“Picket lines
School boycotts
They try to say it’s a communist plot
All I want is equality
For my sister, my brother, my people, and me”
“Mississippi Goddam” was Nina Simone’s response to the murder of civil rights activist Medgar Evers in Mississippi and a bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama on September 15, 1963 (which also helped inspire Simone’s “Four Women“). The song may have been her most controversial protest tune. It initially appeared on her 1964 live album, Nina Simone in Concert, which was the starting point of her becoming more political with her music. It was also released as a single, but it was banned in much of the Southern states, partly because of the word “goddam” and partly for its scathing exposé of Southern bigotry.
In the lyrics, she discusses the importance of taking direct action to achieve lasting progress. She also pointedly references the white moderates that promote slow-moving incremental changes. This is addressed in the lyrics: “Do things gradually/to slow/But bring more tragedy/to slow/Why don’t you see it…You don’t have to live next to me/Just give me my equality”.
“Mississippi Goddam” became a notable civil rights anthem, and on March 24, 1965, Simone performed the song in front of 10,000 people, towards the conclusion of the Selma to Montgomery marches.