The Civil Rights Movement is one of the most moving and transformational chapters of Black history so it’s appropriate to highlight it during Black History Month. And it is hard to imagine the Civil Rights Movement without the songs people sang during the good and the bad, during the rallies, sit ins, marches, arrests and beatings. In the face of violence, the songs were not just tools of inspiration but tools of non-violent resistance. While there were too many songs too count, these stand out as among the best.

1. We Shall Overcome was a gospel song, which became a civil rights anthem during a strike in Charleston in 1946. One of the women walking the picket line outside of the American Tobacco Company, started singing the spiritual. Zilphia Horton, the co-founder of the Highlander Research and Education Center, learned the song and taught it to Pete Seeger, who taught it to other folk singers, including Guy Carawan who performed it and taught it at the founding meeting of the Civil Rights Organization SNCC ( Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.) The song then became an anthem not only for the Civil Rights movement in the United States, but for South Africa’s anti-apartheid movement, North Ireland’s independence movement, and many other independence movements in countries including India, Bengal, Czechoslovakia. Listen to Mahalia Jackson sing We Shall Overcome:

2. Oh Freedom is an anti-slavery spiritual that was sung by slaves. It is fitting that in 1963, this freedom song inaugurated the March On Washington for Jobs and Freedom, where 250,000 would rally for civil rights and labor rights, and where Martin Luther King would deliver his legendary I have a Dream speech. On the morning of August 28th, the protesters gathered at the Washington Monument, where Joan Baez sang Oh Freedom, immortalizing the song for generations to come.

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The TakePart Top 10 Weekly Roundup is a compilation of the week’s most notable stories from our entertainment-meets-social-action blogging network. Several topics really stood out this week, including the Oscars as social advocacy inspiration, civil rights and Black History Month, and lots of hot news on entertainment going Green. Check out our most popular posts of the week on these subjects, as well as a few TakePart blogger favorites.

Katie:

Happy Belated “Freedom to Marry” Week!

Rosa and Raymond Parks: Valiant Valentine #5

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Nicole:

Top 10 Oscar Picks to Inspire Social Action

Cornel West: Black Thoughts On Black History Month

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Giulia:

H&M’s “Fashion Against AIDS”

Ed Begley Jr. Goes Green

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Gina:

Top 10 Best Picture Winners That Inspire

Remixing “Chicago 10″

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Kerry:

How To Set the World On Fire Without Burning Out

Eco-Brokers Cater to Green Homebuyers

As Black History Month 2008 draws to a close, celebrate with Cornel West’s Never Forget 101 course created “to unsettle, unnerve, and un-house you, as we wrestle with the history of the modern world by highlighting the doing and the suffering of people of African descent.” Think.MTV features Cornel West as their Artist of the Week, and has created a series of short clips with West taking questions from a diverse representation of voices including black musical artists in a virtual lecture hall, as well as children in an actual classroom setting.

West’s signature raw, lyrical lecture style is a delight to listen to as he tackles questions by artists including George Clinton and Lupe Fiasco about wealth discrepancy, gang violence, the role of hip hop in contemporary society, and the search for unity in America.

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Not sure how to celebrate Black History Month? Consider seeing A Rose Among Thorns, Ella Joyce’s once-woman show paying tribute to Rosa Parks in an effort to keep her oral history alive, celebrate her brave and exemplary character, and honor the civil rights movement by inspiring action and social change in both young and old alike. The show is touring various cities throughout the country, including Joyce’s hometown in Detroit and at the Rosa Parks Museum in Alabama. and find out when the production will be coming to your area.