By Hazel Trice Edney
Politicians give floor speeches. Civil rights leaders and activists march and protest for change. Lobbyists advocate on behalf of their clients. Those are just a few strategies by which new laws are influenced in America.
But rarely has it been documented that a song actually becomes a part of influencing the United States Congress to move. But that is what happened in the passage of two historic legislations because of the passion and ingenuity of Black musicians.
The first instance was the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Through shootings by police, arrests, water hoses, dog bites and beatings, peaceful protesters persistently sang the song, “We Shall Overcome.” Known as the civil rights anthem, that song grew out of a hymn sang by enslaved Black people, “I’ll Be All Right”, according to historians.
Finally, following “Bloody Sunday”, during which the beating of young civil rights leader and future congressman, John Lewis, and others on the Edmund Pettus Bridge took place, President Lyndon B. Johnson decided he’d seen and heard enough. The televised violent attack upon the peaceful protestors as they marched for voting rights from Selma to Montgomery was simply too much.
Johnson decided to speak to a joint session of Congress about voting rights. The pivotal moment in his March 15, 1965 televised speech came when he adopted the words of the civil rights anthem and used them to touch the hearts of Americans:
“…Long-suffering men and women peacefully protested the denial of their rights as Americans. Many were brutally assaulted. One good man, a man of God, was killed. There is no cause for pride in what has happened in Selma. There is no cause for self-satisfaction in the long denial of equal rights of millions of Americans,” Johnson said. “But even if we pass this bill, the battle will not be over. What happened in Selma is part of a far larger movement which reaches into every section and State of America. It is the effort of American Negroes to secure for themselves the full blessings of American life. Their cause must be our cause too. Because it is not just Negroes, but really it is all of us, who must overcome the crippling legacy of bigotry and injustice. And we shall overcome.”
The formal name of the speech was “The American Promise speech.” But it quickly became known as Johnson’s “We Shall Overcome” speech. After resistance over many years, the Voting Rights Act finally passed the House on August 3 and the Senate on August 4 that year. President Johnson signed it into law on August 6, 1965.
Of course, the song itself cannot be fully credited for the passage of the Voting Rights Act. But the non-violent persistence of civil rights marchers; coupled with the civil rights anthem and Johnson’s use of it clearly influenced the passage only months later.
A second example of a song that influenced the passage of Congressional Legislation was Stevie Wonder’s, “Happy Birthday” song, written as a tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during a 15-year movement that started shortly after King was assassinated in 1968. Stevie Wonder wrote the song, a hit single, and began singing it in a concert tour, including on the National Mall in front of an audience of at least 100,000 people on Jan. 15, 1981.
Stevie Wonder even held marches and testified before Congress, pushing for the holiday as the widowed Coretta Scott King helped to circulate a petition that ultimately garnered 6 million names.
Two years following that DC concert, the legislation creating the federal holiday was signed by President Ronald Reagan on November 2, 1983. The first national observance was Jan. 20, 1986, as the public law designated the third Monday in January as the annual federal holiday.
According to Time.com, “Wonder, described the purpose of the song in a 1984 UPI interview: ‘I wanted to rekindle his principles in a song that would be good enough to publish, and strong enough to inspire people to remember the dream. I hope the song did what it was meant to do, but I think the feeling and desire were there for a long time before the song came out.’”
During Black Music Month, performers are often celebrated for their talent. But these iconic songs, We Shall Overcome and Happy Birthday, proved that Black music is much more than just entertainment. Black music is power.
This article is the fourth in a four-part series powered by AARP in commemoration of Black Music Month 2026.
