Civil Rights, Equality and the Music of Nina Simone Essay -- Autobiogr

Nina Simone used music to challenge, provoke, incite, and inform the masses during the period that we know as the Civil Rights Era. In the songs Four Women, Young expert and Black, and multiple sclerosis God Damn, Nina Simone musically maps a personal intersectionality as it relates to being a black American female artist. Kimberly Crenshaw defines intersectionality as an unfitness for black women to separate race, class and gender. Nina Simones music directly addresses this paradigm. While she is celebrated as a prolific artist her governmental and social activism is downplay despite her front- line presence in the movement. According to Ruth Feldstein Nina Simone recast black activism in the 1960s. Feldstein goes on to say that Simone was known to have supported the deal for black freedom in the United States much earlier, and in a more outspoken manner around the world than had many other African American entertainers. Her family ties to the south, her unique talent, her ability to travel and make money are similar to the Blues women movement that preceded her. It can be said that Nina Simone goes a meter further the by directly attacking inequities pertaining to race and gender in her music. However, what distinguishes her is her unique musicianship and that is what ultimately garners her massive exposure and experiences than those of her past contemporaries. Like the Blues women Simone expands ideas pertaining to self-expression, personal identity and beauty as they relate to black women. She does this by embracing what is definitively African American and connecting that to a historical context. By doing so she is the embodiment of a political statement. Her journey which began like many entertaine... ...utobiography Of Nina Simone, Da Capo Press 2003.Additional Sources ConsultedBrooks, Daphne A. . Nina Simones Triple Play. Callaloo. 35.4 (2011) 176-194. Web. 11 Feb. 2013. .Lewis, Andrea. Nina Simone remains a powerful inspira tion for black women. Progressive. (2003) n. page. Web. 11 Feb. 2013. .Simone, Nina, perf. Mississippi Goddam. 1964. Song.https//www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVQjGGJVSXcSimone, Nina, perf. To Be Young, Gifted and Black. 1970. Song.https//www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3OIfuVpocUSimone, Nina, perf. Four Women, 1966. Song.https//www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nf9Bj1CXPH8Tsuruta, Dorothy Randall. I Aint About To Be Non-Violent, Honey.. Black Scholar 29.2/3 (1999) 54. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 11 Feb. 2013.