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Woody Guthrie was born into the Dust Bowl's devastation and displacement. His signature song, taught in classrooms and sung at protests, offers an expansive, inclusive idea of what home can be.
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Artist MILCK talks about "Quiet," her song that became an anthem for women's groups around the world. (This piece initially aired Jan. 14, 2019 on All Things Considered).
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He called it "a parallel to the history of the American Negro." Duke Ellington's Black, Brown and Beige wasn't an immediate hit, but it set a tone for ambitious, provocative works about black life.
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Though often associated with the Vietnam War, Buffalo Springfield's signature song was inspired by a confrontation back home, which erupted on a few famous blocks in Los Angeles.
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Lady Gaga's 2011 megahit has been praised as inclusive and criticized as exploitative. But there's a little history to the song's origins that isn't often discussed.
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The breakout song from Disney's Frozen has inspired many marginalized groups — but its message of rejecting stigma holds special resonance for disabled people and their families.
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With "To Be Young, Gifted and Black," Simone aimed to capture joy in black identity amid bloody civil rights struggle. The song was addressed to children, but adults caught on, too.
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Cohan was a myth builder: Songs like "Yankee Doodle Dandy, "Over There" and "Give My Regards to Broadway" celebrated both life in early 20th-century America and the glowing allure of the stage.
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More than 40 years after its release, Lynyrd Skynyrd's Sweet Home Alabama is still one of the most recognized rock anthems celebrating the deep South. It's also a song with a complicated legacy.
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NPR's American Anthem series brings together two songwriters — Ernie Isley of The Isley Brothers and Chuck D of Public Enemy — whose respective versions of "Fight the Power" eyed the same struggle.