On August 28th, 1963, more than 250,000 people gathered in Washington D.C. for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, where protestors called for equal civil and economic rights for African Americans. Among the leaders and speakers of the march were many talented musicians, including Joan Baez. Once at the Lincoln Memorial, Baez led the entire crowd in singing “We Shall Overcome.” Through music, this peaceful protest was able to demonstrate the beauty of unique voices, while at the same amplifying the collective voice of those protesting. While music permeates mainstream society, song that unites a crowd and speaks on behalf of hundreds of thousands of people represents an altogether different musical force. Historically, singing transverses all cultures, and so grounding the protest in song is a way to assert our collective humanity. At the march, the song represented not just a commonality of the human experience, but also questioned the power and purpose of musical expression. In this case, music comes to the fore as an essential unifying instrument for demanding equal civil rights.