Question

a. List the title of the piece (it must be written in the 1950s)

Where Have All the Flowers Gone or (Move On Up a Little Higher for Mahalia Jackson)

b. List the American who wrote and/or performed it
The Kingston Trio
c. Briefly describe the connection of this musical work to a racial, social, or economic issue IN THE UNITED STATES in the 1950s.

Please answer c.

Answer 1

Move On Up a Little Higher for Mahalia Jackson.

This song in related to the upward mobility of the African-American community in the US. below is the description and details.

"Move On Up A Little Higher" is a gospel song written by W. Herbert Brewster, first recorded by Brother John Sellers in late 1946, but most famously recorded on September 12, 1947, by gospel singer Mahalia Jackson, a version that sold eight million copies.

Composer Rev. William Herbert Brewster (1897-1987) composed "Moved On Up A Little Higher," through the imagery of a "Christian climbing the ladder to heaven," the song encourages black upward mobility, hence reflecting the postwar Afro-modernist sentiments

He Said:

"The fight for rights here in Memphis was pretty rough on the Black church and I wrote that song "Move Up a Little Higher".We'll have to move in the field of education. Move into the professions and move into politics. Move in anything that any other race has to have to survive. That was a protest idea and inspiration. I was trying to inspire Black people to move up higher. Don't be satisfied with the mediocre...Before the freedom fights started, before the Martin Luther King days, I had to lead a lot of protest meetings. In order to get my message over, there were things that were almost dangerous to say, but you could sing it."

Mahalia Jackson:

Brewster's maintained that the entire piece—lyrics, melody, and harmony—came to him in one flow, and shortly thereafter he taught the song to his principle vocal soloist, Queen C. Anderson. But it was the Queen of Gospel, Mahalia Jackson, who, according to Brewster, "knew what to do with it. She could throw the verse out there." Producer Art Freeman insisted Jackson record "Move on Up a Little Higher"; released in December 1947 ,the single became the best-selling gospel record of all time, selling in such great quantities that stores could not even meet the demand.