The Beatles Who Fought Against Racism in America

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• a die-hard Beatles fanWada Shinji
  From Osaka Prefecture. I’ve been a Beatles fan for decades. I’ve tried many hobbies, but this is the only one that has stayed with me. As a storyteller of the Beatles, I want to pass on their greatness to future generations. A blog that explains the Beatles in a way anyone can understand.

The history of racial discrimination in the United States

In the 19th century, cotton cultivation flourished in the American South. Large numbers of African Americans were bought and enslaved, made to develop vast plains into farmland, and used as agricultural laborers to sustain the economy.

Because African Americans were not recognized as human beings but merely as a labor force, it led to heightened discrimination against them.

That harmful tradition gradually eased, but even after 150 years, it still remained deeply entrenched.

In public places, the territories of white people and African Americans were clearly delineated, and facilities such as public transportation and restrooms were completely segregated.

Civil Rights Movement

From the 1950s to the 1960s, African American residents, led by figures such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., became increasingly active in the civil rights movement.

On July 2, 1964, the Civil Rights Act was enacted, bringing an end to the longstanding legal racial discrimination in the United States.

However, although the law was enacted, there was little progress in improving citizens' daily lives.

A harmful tradition that had lasted 150 years did not get overturned so easily.

In particular, the American Deep South was the region where racism was most intense.

The Beatles, who openly opposed racism

And 1964, when the Beatles first visited America, was precisely the year the Civil Rights Act had just been enacted.

During their full-fledged American tour at the end of the summer of 1964, the Beatles visited the Deep South, where the members witnessed the realities of racial discrimination for the first time.

The four were deeply shocked and took a resolute stand against racism.

The first venue was the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Florida, on September 11, 1964.

At the press conference held prior to the concert, they made it clear that they opposed the organizer’s plan to segregate the audience into white and nonwhite sections, declaring, “Racism is absurd. If you don’t stop segregating the audience, we won’t perform the concert.”

Brian looked down, troubled.

I had always told them not to talk about politics or religion.

That said, the performance contract explicitly stated, “We will not perform in front of an audience whose seating is segregated.”

The Beatles fought for their lives.

However, the Beatles did not stop at merely criticizing with words; they went so far as to declare that they would not perform concerts.

President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, in the South, on November 22, 1963.

And it hadn’t even been a year yet.

Three activists who had been working to abolish racial discrimination in the United States were found dead.

It was clearly an act committed by a racist.

The Beatles’ action was a truly dangerous gamble.

Many Americans owned guns.

If they had wanted to, it would have been easy to shoot them during the concert.

Unlike now, things like artists' security were completely ignored.

They were standing on stage completely defenseless.

Just imagining now how dangerous that act was sends shivers down my spine.

Even so, they mustered their courage and showed it through their actions.

As a result, the organizers finally gave in and stopped segregating the audience seating.

The Beatles Who Changed American History

Kitty Oliver, a historian who was a 15-year-old girl at the time, says she couldn’t believe the concert venue wasn’t segregated and that people could sit in their seats regardless of race.

Skin color doesn't matter.

It was the first time I truly felt that we were human too.

Ringo Starr also reminisced about that time, saying this.

We’re going to perform in front of everyone.

It’s not for those people or for those people. It’s for everyone to hear.

It was a historic moment in which the Beatles made a major contribution to the abolition of racial discrimination in America.

From then on, at their concert venues held in the South, the audience seating was no longer segregated by race.

Paul McCartney's activities

In 1968, Paul created a song called “Blackbird.”

The blackbird is a type of thrush called the common blackbird, widely found in Europe and elsewhere, but in this song it symbolizes African American women.

Paul says this about the lyrics.

The theme I chose for this song is not birds, but African American women.

At that time, the civil rights movement was in full swing in the United States, so many people, myself included, were very interested in it.

I wrote this song to support African American women, based on my experiences with racial discrimination in the United States.

I encouraged them to keep making efforts, to hold fast to their convictions, and to have courage because there is hope.

I often use symbolism in my lyrics, and by expressing it symbolically as a “blackbird” rather than stating it directly as “an African American woman living in Little Rock,” I was able to address the sensitive issue of racism.

“Little Rock” refers to the 1957 incident at Little Rock Central High School, where white residents surrounded the school to block African American high school students from attending, leading to a major crisis that required the deployment of the National Guard and federal troops.

Even so, mustering their courage, nine African American high school students went to school.

During his solo 'Driving USA' tour, he confided to fans that the word 'bird' is British slang meaning 'girl,' and that the song was actually about an African-American woman.

This song saved many people.

Paul talks a bit more in detail about the lyrical meaning of this song.

When I was playing guitar in Scotland, I was inspired by African Americans in the U.S. South fighting against racism, which led me to use the lyric 'you were only waiting for this moment to arise' and the blackbird as a symbol.

In the lyrics it explicitly sings about a bird with wounded wings, but in reality it’s saying something more symbolic.

This is one of my themes: turning sad songs into good songs.

This song will help you.

"Empowerment" is a good word to express that.

Over the years, I have received many wonderful letters from people saying, 'Thanks to this song, I was able to get through a really tough time.'

What makes me truly glad that I’m a musician and that I was in the Beatles is receiving those letters and realizing that I really helped people.

It’s all like magic and a mystery, but I’m truly proud that I poured half of the ideas for saving them into the lyrics and came to realize that it actually helped people.

Poems that influenced Paul

The lyrics of “Blackbird” were inspired by Khalil Gibran’s 1912 poem “Broken Wings.”

This poem addresses many issues, such as women's rights and religious corruption, and since the poem’s title is used in the lyrics, it is highly likely that Paul was influenced by it.

Although this song is credited to “Lennon/McCartney,” it is generally believed that Paul created the entire piece himself.

However, in a 1980 Playboy interview, John replied, “I gave Paul one important line. But most of it was Paul’s. He’s good at this kind of guitar song. John Denver (the American country & western singer) is, too.”

John did not make it clear what the “important line” was.

Comparing Paul to John Denver was probably his own way of complimenting Paul.

Paul has included this song in the setlist on every tour in recent years.

On May 1, 2016, two women who had been students at Little Rock Central High School and Paul met for the first time in 59 years since the incident.

This series of facts was truly a historic event in which music changed society.