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Civil Rights Movement and Music

The document discusses the song 'Keep Your Eyes on the Prize,' rooted in the African American Spiritual 'Keep Your Hand on the Plow,' and highlights its significance during the Civil Rights Movement. It features Bob Moses, a key activist, and includes reflections from Bernice Johnson Reagon on the empowering role of music for activists. The text also provides historical context about the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and its contributions to the movement.

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John Muller
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4 views2 pages

Civil Rights Movement and Music

The document discusses the song 'Keep Your Eyes on the Prize,' rooted in the African American Spiritual 'Keep Your Hand on the Plow,' and highlights its significance during the Civil Rights Movement. It features Bob Moses, a key activist, and includes reflections from Bernice Johnson Reagon on the empowering role of music for activists. The text also provides historical context about the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and its contributions to the movement.

Uploaded by

John Muller
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Name ________________________ Date ___

Mr. Muller – APUSH Civil Rights & music

Station Activity 1 - “Keep Your Eyes on the Prize”

“Keep Your Eyes on the Prize” is based on the African American Spiritual, “Keep Your Hand on the Plow”
(also know as, “Gospel Plow” and “Hold On”). The origins of “Keep Your Hand on the Plow” dates to the
early 20th century.

The station recording features Civil Rights activist Bob Moses leading a group singing “Keep Your Eyes on
the Prize.” Bob Moses (1935-2021) was a member and leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating
Committee during the 1960s. Moses helped co-found the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party in 1964
with other prominent movement leaders, including Ella Baker and Fannie Lou Hamer.

Lyrics (abbreviated version)

Hold on, hold on, Hold on, hold on;

Keep your eyes on the prize, hold on

Samuel Block* was locked in jail

Had no money for to go his bail

Keep your eyes on the prize on the prize, hold on, hold on

Hold on, hold on, Hold on, hold on;

Keep your eyes on the prize, hold on Barnett**, Barnett don’t you know

Mississippi is the next to go

Keep your eyes on the prize on the prize, hold on, hold on

Hold on, hold on, Hold on, hold on;

Keep your eyes on the prize, hold on

*Sam Block was a prominent activist during the Civil Rights Movement. The lyrics were changed from the
original version.

** Ross Barnett was the governor of Mississippi from 1960-1964 and supported Jim Crow segregation.
The lyrics were changed from the original version.
Name ________________________ Date ___
Mr. Muller – APUSH Civil Rights & music

Bernice Johnson Reagon, then a member of the SNCC* Freedom Singers… describes the courage the
songs gave to the Freedom Riders jailed in Hinds County, Mississippi; the students participating in SNCC’s
voter education project in McComb, Mississippi; the marchers in Pine Bluff, Baton Rouge, Selma,
Birmingham: “They sang as they were dragged into the streets. They sang in the paddy wagons and in
the jails. And they sang when they returned to the Black community’s churches for strategy rallies.” One
of those rallies took place in Dawson, Georgia, where, Reagon remembered, “I sat in a church and felt
the chill that ran through a small gathering of Blacks when the sheriff and deputies walked in. They stood
at the door, making sure everyone knew they were there. Then a song began. And the song made sure
that the sheriff and the deputies knew we were there. We became visible, our image was enlarged,
when the sound of the freedom songs filled all the space in that church.” -Excerpt from Craig Werner, A
Change Is Gonna Come: Music, Race & the Soul of America

* The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) was one of the most important groups of the
Civil Rights Movement, leading sit-ins throughout the segregated South and helping organize the March
on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in August 1963 at which the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech.

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