political expression for social change? The anti-Vietnam War protest songs of the 1960s encapsulate this question well. Musicians like Phil Ochs, Pete Seeger, and Joan Baez would craft songs denouncing American participation in the War and perform at anti-war demonstrations. Through a deep dive into secondary source literature and archival materials documenting these protests and the climactic decade in general, I hope to gage the political consequences of these songs and better understand music as an expressive medium. I believe I will find music to be a significant source of anti-war sentiment during the 1960s. If this is the case, has music remained an impetus for social activism?
My Posts
Conclusion
Jun 19, 2020
It’s hard to come to grips with the fact that I’m graduating. Of course, these aren’t the circumstances any of us thought we would be graduating in, but I couldn’t be happier that I had the chance to share my research with our school community – regardless of the fact that it was online. I […]
Week 10: The point of my presentation
Jun 19, 2020
In the days leading up to my presentation, I was feeling a combination of excitement and anxiety. These are common emotions to feel before significant moments in one’s life. This presentation culminates my academic career at Basis. It’s hard to believe these years are coming to an end. With this presentation, I hope to provide […]
Weeks 8 and 9: How Protest Music Helps You Understand Politics Better
Jun 13, 2020
I have been contemplating my project as a whole. I know that what I’m reading about actually happened, but it is always difficult to feel history. Another “function” of protest music is to allow people in the future to better understand the events described in the songs. I can read about the events of the […]
Week 7: The New Left
May 23, 2020
Hello everyone, welcome back! For this blog, I will be discussing the New Left. The New Left was an American political movement during the 1960s. In contrast to the Old Left, which focused more on issues of class struggle and labor, the New Left paid attention to social issues. These included racial inequality, environmentalism, feminism, […]
Week 6: The continuities between the 1950s and the 1960s
May 15, 2020
For this blog post, I will be sharing a portion of my essay draft. This week I have been reading about the 1950s and their connections with the 1960s: When I went into this project, I assumed that the protest spirit that so well encapsulates the sixties was born of the sixties, unique to the […]
Week 5: Realizing the limits of history and research
May 07, 2020
This project is really the first time I’m doing history on my own. As a result, I’ve realized the challenges historians face. Namely, the fact that some questions are too broad to fully answer. My question, “How did protest music affect Americans’ opinions of the Vietnam War,” is one of these. As I read about […]
Week 4: My Conversation with Pat Thomas
May 06, 2020
Week 4: My Conversation with Pat Thomas Hello again, apologies for the delay in posting. For the past week, I have been reading, reviewing my conversation with Pat Thomas, and doing more reading. I think it’s time to start writing my final essay. Dorian Lynskey’s 33 Revolutions Per Minute has figured prominently in the reading […]
Week 3: Planning for a conversation
Apr 24, 2020
Ms. Goldfarb was kind enough to put me in touch with a scholar of American protest music named Pat Thomas! We have been exchanging emails and will be talking this week. I am excited to hear what he has to say. I am planning to ask him about his opinion on the significance of protest […]
Week 2: Bob Dylan’s confusing and controversial role in protest music
Apr 17, 2020
Hello again! I have been making my way through Dorian Lynksey’s 33 Revolutions Per Minute. Bob Dylan figures prominently in the reading I’ve done over the past week, and my view of him has been completely shifted. I came into this project assuming that Dylan was a proud leader of American protest music, and one […]
Week 1
Apr 11, 2020
Because of the coronavirus, it is unlikely that I will be able to visit any archives in person. I still intend to complete the project as best as I can using the books I have and of course, the internet. The books I have at my disposal are 33 Revolutions Per Minute by Dorian Lynksey, […]
Introduction
Mar 13, 2020
Welcome to my senior project blog! My name is Sahm Schiller, and I am a high school senior at Basis Independent Brooklyn who is fiercely interested in music. Having played guitar for five and half years and being an avid music listener for even longer, I was always curious about the culture surrounding songs and […]