Term of Award

Summer 2024

Degree Name

Master of Arts in History (M.A.)

Document Type and Release Option

Thesis (open access)

Copyright Statement / License for Reuse

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Department

Department of History

Committee Chair

Alan Downs

Committee Member 1

James Todesca

Committee Member 2

Matthew Hill

Abstract

Music has always been a conduit in which its artists are able to voice their views, influences, desires, and heartbreaks to a wide audience. Southern Rock is no different. The emergence and popularity of the genre in the 1970s is not a coincidence, but rather a reflection of the South during this time. The South as a whole was changing due to the passage of the Civil Rights Act, ending Jim Crow Laws and denouncing racial oppression throughout the nation. For the South, This meant drastic changes to their society and the slow recognition of the racially oppressive ideals that were rooted in both southern culture and politics. Many southerners felt lost during the 1970s, trying to find a balance between being proud of their southern heritage while also coming to terms with the negative aspects of that same heritage. The music of Southern Rock is a reflection of this, at most showing a desire to balance southern pride and socially progressive views, and at minimum giving southerners something that was theirs and was not rooted in racist and oppressive ideals. Through its political ties with figures like Jimmy Carter, the racially integrated nature of notable southern rock bands such as the Allman Brothers Band, and the various activist efforts of the musicians throughout the decade, southern rock did much to promote progressive ideologies in the South. However, to say the genre was “all in” on progressive ideologies demotes the complex nature of the genre. Notable acts such as Lynyrd Skynyrd and The Charlie Daniels Band, muddied the waters of southern rock’s progressive legacy, tying the genre to conservative ideologies in the South that have persisted in the modern age.

Research Data and Supplementary Material

No

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