Childhood Memories Climb aboard as we time travel back to Tryon North Carolina in 1933 on February 21st, where we are about to experience the birth of an artist, her name was Eunice Kathleen Waymon. So climb aboard the time traveling machine and be prepared to meet one of the world’s most influential and determined individuals to ever be a part of the civil rights movement, meet Nina Simone. Now you may be thinking that Nina Simone did not start fighting for civil rights until her later years. However, this is completely untrue, as Nina Simone began her journey early in her childhood, as many of her childhood experiences motivated her to make an impact on this world, whether the world was ready for her or not. For instance, as a young girl she was actually part of a family of eight children, as Nina Simone was very close to her siblings, and especially her father. However, the outside world in the 1930’s, especially in North Carolina where Nina Simone lived, was a place filled with racism and hate, particularly for individuals of color. In fact, Nina Simone was no stranger to this hate, as she experienced countless events of racism within her early days, with one prominent event taking place during one of her concerts. Speaking about concerts, Nina Simone not only fought as a young girl for equality in her words, but most importantly, in her music, where she actually began playing her family’s piano at the age of three, as well as continued to study by an individual named Bach, who she credits her love of music to. In fact, according to Nina Simone, "Everything that happened to me as a child involved music. Everybody played music. There was never any formal training; we learned to play the same way we learned to walk, it was natural.” In turn, from this young age Nina wanted to share her love of music with the world, therefore, when she was 12 she performed in a concert. She was most excited for her parents to hear her play. However, when her parents moved to the front seats of the theater to better see and hear their daughter they were asked to move to the back in order to make “room” for White individuals to sit. In turn, Nina Simone knew that she needed to act on this injustice, and protested this act by refusing to play her song until her parents could sit in the front again. Civil Rights Movement Some of the most influential songs Nina Simone wrote during her career, were those that she wrote during the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. These included, “Why? (The King of Love is Dead)”, which was released in response to Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination. Nina Simone also released a song in response to the assassination of Medgar Evers, and church bombings in Mississippi that killed four young African American girls. Nina Simone wrote another song called “Four Women”, where she wrote about her own experiences as a black woman, as well as the experiences of other African American women. Nina Simone’s most influential song, however, is called “Young, Gifted and Black”. It became an unofficial anthem of the Civil Rights movement. Nina Simone's songs helped her become a prominent and well-known Civil Rights activist. However, Nina Simone did not view her activism as anything special. Nina Simone herself said, “You can’t help it. An artist’s duty, as far as I’m concerned, is to reflect the times”. |
Young Adulthood: Rise to Fame Overall, even though this act of injustice made a prominent mark on Nina Simone, this was simply the tip of the iceberg of events that Nina would experience in her later years regarding racism, and most importantly, what she would do to fight back against these injustices. For instance, as Nina Simone grew into a young woman she once again faced an act of racism that revealed the underlying systems of oppression that would continue to rock her world. This act occurred when she decided to take her love of the arts and music to the next level by applying to her dream school at the Curtis Institute of Music, and was extremely excited to attend, but unfortunately was denied acceptance. In turn, this event acted as one of the birthplaces of Nina Simone’s realization that racism was keeping her, as well as many others, from achieving her lifelong dreams, where Nina Simone realized that she needed to take a stand, and essentially move to a community filled with more justice and equality, as she stated in her own words, “you’ve got to learn to leave the table when love’s no longer being served”. However, despite being knocked down because of racist beliefs, these events only fueled Nina Simone’s fire to continue fighting for justice and equality, where she realized that one of the most prominent ways she could spread her voice and life changing ideas with the world, was through the songs she wrote. Therefore, Nina Simone’s fire continued to burn through her music, and led her into one of the most prominent times of her life, which was her rise to fame. While many people recognize the name Nina Simone, few have heard of (U-nis) Eunice Kathleen Waymon. (U-nis) Eunice took on the stage name Nina Simone while performing her music in various clubs. Many of her family members, especially her mother, were