June is Black Music Month, and on June 19, or Juneteenth, we recognize the liberation of enslaved people in America. But complete liberation goes far beyond the shackles of slavery.
Liberation is a practice of self-actualization or becoming the fullest version of who you are meant to be. And let’s not forget joy.
For generations, Black music has reflected the journey toward freedom. With every movement, there has been music that exemplified what the people were feeling and what they were fighting for.
Enslaved people wove escape routes into songs sung in the fields. Harriet Tubman told her biographer she used spirituals to announce her presence to people who wanted her help to escape to freedom, according to the Library of Congress.
Later, as the pursuit of equality continued in new ways, so did the songs of protest and perseverance.
In “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” now known as the Black National Anthem, James Weldon Johnson instructed the people to sing, “Till earth and heaven ring/Ring with the harmonies of Liberty.”
Because true freedom was always the goal.
When slavery’s shackles were loosed, then came the journey toward freedom from oppressive policies and systems that continually disenfranchised Black Americans. And with that, came the music that voiced the movements.
As the Civil Rights Movement carried on, Sam Cooke hauntingly, yet optimistically crooned, “It’s been a long/A long time coming, but I know/A change gon’ come.” This song, aptly titled, “A Change is Gonna Come,” was released in 1964, the same year as the passing of the Civil Rights Act.
“It was the most sweeping civil rights legislation since Reconstruction,” according to the National Archives, noting that the act prohibited discrimination in public places, schools and employment. It also happens to be legislation that is currently at risk based on some of the White House’s recent executive orders.
Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On?” pleaded for an end to war and violence. Gaye sang, “Picket lines and picket signs/Don’t punish me with brutality.”
In the pursuit of freedom from oppressive ideologies and racial stereotypes, Black music played its part by declaring new identities. James Brown’s “Say it Loud, I’m Black and I’m Proud” from the late 1960s came alongside an era of pride in oneself. More recently, Kendrick Lamar’s “DNA,” released in 2017, had audiences shouting, “I got loyalty, got royalty inside my DNA.” Lamar’s “DNA” proudly announces the qualities he possesses, such as realness, ambition, both war and peace, power, excellence and a predisposition toward winning.
Black music reflects both struggle and triumph, defiance and resolve, pain and joy. The songs of joy are as much about liberation as the songs of struggle.
Lately, I have been attending line dancing classes. The class is largely made up of Black women of varying ages. During one class, as the group was dancing along to the popular song, “Boots on the Ground” by 803Fresh, the music stopped. For a few moments, people kept dancing.
The sound of their stomping feet and clacking fans reminded me of soldiers marching. Marches have long been a method of protest in the Black community, from the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s to the Black Lives Matter Movement of the 2020s. But following the results of the 2024 election, many Black people chose to sit out of the protests against the current administration.
When America chose not to elect a woman of color as president, many Black women, who have historically been front and center in the fight for equality, took this choice as personal, not just ideological. At that point there was a growing sentiment among Black women that it was time to step back and care for themselves, to lay down the burden of fighting for everyone else’s rights, while their own were ignored.
Then came a wave of new songs and their accompanying line dances — an opportunity to come together in joy and celebration as a community.
On this evening of line dancing, the sounds of feet pounding on the ground sounded like soldiers. It reminded me that people are ready to get back to the pursuit of liberty and justice when the time comes. Like history has proven, it’s in the DNA.
But for now, these boots were made for freedom that looks like joy-filled nights of laughing, high-fiving, snapping, stepping and dancing.
Contact Editor-in-Chief Camike Jones at camikej@indyrecorder.com.
Camike Jones is the Editor-in-Chief of the Indianapolis Recorder. Born and raised in Indianapolis, Jones has a lifelong commitment to advocacy and telling stories that represent the community.
