The Life and Story of Joan Baez - Essay Example

Born in 1941 in the New York suburbs, Baez had quite a normal childhood (Baez 19), although due to the Mexican background she did face the discrimination and slurring at times based on racial differences. Yet she never responded in any negative way and worked on developing tolerance trying to live purposeful life. Her father was a physicist and was associated with United Nations agency on different fronts. The traces of singing and music started showing up in her teen days. Guitar was her best friend since the early times, and those early days can be traced back to performances at local clubs which set the foundations for bright prosperous future as a world-famous singer in times to come ahead.

“Honey Love” (Retuya, n.p.) was one of the early performances of her school times. This was the first of many good performances that would follow up and eventually make her a standard hit singer in times to come. Her discography is quite rich and has never been interrupted for too long since 1960s going on with paced intervals. The 60s decade saw turbulent times on the United States of America political scene. With Vietnam War, Missile Crisis, Korean War, and endless internal and external unrest that had a direct effect on human rights, made an impact on her mind and, hence, made her think of using her strength in her field to convey ideas she was passionate about.

Her songs’ contents soon took a turn for social events. The next few years saw a thick diversion to the anti-war movement, social rights, justice and equality. All this was conveyed through the strongest tool she possessed – her music. Her forte also stretched to the rights of women in mainstream as she advocated their equal participation and protested against exploitation in any way. At times she had to go through the challenges; a glimpse of it was seen when she was arrested for violating the law and refusing to pay the taxes in response to the Vietnam War, since she saw it as serious violation of human rights by the United States on a global scale.

Her autobiography that was released in the end of 60s shed light on her struggle, her critical and humane eye for the human sufferings and the imperialist pursuits of the government of her country and other superpowers worldwide. The autobiography was entitled “Day Break” and was the diary of a strong woman who dreamed of justice for everyone in spite of race, gender and nationality. To her best ability and input she established an Amnesty International branch in part of the country where she could manage and develop it.

The efforts were not just limited to staying at one place and promoting the purpose of the foundation. She travelled far and wide and through her music and philanthropic pursuit spread the word and successfully conveyed the message of peace and harmony. Even in the 70s her music depicted the message of peace loud and clear. “Diamond and Rust”, one of her best known songs that was released in 1975, had the same tone and purpose to it.