News Release

From Cotton Fields to Lunch Counters: Protest Music Through History

Date: July 21, 2006

Date: July 21, 2006

Using music and visual preswntations, Park Guide Amy Genke presented a program to local library patrons about the use of protest music through history. She started the program with music used as a "Field Call" and "Complaint Call" commonly heard in the cotton fields of the south. "Follow the Drinking Gourd," a tune telling slaves how to find the Underground Railroad, was played. The audience was able to interpret the hidden meaning in the words, such as the 'drinking gourd' referring to the Big Dipper constellation in the sky. Genke fnished the program with protest music during the Civil Rights Movement, including "I'm On My Way" and Blowin' In the Wind."