One of the topics that is discussed in APP Chapter 4 is the role of music in labor struggles. For this writing prompt, I’d like you to discuss the role music played in the labor struggles in Appalachia in this time period. In what ways do we see music play a significant role in later struggles in the U.S.? Why do you think music plays such an important role in this kind of work?
Music is not an uncommon from of expression and that is why it plays such an important role in this kind of work. Music is by no means a practice exclusive to the people of Appalachia’s labor wars and proof of that is its recurrence in almost every civilization since the beginning of time. Almost every culture including Prehistoric humans have had some form of musical capacity. For instance, carved bone flutes are one of the artifacts we discussed in ERH-215 The History of Art. Music has always been used to facilitate communal interactions, especially in the case of such events as rituals and ceremonies where the simple beat of a drum might have reinforced the trance-like or simply calming nature of the occasion. Drums in fact probably imitate the repletion of a noise or one word over and over as is done in mantras or similar hymnal practices characteristic of so many cultures including Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Zoroastrianism, Taoism, and Christianity.
As it applies to Appalachia, it is not surprising that labor unions and the community in general rallied behind protest songs. Bilings from Back Talk From Appalachia himself attributed the not uncommon association with folk music characteristic of Appalachia as being associated to liberal ideology and progressive movements because of its recurrent use in the labor wars and other equal rights movements to include civil rights.