The lynching era was a period of time following the end of reconstruction and preceding the height of the civil rights movement in which a large number of blacks were brutally murdered by white mobs for minor, race-based offenses. Most of these crimes took place in the South and were committed by whites against blacks; however, there were a small number of white victims during the fifty years that constituted the lynching era. The victims could be children or adults, and they could be men or women. During the fifty year window when lynching was at its peak, nearly 3000 deaths from lynching occurred, meaning that nearly every week one man, woman, or child in the south was hanged, or otherwise killed outside of due process of law.
Before the 20th century, most protest songs had been inspired by the problems of slavery. These songs were usually derived from religious hymns, but as time went on and the slave population became more dissatisfied with their position, the songs became more political in nature. By the time the issue of slavery reached its climax during the Civil War, protest songs had expanded to cover topics beyond abolition, such as the women’s suffrage movement. One singer that was prominent in the writing of protest songs was Julia Ward Howe, writer of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” and “Suffrage Song”. In the early twentieth century, during the era of lynching, many black artists, and white writers prominent in the civil rights movement, adapted poetry to deliver their message. Perhaps the most famous example is “Strange Fruit”, which is widely considered to be the first modern protest song. This song had a major influence over songwriting during the civil rights movement, and was one of the first songs to widely deliver a specific message. Thanks also to the growing prominence of radio, Billie Holiday’s popularity allowed her to reach a broad audience. Since then, protest music has continued to evolve. During the Vietnam War, music was a popular medium for declaring a stance against the war, and many songwriters, such as Neil Young, achieved great popularity in this time period, and continued to experience success from the meaning behind their music and the causes that they promoted. Even today, bands like Rage Against the Machine have a wide fan base, and their music is famous for its anti-establishent nature.
