27 Revolution Songs and Speeches to Revitalize Your Weary Spirit

One could argue that the soundtrack to America is Black music. For hundreds of years (401 years, to be exact), protest, resistance, and art have intermingled to produce revolution songs that give voice to the disenfranchised. In America, pop music is inextricably linked to the Black experience in this country—from the field caller music sung by enslaved Africans to accompany their backbreaking (and nation-making) labor, to the sounds from #BlackLivesMatter protests trending on TikTok right this moment, there’s no denying the fact that America’s social, artistic, and political landscapes owe a huge debt to the Black artists who gave voice to generations.

There’s a place for art in the revolution, and in order for the revolution to continue, critical art is essential. These revolution songs and speeches have the power to soothe our souls, challenge our beliefs, and inject hard truths in between heavenly melodies. Just think: The atmosphere and energy of protest, movements, and marches pick up as soon as someone introduces a drum, a beat, or a bell. Music revitalizes the spirit, gives us something to look forward to, and literally guides our steps as we push and protest.

One thing you’ll notice in this list of revolution songs is the generational reverberations of demands for justice, and a refusal to conciliate any calls for Black people to “go slow” in our fight to reclaiming what has been stolen. Heartbreakingly, so many of these songs have aged too well and are as spot-on today in 2020 as they were when written years ago. Behold your go-to playlist filled with songs that capture the rage, pain, anxiety, hopefulness, perseverance, and encouragement you’re feeling right now. —Brionna Jimerson, social media manager

“U.N.I.T.Y.,” Queen Latifah

Queen of music! Queen of TV! Queen of movies! Queen of hip-hop! Queen Latifah is an O.G. of feminist activism in hip-hop. Queen Latifah walked so that Megan Thee Stallion could gallop, and I mean that. In the ’80s and ’90s, mainstream rap was much more casually misogynistic than it is today (can you imagine?), and Queen Latifah's 1995 phenomenon “U.N.I.T.Y.,” a call for women to own their body, sexuality, and humanity, earned her a Grammy. Latifah’s insistence that Black women take up space in all areas of life, unencumbered by racism and sexism, is a rallying cry we can all get behind. ⁠—B.J.

“This Is America,” Childish Gambino