Editing Rock and roll (section)

=== Race ===
In the crossover of African-American "race music" to a growing white youth audience, the popularization of rock and roll involved both black performers reaching a white audience and white musicians performing African-American music.<ref>M. Fisher, ''Something in the air: radio, rock, and the revolution that shaped a generation'' (Marc Fisher, 2007), p. 53.</ref> Rock and roll appeared at a time when racial tensions in the United States were entering a new phase, with the beginnings of the [[civil rights]] movement for [[Racial segregation|desegregation]], leading to the [[U.S. Supreme Court]] ruling that abolished the policy of "[[separate but equal]]" in 1954, but leaving a policy which would be extremely difficult to enforce in parts of the United States.<ref>H. Zinn, ''A people's history of the United States: 1492–present'' (Pearson Education, 3rd edn., 2003), p. 450.</ref> The coming together of white youth audiences and [[African American music|black music]] in rock and roll inevitably provoked strong white racist reactions within the US, with many whites condemning its breaking down of barriers based on color.<ref name=Altshuler2003p35/> Many observers saw rock and roll as heralding the way for desegregation, in creating a new form of music that encouraged racial cooperation and shared experience.<ref>M. T. Bertrand, ''Race, rock, and Elvis'' (University of Illinois Press, 2000), pp. 95–6.</ref> Many authors have argued that early rock and roll was instrumental in the way both white and black teenagers identified themselves.<ref>{{cite book
| last = Carson
| first = Mina
| title = Girls Rock!: Fifty Years of Women Making Music
| publisher = Lexington
| year = 2004
| page = 24
}}</ref>