Joan Baez Essay Research Paper On

Joan Baez Essay, Research Paper

On January 9, 1941, in Staten Island, New York, Joan Bridge and

Albert Baez, gave birth to their middle daughter Joan Bridge Baez

(1, title page). Joan Bridge Baez is a famous folk-singer and peace activist.

A little known fact about Joan Baez, is that she took on her parents

Quaker Religious beliefs, which would explain why she is so interested in

peace and justice.

As said in The Joan Baez Web Pages , Joan was not an average

child growing up, since she is half-Mexican and half-Scottish, she had a

hard time fitting in at a young age. The Anglos didn t except her, because

of her name, skin color, and hair; the Mexicans didn t except her because

she didn t speak Spanish (2, http://baez.woz.org/index.html) . In 1951,

Joan s father accepted a job in Baghdad. However, that didn t last long,

and only a year later, her family and her moved to California.

In 1956, Joan was on her second year of High School, and

Was a student at Palo Alto High School. Joan at this time strongly

believed in nonviolence and civil rights; with these beliefs, Joan grew

further and further from her classmates. Everyday Joan felt lonelier and

lonelier, realizing her beliefs were beginning to scare off other kids. To

fight off her loneliness, Joan resorted to buying her first guitar. In June of

1958, Joan graduated from Palo Alto High School; also she recorded a

demonstration album, however, the album didn t receive any recognition

from record companies. That did not stop her though.

In the summer of 1958, Mr. Baez accepted a teaching job at

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The Baez family packed up

and moved to Belmount, Massachusetts. Joan registered at Boston

University, but soon dropped out to concentrate on her singing. She

began to perform at a folk music club in Cambridge, called Club 47 . As

a result, she gained the respect of Bill Wood, who hosted Harvard Radio

Balladeers. In 1959, Joan recorded an album with Ted Alevizos and

Bill Wood called Round Harvard Square .

On November 5, 1960, Joan went solo and appeared at the

Newport Folk Festival and made her New York City Concert debut at 92nd

St., YMCA. Her first album labeled Joan Baez also hit the stands and

was a great success! A year later, Joan released her second album,

which was coincidentally labeled, Joan Baez, Volume 2 . Joan, also, went

on her first national concert tour. In 1962, Joan took charge of organizing

the first of three tours to southern college campuses that had a strict no-

discrimination policy for the audience; this is where Joan said one of her

most famous quotes: I have been true to the principles of nonviolence,

developing a stronger and stronger aversion to the ideologies of both the

far left and to the suffering they continue to produce all over the world.

(3, UXL Biographies).

The Parenthesis are for the following:

1. (1, title page) Picture of Joan Baez.

2. (2, http://baez.woz.org/index.html) Credit to The Joan Baez Web

Pages

3. (3, UXL Biographies) A Joan Baez famous quote.

In September, Joan released Joan Baez in Concert , it gained so

much respect, that it was nominated for the 1963 Grammy s in the Best

Folk Recording category; however, she refused to go to the awards,

because the show banned Pete Seeger because of his political activism.

One of Joan s biggest conflicts was in 1964, when Joan protested

against the United States involvement with Vietnam. Joan refused to pay

the U.S. 60% of her income taxes, this money went towards military

purposes. Eventually, the IRS fought back by claiming some of her

property as security for her debt; this battle went on for ten years!

Overall, in the past 30 years, Joan has made a great impact on

society. Joan has not only protested against non-violence and civil rights,

but she has also founded many organizations to help promote Human

rights. Also, Joan was given Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degrees

from Antioch University and Rutgers University, as a result of her political

activism and the universality of her music. . Joan has also made a name

for herself in the music field, and is well respected. Joan, as of 1998,

was last seen touring and spreading her beliefs and knowledge all over

the world, and hopefully will continue to do so for decades to come.