Songs Inspired By The Civil Rights Movement

"Glory," "Respect" and more songs.

Happy MLK Day -  Today we celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s life and legacy, the civil rights icon who fought for equality and was assassinated on April 4, 1968, at only 36 years old. Music has always been a huge part of the civil rights movement; take a look at some of the artists and songs that inspired the fight for justice.(Photos from left: Paras Griffin/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures, William Lovelace/Daily Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images, Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images) 
The Impressions – 'People Get Ready' - Curtis Mayfield and the Impressions set the tone when they released "People Get Ready" in 1965. "People get ready there's a train coming/ You don't need no baggage, just get on board/ All you need is faith to hear the diesels humming/ You don't need no ticket, just thank the Lord," they sang.(Photo: GAB Archive/Redferns)
Aretha Franklin – 'Respect' - Aretha Franklin's "Respect" had women and Black people feeling proud of themselves when she she reworked Otis Redding's hit. The 1967 chorus still rings loud today, "R-E-S-P-E-C-T/ Find out what it means to me..."(Photo: Val Wilmer/Redferns/Getty Images)The Staples Singers – 'Why? (Am I Treated So Bad)' - The Staple Singers's music spoke a lot on the trying times of Black people during that era and in 1967 they released this song about the Montgomery bus boycotts and Jim Crow laws. Pops Staples supplied the heavy guitar riff and sang, "You know I'm all alone while I sing this song/ Hear my call/ I've done nobody wrong/ But I'm treated so bad."(Photo: Tom Copi/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)

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Happy MLK Day -  Today we celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s life and legacy, the civil rights icon who fought for equality and was assassinated on April 4, 1968, at only 36 years old. Music has always been a huge part of the civil rights movement; take a look at some of the artists and songs that inspired the fight for justice.(Photos from left: Paras Griffin/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures, William Lovelace/Daily Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images, Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images) 

Photo By Photos from left: Paras Griffin/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures

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