Chimes of Freedom: Protest, Patriotism & the Power of Song

The soundtrack for freedom began with the Indigenous people of this land, and the revolutionary spirit in Boston 250 years ago gave root to a new movement for equality. While the message and mission have adapted for each era, the tradition of using music to empower and unite people behind a common cause has been an integral part of American history–from the spirituals sung by the enslaved and the patriotic tunes of the American Revolution, to the powerful anthems that energized the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and the current musical calls for racial, social, and economic justice. Songs have carried peoples’ aspirations and struggles in the form of spirituals, folk ballads, rock and hip-hop anthems, even symphonies and operas, all of them serving as rallying cries for change and a better life.

Protest songs have been sung in churches, fields, and factories, on college campuses, and in union halls.  They’ve resonated in the streets of our biggest cities and smallest towns.  They’ve been written by common folk and famous composers.  They’ve taken on Jim Crow, nuclear proliferation, pollution, and unpopular wars. The very best of these songs have become part of the national soundtrack.

Chimes of Freedom: Protest, Patriotism, & the Power of Song explores how artists have made words and music into potent agents of patriotic dissent.  Their songs serve to remind us that the power of song is irrepressible and undeniable, and that the struggle to maintain the promise of America and her grand democratic experiment continues today.

Photos by Western Doughty Photography