{"id":3454,"date":"2018-04-30T17:16:19","date_gmt":"2018-04-30T22:16:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/?p=3454"},"modified":"2018-05-03T07:52:22","modified_gmt":"2018-05-03T12:52:22","slug":"well-never-turn-back-gaining-sympathy-and-forcing-intervention-in-the-voter-registration-struggle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/2018\/04\/30\/well-never-turn-back-gaining-sympathy-and-forcing-intervention-in-the-voter-registration-struggle\/","title":{"rendered":"“We’ll Never Turn Back”: Gaining Sympathy and Forcing Intervention in the Voter Registration Struggle"},"content":{"rendered":"
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John Poppy, \u201cThe South\u2019s War Against Negro Votes\u201d in Look<\/em> vol. 27, no. 10. May 21, 1963, http:\/\/content.wisconsinhistory.org\/cdm\/ref\/collection\/p15932coll2\/id\/5401, accessed April 29, 2018.<\/p><\/div>\n

Discouraged by the violence and disappointment, a 21-year-old woman sings with tears in her eyes. She sings of the horrors she has witnessed. She sings of the friends and leaders she has lost. She sings of her hopes for the future. Bertha Gober\u2019s singing of \u201cWe\u2019ll Never Turn Back\u201d in the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee Atlanta field office exemplifies the struggle and dedication of the fieldworkers trying to register black voters in the Deep South. Furthermore, the news article featuring the description of her performance works to gain the sympathies of readers.<\/p>\n

John Poppy opens his article with the emotional scene of Gober singing. He uses her singing to usher in his discussion of the hardships and barriers, such as violence and withdrawal of aid, which fieldworkers and anyone who talks to them face in the Deep South. Poppy then inserts the question: \u201cWhy does Bertha Gober sing, \u2018We\u2019ve had to walk all by ourselves\u2019\u201d.1<\/sup><\/a> He uses this lyric to emphasize the fieldworkers\u2019 demand and need for federal intervention and their frustration that they have not received help at this point.<\/p>\n