"If You Miss Me at The Back of the Bus" was a song written by

Charles Neblett Charles "Chuck" Neblett (born 1941) is a civil rights activist best known for helping to found and being a member of The Freedom Singers. Early life and activism Neblett hails from Cairo, Illinois. He took an interest in the Civil Rights Moveme ...

and recorded by

Pete Seeger Peter Seeger (May 3, 1919 – January 27, 2014) was an American folk singer and social activist. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, Seeger also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of the Weavers, notably ...

on his album ''

We Shall Overcome "We Shall Overcome" is a gospel song which became a protest song and a key anthem of the American civil rights movement. The song is most commonly attributed as being lyrically descended from "I'll Overcome Some Day", a hymn by Charles Albert Ti ...

'' in 1963. The song was written in response to attempts to desegregate a public swimming pool in

Cairo, Illinois Cairo ( ) is the southernmost city in Illinois and the county seat of Alexander County. The city is located at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. Fort Defiance, a Civil War camp, was built here in 1862 by Union General Ulysses ...

, after a young

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

man drowned while swimming in a local river due to the pool not allowing any African-Americans to use it. The song depicts the attitude of the African-American community towards the

Civil Rights Movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, Racial discrimination ...

during the 1960s. In his book with Bob Reiser, ''Everybody Says Freedom'', Seeger commented that people would improvise new lyrics to the song to reflect on various situations. The song's popularity grew after it began to be used as one of the anthems for the

civil rights movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, Racial discrimination ...

References

Songs of the civil rights movement Pete Seeger songs 1963 songs Songs against racism and xenophobia Songs about black people Songs about buses Columbia Records singles {{civil-rights-movement-stub

See also

References