When The Beatles Fought for Civil Rights Movement in the United States of America

The Civil Rights Movement, led by Martin Luther King Juniorand resulted in the eventual banning of racial segregation practiced in the U.S. In the year 1965, Rosa Parks, a black civil rights activist refused to get up from her seat in the bus, and thus started a boycott of public transportation by the black community for almost a year. While the heated activism continued in the hinterlands of America, Britain had already made it illegal to display racial discrimination in a public place.

The Race Relations act was one of the most forward-thinking and progressive laws of that time, and it helped the black community of Britain to stand up for their rights. Meanwhile, the hipsters, or the hippies who were closely associated with free love, non-discrimination, and love for art and music supported their own icons of civil rights and anti-racist movements. The Beatles were one of those icons, and when they visited the U.S. for a tour in 1965, they refused to perform at locations where segregation was enforced. These revelations were made public by documents that were released recently.

The documents would be on sale later this month and is expected to fetch a lot of money, as not only Beatles fans would deem the documents important, but civil liberties activists today would be interested too, especially during times when heated tensions have been exchanged between groups of different communities and races both in the U.S. and in the U.K. As the Beatles continued to refuse to play at venues like Cow Palace in Daly City, California, Martin Luther King led his activism across America. The support of bands like the Beatles, Bob Dylan and others were crucial in helping the civil rights movement gain momentum in the U.S., as music and art reached the masses sooner than vitriolic speeches delivered by politically inclined.

There are chances that the Beatles could have done their bit to help Martin Luther King in his fight against racial segregation in the United States of America. Ironically, U.K. has witnessed extreme racial tensions in the recent years, which suggests much hasn't changed on either sides of the Atlantic, when it comes to differences between communities, races and religions. Perhaps, music yet again will come to the rescue of postmodern segregation.