deeply religious, and Nina knew they would not approve of her performances. She adopted the new name so her family would not find out about her club performances. She chose the first name Nina, because it was a nickname her boyfriend had given her. It was fashioned after “Niña”, the Spanish word for girl. Nina choose the last name “Simone”, the first name of a French actress, Simone (Sin-your-a) Signoret, that Nina admired. Nina Simone began her rise to fame in 1957, when she released her first album, called “Little Girl Blue”. It featured a variety of songs that would become immensely popular, especially among the African American community. The songs on the album included hits such as "I Put a Spell on You," "My Baby Just Cares for Me," and “I Want a Little Sugar in My Bowl”. On the album Nina Simone premiered her own distinct blending of musical styles. Nina embraced her classical training when writing and performing songs, but also took much of her inspiration from folk music. Much of her music is classified as blues or jazz, but she did not want to be known as a jazz singer, instead she thought of herself as a folk singer with classical influences. Legacy The deeply rooted racial politics of the 1960’s are what essentially kept Nina Simone in the United States, where she continued to use the moments, events, and underlying systems of oppression to fuel her fire of resistance. However, when these political and racial events began to fade into the background of her home country, and with a warrant for her arrest because of unpaid taxes in protest of the Vietnam War, as well as with the divorce of her husband Andy Stroud, Nina Simone decided to take her ideas, enthusiasm, and drive to fight, all over the world. Therefore, throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Nina Simone shared her gift with the world by ultimately visiting unique places such as Barbados, Liberia, Egypt, Turkey, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. However, Nina Simone eventually settled in southern France in 1994, where she made this location her home while touring and performing around the world in the 1990s. In fact, during her last years she wrote and produced one of her most known songs, which was titled, “A Single Women”, and debuted this song in 1993. Despite this debut inspiring millions of individuals, one of the most intriguing and emotional acts Nina Simone ever performed, were the songs sung between her and her daughter Lisa Simone Kelly, who also took the stage name of “Simone”, during a musical tour in Ireland. In fact, even though this performance was one of Nina Simone’s last debuts of her life, the power in her voice still shone through during this performance, where as Geoff Boucher from the Los Angeles Times commented, “the concert was an experience that has as much to do with a soul–stirring, spirit–raising, shamanistic ritual as it does with a mere program of music...she could have come on to a stage with nothing more than her piano and a companion and the crowd would have been just as pleased, the music no less assertive and challenging". Sadly however, after this performance, Nina Simone returned to the United States in 2000, and three years later in 2003, after her long battle with breast cancer and mental health, Nina Simone passed away on April 21st at the age of 70. In the end, despite her passing, the world will always remember Nina Simone, simply because her voice, message, and emotion will always ring through the world of Civil Rights and music. In fact, even though many may believe that we have moved passed racism and oppression in today’s world, these underlying systems still threaten our society. Therefore, Nina Simone’s songs can still be played and deeply listened to, in order to help shed light on these systems, and hopefully create a brighter and more just future, as Nina Simone praised in her music. In turn, Nina Simone will never be forgotten, simply because she is a musical icon who has inspired countless artists and fighters to stand up for what they believe in, and most importantly, to never be afraid to share their true talents with others. Overall, even though the spirit of Nina Simone resonates throughout the musical and Civil Rights worlds, individuals can still learn more about Nina through reading her autobiography titled, “I Put a Spell on You”, where she recounts her life as a musician, artist, and activist, through her own lens, which provide unique views of the world. In regards to Nina Simone’s daughter, Lisa Simone Kelly, even though she endured abuse from her mother, Lisa still followed in her mother’s footsteps, where she currently performs her music on Broadway, as well as is a prominent Civil Rights activist, bringing to light many of the racially oppressive systems that underlie our society today. In the end, even though Nina Simone will never be forgotten as a Civil Rights activist, she will always be remembered as a fighter through her music, simply because as described by Adam Shatz of The Nation, Nina Simone’s music is “impossibly deep yet unmistakably feminine, lacerating in its intensity yet also capable of disarming tenderness. To listen to her voice was to feel almost hijacked by its power”. |