“Mississippi Goddam” by Nina Simone

“Nina Simone, Mississippi Goddam, 1964-03-21” 45rpm recording and recording sleeve of Mississippi Goddam, 1964

“Missisippi Goddam,” written and performed by Nina Simone in 1964, is a testament to the injustices of the Civil Rights Movement and the moment Simone was spurred into public civil rights activism.

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Read the annotated lyrics on Genius >

Two critical moments in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s inspired Nina Simone to write “Mississippi Goddam”:

On June 12, 1963, Medgar Evers was shot and killed by a white supremacist. An NAACP field secretary and civil rights activist, Evers worked hard to encourage African Americans to register to vote. He was also instrumental in raising awareness of the Emmett Till murder case. Like many civil rights leaders of that time, Evers became a target for those who opposed racial equality and desegregation (History).

Months later, on Sunday, September 15, 1963, the 16th Street Baptist Church was bombed by members of the Ku Klux Klan. As a result, four young girls – Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson, and Carol Denise McNair – were killed*, and an additional 20 people were injured (Southern Poverty Law Center).

In response, Simone channeled her cathartic rage to write and compose this song in under an hour (Story of Song). “Mississippi Goddam” marks a pivotal moment of her career because initially, she shied away from “protest music.” According to American Songwriter, she said, “I didn’t like ‘protest music’ because a lot of it was so simple and unimaginative it stripped the dignity away from the people it was trying to celebrate. But the Alabama church bombing and the murder of Medgar Evers stopped that argument, and with ‘Mississippi Goddam,’ I realized there was no turning back.”

First you get depressed, and then you get mad. And when these kids got bombed, I sat down and wrote this song. And it’s a very moving, violent song cause that’s how I feel about the whole thing.

The song caused an uproar and was banned in several Southern states. Simone’s daughter Lisa Simone Kelly describes how boxes of records would return from radio stations around the country cracked in half in a documentary (The Atlantic). Television censors would not let her say “goddam,” so the word was bleeped out every time it came up in the lyrics. But Simone continued to perform it, defiantly, never hesitant to show the emotions it brought up at the moment. She also changed the lyrics to fit the current injustices throughout the years, so it always directly reflected the times (Library of Congress).

But more importantly, this song became a rallying cry for a restless generation. After a sold-out concert at Carnegie Hall in 1964, Jet magazine reported Nina Simone left the audience “with a lot to smoke in their pipes” and that the song “Mississippi” (the second word of its name often censored in TV and print) was a high point. In a significant moment, Simone performed the song at a concert during the historic Selma March, rallying the crowd from a stage built from coffin crates (Daily Beast). An excerpt from that performance can be viewed on YouTube.

And this song became one of many protest songs that Simone penned and performed during her time. Songs like “Backlash Blues” (written by Langston Hughes) and “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free” call for the necessity of Black liberation. Simone wrote and recorded “Why? (The King of Love Is Dead)” in response to the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. And, Simone also recorded and released her own version of “Strange Fruit,” made famous by Billie Holiday and featured in this collection.

In 2019, "Mississippi Goddam" was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" (jazz.fm). But Simone also contributes this song to the beginning of her professional descent, noting that her records and booking opportunities decreased as her political activism increased.

About Nina Simone

Born Eunice Kathleen Waymon on February 21, 1933, Simone’s talent was evident early on when she started playing piano by ear at the age of three. After graduating valedictorian of her high school class, Simone studied at Julliard in New York City before applying to the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, in hopes of being a pioneering African American classical pianist. But the school denied her admission. She moved to playing and singing in jazz clubs, using the name “Nina Simone” to distance herself from her family, who she expected wouldn’t approve. Her career blossomed. Throughout her lifetime, she recorded over 40 original albums. Her songwriting, singing, performance, and political activism earned her the moniker “High Priestess of Soul” (Nina Simone website).

Reflection Questions

• Consider what music can tell us about that time in history. Create a playlist of songs that have defined 2020 for you.
• Consider: What privilege(s) may you benefit from that allows you to advocate for change while still maintaining your professional career? What have you been forced to sacrifice for the movement for civil rights? How does that compare to those throughout history?
• What are the most defining moments of 2020 for you? What have you done to channel your emotions into change?

Learn More

• *Four girls died in the 1963 bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church, but a fifth girl was present and survived. Sarah Collins Rudolph still suffers from the physical and emotional damage of that day, and is still fighting for restitution. The Alabama governor only issued an apology last fall (NBCW). Read her story in the Washington Post.
• WATCH: What Happened, Miss Simone? is a 2015 American biographical documentary film about Nina Simone (Netflix).
• LISTEN: Stream some of our favorite Nina Simone works on the Anti-Racism Daily Spotify.