Come By Sam Cooke

“A Change Is Gonna Come” was written by Sam Cooke, included in the Ain’t That Good News album. It was during the Civil Rights Movement, Cooke released the song. The Civil Rights Movement began on December 1, 1954, when Rosa Parks, an African-American woman refused to give up her seat to a white man, which lead her to be arrested. Following this event a new minister, organized a boycott in the south. This lead to a group called the “Freedom Riders” to form and protest, nonviolently, although, they were meet with brutal force in return. Furthermore, this lead to one of the most historical days in history, the speech “If I had a Dream”, by Martin Luther King Jr., followed by an enormously crowd to Washington D.C... However, the movement didn’t peak until, March of 1965, which contained the Selma to Montgomery Marches. M.L.K led the march from Alabama, to Montgomery, for the registration of African-American voters. They finally achieved their goal, along with the awareness of the struggles the
Where African-American men were treated different from white males, and all they wanted was to be treated equal and obtain freedom. Through the song, Cooke sang of the struggles an African-American has to deal with on a daily basis. He wanted to support the Civil Right Movement, give his fellow brothers a voice. In the song Cooke sings of the struggles and grief endured by him and his people. There’s a line that’s repeated throughout the whole song, “it’s been a long, a long time coming” (Smith) that conveys the emotions of the hardships African-Americans have endured throughout the years. He also uses metaphors to portray the discriminator behavior that was directed towards them: “…I go to my brother and I say ‘brother, help me please.’ But he winds up knockin’ me back down on my knees” (Smith), Sam wanted to sing about the harassment they encountered, times when they were