The Art of Protest: Culture and Activism from the Civil Rights Movement to the Streets of Seattle

388 Pages·2005·3.26 MB·English

by  T.V. Reed

The Art of Protest
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The Art of Protest
Culture and Activism from the Civil Rights
Movement to the Streets of Seattle
T.V.Reed
University ofMinnesota Press
Minneapolis • London
The companion Web site to The Art ofProtestincludes audio and visual materials,
bibliographies,discographies,filmographies,and links to historical and current
social movements,as well as a supplementary chapter,“Peace Symbols:Posters in
Movements against the Wars in Vietnam and Iraq.”Visit the book’s Web site at
http://www.upress.umn.edu/artofprotest.
Lines from “A Poem about My Rights,”by June Jordan,are from Naming Our
Destiny: New and Selected Poems(New York:Thunder’s Mouth Press,1989).
Copyright 1989 by June Jordan.Reprinted by permission ofthe publisher
Thunder’s Mouth Press,a division ofAvalon Publishing Group.
Lines from “Trying to Talk with a Man,”by Adrienne Rich,are from The Fact ofa
Doorframe: Selected Poems,1950–2001(New York:W.W.Norton & Company,Inc.,
1973).Copyright 2002 by Adrienne Rich,copyright 1973 by W.W.Norton &
Company,Inc.Reprinted by permission ofthe author and W.W.Norton &
Company,Inc.
An earlier version ofchapter 5 appeared in Wicazo Sa Review16,no.2 (2001):
75–96.An earlier version ofchapter 6 appeared in Cercles3 (2001).Portions of
chapter 8 appeared as “Toward an Environmental Justice Ecocriticism,”in Joni
Adamson,Mei Mei Evans,and Rachel Stein,eds.,The Environmental Justice Reader
(Tucson:University ofArizona Press,2003).
Copyright 2005 by the Regents ofthe University ofMinnesota
All rights reserved.No part ofthis publication may be reproduced,stored in
a retrieval system,or transmitted,in any form or by any means,electronic,
mechanical,photocopying,recording,or otherwise,without the prior written
permission ofthe publisher.
Published by the University ofMinnesota Press
111 Third Avenue South,Suite 290
Minneapolis,MN 55401-2520
http://www.upress.umn.edu
Library ofCongress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Reed,T.V.(Thomas Vernon)
The art ofprotest :culture and activism from the civil rights movement to
the streets ofSeattle / T.V.Reed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN0-8166-3770-9 (hc :alk.paper) — ISBN0-8166-3771-7 (pb :alk.paper)
1. Radicalism—United States. 2. Protest movements—United States.
3. Social movements in art. 4. Social movements in literature. 5. Radicalism
in art. 6. Radicalism in literature. 7. Radicalism—Songs and music—History
and criticism. I. Title.
HN90.R3R395 2005
303.48'4—dc22 2005011442
Printed in the United States ofAmerica on acid-free paper
The University ofMinnesota is an equal-opportunity educator and employer.
12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
This book is dedicated to Ella Baker,Bernice Johnson Reagon,
and the millions ofpolitical-cultural workers,past,present,and
future,who march alongside them toward freedom and justice.
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Beauty walks a razor’s edge
—Bob Dylan
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Contents
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction xiii
ONE
Singing Civil Rights:The Freedom Song Tradition 1
TWO
Scenarios for Revolution:The Drama ofthe Black Panthers 40
THREE
The Poetical Is the Political:
Feminist Poetry and the Poetics ofWomen’s Rights 75
FOUR
Revolutionary Walls:Chicano/a Murals,Chicano/a Movements 103
FIVE
Old Cowboys,New Indians:
Hollywood Frames the American Indian Movement 129
SIX
“We Are [Not] the World”:
Famine,Apartheid,and the Politics ofRock Music 156
SEVEN
ACTing UPagainst AIDS:
The (Very)Graphic Arts in a Moment ofCrisis 179
EIGHT
Environmental Justice Ecocriticism:
Race,Class,Gender,and Literary Ecologies 218
NINE
Will the Revolution Be Cybercast?
New Media,the Battle ofSeattle,and Global Justice 240