The 60's Analysis

The 60’s was a time of social injustice, political protests over Vietnam, and the deliberation of powers. Socially the United States was in a terrible place. Since the Jim Crow laws were set put in place the constitution the country had been divided. When the civil rights movements started to move it brought social injustice to light (eldorado ink 15). Leaders in the civil rights movements included Martin Luther King, John F. Kennedy, and Malcolm X. These leaders were speaking out publicly and giving speeches all across the United States. When the Jim Crow laws were finally abolished in 1965 (fremon 67) many of the civil rights activists were assassinated due to their outspokenness. All leaders were killed in the sixties starting with JFK in
The verses each tell a different part of the sixties whether it is the civil rights or the political views of the Vietnam war. The first verse evaluated was the line of an “eye for an eye tooth for a tooth” coming from the biblical verse of Matthew 5:38. Malcolm X had the same mentality as this when fighting for the rights of the segregated people (Malcolm X 83). Although when he first started to speak his mind he did not mean to be so violent (Biography.com). The violence happened when he lead groups of protest. His followers were tired of being oppressed and became more and more violent over time. In the song it resembles the fact that Malcolm X would kill you so he could get to his final desired goal of setting the colored people free .(The Turbulent Years 67). Although he was violent in his ways. Just like the saying goes eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth. During the sixties when the fighting of blacks vs whites were happening, there was either violent protesting or peaceful protesting and the way Malcolm X felt was that since the whites put colored people below them, since history began, he felt like sometimes he needed to act violently to get what he wanted. The point made was that in the sixties the mentality during this racial war was the you had to do what you had to do to get where you wanted to be and feel
The group started in Detroit, Michigan which was a big city where segregation was highly influenced (Williams 23). They went to the record label Motown Records (Gantz 362). They first handedly saw people getting killed in the streets for being black and that affected how the artists founded one of the greatest protest songs in history, which was the Ball of Confusion. The artists had a rough time trying to get a record contract with a recording studio, and since laws were still in place that if you were colored places had the right to refuse service. The Temptations lost many of their group members over time from leaving to start own solo careers or leaving because they had issues with the belief of other songs. Otis the lead vocalist wanted to create songs that would get on the top 100 list with songs of protest and last a long time. Other members through the time wanted to only create the music the people wanted instead of what they needed to hear. In 1971 the Ball of Confusion was released on the sky's the limit album giving voice to all the people that didn't have it and still felt the act to protest and go against the government. The song paved the way for change and although the Temptations were not as important as the likings of Martin Luther King, John F. Kennedy, and Malcolm X the song gave voice that other artists were to scared to sing