MAY 11 “THIS WEEK IN THE MUSIC OF NONVIOLENT RESISTANCE”

This week in 1959 (May 12), legendary jazz composer and musician Charles Mingus recorded the studio album “Mingus Ah Um” for Columbia Records. The album became heralded as one of Mingus’ greatest and was designated by the Library of Congress as a record of note.

Mingus is less known for his political activism, but during the civil rights movement he was influential through his music.

In response to the 1957 Little Rock Nine confrontation, Mingus composed the jazz song, the “Fablues of Faubus” (in reference to segregationist Governor Orval Faubus), which had as its lyrics:

“Oh, Lord, don’t let ’em shoot us!

Oh, Lord, don’t let ’em stab us!

Oh, Lord, don’t let ’em tar and feather us!

Oh, Lord, no more swastikas!

Oh, Lord, no more Ku Klux Klan!”

The lyrics resonate today after recent events in Ferguson, Missouri.

To learn more about how other black musicians used jazz as a form of nonviolent protest, see this article.