The Times They Were a-Changin: Jewish Protest Singers of the 1960s

While they may have left the Yiddish language behind, Jewish singers and songwriters perpetuated the longstanding Jewish tradition of songs of social justice in the countercultural ferment of the 1960s. Musicians ranging from Bob Dylan to Phil Ochs to Janis Ian to Country Joe and the Fish wrote and sang songs that became anthems of the civil rights, antiwar, and women’s movements, among other expressions of political protest.

In this multimedia talk, Seth Rogovoy—the author of “Bob Dylan: Prophet Mystic Poet” and a contributing editor at The Forward—will explore how these Jewish artists addressed many of the same issues their Yiddish forebears tackled just a few decades earlier and how Jewish values seem to have informed their work.