Sam Cooke targeted his song, "A Change Is Gonna Come" toward the African-American community of the 1960's, keeping in mind the multitude of different mentalities that this group held. Whether the listeners honored the suffering blacks had endured, tried to forget the pain, or planned to move forward against the obstacles, the song had something that would appeal to everyone. Cooke channeled the frustrations that Black Americans experienced in the face of racism and went further and spoke of hope in the future. The early 1960's marked the beginning of changes in attitudes toward race relations, which made Cooke sure that a more permanent change was on the horizon. He knew that if the black community lost hope, they would have little to no chance of making waves. He aimed to unite the community to fight for equality, despite the hardships they had faced in the past, saying "There been times that I thought I couldn't last for long, but now I think I'm able to carry on."
-Amrita Mitra
I think this is a really well written piece and does a good job at explaining how the song describes the feelings and attitudes African Americans had during this time. However, I would suggest expanding the audience to how other groups felt about the song and relating it to how they all acted during the movement. Overall, really nice work!
ReplyDelete-Marielle Gerber
I like how you offer insight as to how Sam Cooke addresses his audience, and not just generally who the audience is. Your explanation of Cooke's goals towards his community really adds depth to the audience analysis,
ReplyDelete-Ty Harris