Nina Simone

In class on Tuesday, we discussed Nine Simone and her music. The adversity she faced was conveyed throughout the documentary, “What happened, Miss Simone?”, we watched in class. At a young age, the talent Simone had for playing the piano was discovered. Simone had a dream of becoming the first African American concert pianist. Growing up people had told her that her lips and nose were too big and her skin was too dark. When she became old enough, she applied to her dream school, Curtis Institute of Music, and despite her talent and skills was denied due to discrimination. Due to what she experienced along with many others, during the 1960s when the Civil Rights Movement took place, Simone began using her music to send political messages.

Simone’s music conveyed the pain she as well as many other African Americans suffered. Through her song “Mississippi Goddamn”, she explained the upsetting murder of Medgar Evers in Mississippi and the Baptist Church Bombing in Alabama. Throughout the song she expressed the importance of speeding up the progress of the Civil Rights Movement. She explained that by continuing to work slowly more lives will be lost and more people would be the hurt. All she wanted in life was equality for all people.

The frustration Simone felt was evident in many of her songs. In her song “Four Women” she conveys the hardships of being an African American woman through the perspective of four women. “Aunt Sarah” is a resilient black woman who had been forced into slavery, “Saffronia” is a yellow, racially mixed, woman who is oppressed and a child of rape between a slave and her master, “Sweet Thing” is a woman who is used only for sex, and “Peach” is a strong, resentful woman due to the suffering generations have gone through due to slavery.

Simone also communicates her frustration with racism and discrimination through the song “Backlash Blues”. She explains that white people treat people of color as inferiors. They are given different schools and houses and are forced to pay high taxes while not being given the same jobs as whites. However, this song also suggests that Simone is hopeful. She has faith that one day things will be better and her race won’t have to suffer and others will.

For my song analysis this week I worked on Simone’s “Young, Gifted, and Black” song. She expressed that all young black children have the potential to be great. They now have more opportunities than those before them and they should take them, especially when it comes to education where Simone was denied that chance. Overall, it was a motivating song suggesting that young children should realize how special and talented they are and should be proud of their race.

I think that Nina Simone was a brave, resilient woman. She used her musical talent and platform to express her frustrations and desire to change the world she lived in. She also attempted to motivate and inspire others to take a chance and try to make the world a better place. In order for any change to be made it takes courageous, powerful people to stand up for what they think it right, and Nina Simone was one of those people.