Breaking Language: The Legacy of the Civil Rights Movement in LiteratureMain MenuIntroduction: How was the Civil Rights Movement fought in language?Pre-Civil Rights Era Uses of Language: Epistemic Violence and Legal RestrictionsJames Brown, "Too Funky in Here" (1979)Builder Levy, I AM a Man (1968)Builder Levy, I Am a Man/Union Justice Now, Memphis, TN, 1968. From the series Civil Rights and Peace. Gelatin Silver print
13 1/16 × 8 13/16. artsy.net.Builder Levy, Harlem Peace March 1967Builder Levy, Anti-War ProtestBuilder Levy, Harlem Peace March to End Racial Oppression, April 27, 1967. The statement "No black man ever called me chink: support the black struggle for existence" was taken from boxer/activist Muhammad Ali's original statement about his refusal to participate in the Vietnam War, "Ain't no Vietcong ever called me nigger." Amitage Digital Resources, Columbia University.Dykes on Bikes: Headlining SF Pride Parade since 1977Malcolm X's Repudiation of a Slave NameMalcolm X: Language Play and Caustic IronyAudre Lorde: "You cannot dismantle the master's house with the master's tools" (1984)Adrienne Rich "Diving into the Wreck" (1973)James Baldwin: Deconstructing the Language of RacismConclusion: Language as a Medium for Activism and LiberationCreative Commons LicenseResourcestest of radial viewvisualization of contentCathy Kroll0c0427ebd621fb54b22b23c07748d7202fcfe9c8
Writers, composers, and artists of all kinds push the boundaries of existing meanings and signs to the point where they transform or "break" them. Words like "funky," "bad," "the man," and so on were radically revised in the 1970s to create a new, oppositional vernacular. James Brown's 1979 hit "Too Funky in Here" inverts the term "funky" (smelly, dank) to create a new musical idiom with thumping baselines and tight grooves . . .
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