In the last few decades the people of the African diaspora have intensified their struggles against racial discrimination and for equality. This account of these social movements include action in Latin America, the Indian Ocean World, Europe, Canada and the United States.

For people of African descent, music constitutes a unique domain of expression. From traditional West African drumming to South African kwaito, from spirituals to hip-hop, Black life and history has been dynamically displayed and contested through sound. Shana Redmond excavates the sonic histories of these communities through a genre emblematic of Black solidarity and citizenship: anthems. An interdisciplinary cultural history, Anthem reveals how this “sound franchise” contributed to the growth and mobilization of the modern, Black citizen. Providing new political frames and aesthetic articulations for protest organizations and activist-musicians, Redmond reveals the anthem as a crucial musical form following World War I. Beginning with the premise that an analysis of the composition, performance, and uses of Black anthems allows for a more complex reading of racial and political formations within the twentieth century, Redmond expands our understanding of how and why diaspora was a formative conceptual and political framework of modern Black identity. By tracing key compositions and performances around the world—from James Weldon Johnson's “Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing” that mobilized the NAACP to Nina Simone's “To Be Young, Gifted & Black” which became the Black National Anthem of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)—Anthem develops a robust recording of Black social movements in the twentieth century that will forever alter the way you hear race and nation. Shana L. Redmond is Assistant Professor of American Studies and Ethnicity at the University of Southern California. She is a former musician and labor organizer.

"For people of African descent, music constitutes a unique domain of expression. From traditional West African drumming to South African kwaito, from spirituals to hip-hop, Black life and history has been dynamically displayed and contested through sound. Shana Redmond excavates the sonic histories of these communities through a genre emblematic of Black solidarity and citizenship: anthems. An interdisciplinary cultural history, Anthem reveals how this "sound franchise" contributed to the growth and mobilization of the modern, Black citizen. Providing new political frames and aesthetic articulations for protest organizations and activist-musicians, Redmond reveals the anthem as a crucial musical form following World War I. Beginning with the premise that an analysis of the composition, performance, and uses of Black anthems allows for a more complex reading of racial and political formations within the twentieth century, Redmond expands our understanding of how and why diaspora was a formative conceptual and political framework of modern Black identity. By tracing key compositions and performances around the world--from James Weldon Johnson's "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing" that mobilized the NAACP to Nina Simone's "To Be Young, Gifted & Black" which became the Black National Anthem of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)--Anthem develops a robust recording of Black social movements in the twentieth century that will forever alter the way you hear race and nation. Shana L. Redmond is Assistant Professor of American Studies and Ethnicity at the University of Southern California. She is a former musician and labor organizer"--

The rise of the masses

The world is currently witnessing the emergence of a new context for education, labor, and transformative social movements. Global flows of people, capital, and energy increasingly define the world we live in. The multinational corporation, with its pursuit of ever-cheaper sources of labor and materials and its disregard for human life, is the dominant form of economic organization, where capital can cross borders, but people can’t. Affirmative action, democracy, and human rights are moving in from the margins to challenge capitalist priorities of “efficiency”, i.e. exploitation. In some places, the representatives of popular movements are actually taking the reins of state power. Across the globe new progressive movements are emerging to bridge national identities and boundaries, in solidarity with transnational class, gender, and ethnic struggles. At this juncture, educators have a key role to play. The ideology of market competition has become more entrenched in schools, even as opportunities for skilled employment diminish. We must rethink the relationship between schooling and labor, developing transnational pedagogies that draw upon the myriad social struggles shaping students’ lives and communities. Critical educators need to connect with other social movements to put a radically democratic agenda, based on the principles of equity, access, and emancipation, at the center of educational praxis. Many countries in Latin America like in other continents are developing new alternatives for the reconstruction of social projects; these emerging sources of hope are the central focus of this book. Major historical change always starts with people’s social movement. Democracy can be one of the best political and social systems in the world but for it to work entails the sustainable participation of citizens. Above all, it requires that people be informed and critically educated since the quality of democracy depends on quality of education. There are 2 kinds of power: money and people. If people exercise their agency, they can be more powerful than money. There are some organizing principles of social movements, as: “don’t do for others what they should do for themselves.” Saul Alinsky wrote: Rules for Radicals: A pragmatic primer for realistic radicals; Mary Rogers: Cold Anger: A story of faith and power politics; Michael Gecan: Going Public: An organizer’s guide to citizen action; and Ernesto Cortez’s, Industrial Area Foundation, are all great sources for organized activism that do work. I put some of these principles to the test and they produced positive results, I was a founder and president of a union at my university and I lived my whole life as an activist and learned that, we can do more together than alone. Now we also have a new digital war with the Cambridge Analitica and Breitbart’s fake news manipulation; however, we also have social-justice hacktivism to counter act it, as well as other democratic social media venues that critical thinkers and activist use. The chapters in this book demonstrate the importance of widening and diversifying social movements, at the same time, emphasizes the need to build cohesive alliances among all the different fronts. What some people think is “impossible” can become a transformed reality, for those who dare attempt changing the world as global citizens.

This four-volume set examines every social movement in American history - from the great struggles for abolition, civil rights, and women's equality to the more specific quests for prohibition, consumer safety, unemployment insurance, and global justice.