On my recent trip to Virginia I visited the Civil War battlefield at Fredericksburg. It was the sight of another of those Union defeats attributed to poor union generalship and a failure to move in a timely manner. I’d read all about the battle, now was my chance to walk the ground. It was moving, and it's still hard to comprehend how they did it, how they faced the roaring guns and the bloody screams of fallen comrades to try and fight their way to the top of Maryes Heights against an entrenched foe.

But of all the placards describing the battle and the horrors of war, one of the most moving was the one that stood outside the building housing the gift shop. It described the post-war world of 1930s Virginia and explained Jim Crow laws and how the south treated its liberated slaves. The building was once a garage and the location of the colored men only bathroom and there was a picture of the old door, in case you needed proof. And we got to talk to the grandkids about it and they probably didn’t really get it since they’re young. But you never know what might stick.

And it was interesting to me because the Bob Dylan biopic has brought attention back to the music of the 60s, which to me was all about Freedom Summers, sit-ins, and Martin Luther King. The song Blowing in the Wind was an anthem against racism, right along with Pete Seeger's version of We Shall Overcome, which became the official song of the movement. Understanding the music in terms of the politics of the day also helps to explain why Dylan going electric was such a big deal. To a lot of folks, he’d sold out the movement of Woody and Pete and Joan for pop stardom and electric guitars, leading more than a few folks to ask what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?