Just My Soul Responding: Rhythm and Blues, Black Consciousness, and Race Relations 
But as with nearly anything associated with race relations in the U.S., there is a flip side to this record, and Ward offers ample evidence that suggests R&B also served to reinforce white stereotypes of blacks and promoted continued segregation. As he points out, many of the same white fans who packed venues to see Chuck Berry, Ray Charles, and Aretha Franklin never supported the notion of equal rights or integration. In other words, entertainment was fine as long as it didn't challenge the status quo. It is precisely this lack of acceptance--combined with the snail's pace of civil rights legislation--that led to the emergence of the Black Power movement and the concurrent rise of funk and soul, the self-consciously inclusive offspring of R&B originally geared specifically for black audiences. Of course, the fact that James Brown's "Say it Loud, I'm Black and I'm Proud" or Curtis Mayfield's "People Get Ready" carried undeniably political messages for blacks didn't mean the average white music fan couldn't "get up, get into it and get involved." Ward's insistence on this point clearly suggests, despite his attempt at objectivity, that he believes the music made a difference.
Ward's coverage of R&B stretches from the release of the Chords' single "Sh-Boom" in 1954 through the mid-1970s, so it is far from a complete history of the genre, but his work is to be applauded for both its ambition and enthusiasm. Though his theorizing may wear thin at times, Just My Soul Responding is exhaustively researched (the notes and sources stretch nearly 100 pages) and packed with the kind of anecdotes that music lovers will savor. Particularly adept coverage of Chuck Berry, James Brown, Parliament-Funkadelic, Motown founder Berry Gordy, and the roles of many other prominent artists who either supported and avoided the civil rights cause stand out as some of the book's highlights. In all, a rousing hybrid of history, social commentary, and the literate liner notes of an ardent fan. --Shawn Carkonen
Reviews
"Just My Soul Responding" focuses on the relation between the struggle and Black music, and black popular music to be precise. Ward doesn't take Jazz into his analyses by stating that this was music for the intellectual crowd. Ward is more interested in the influence popular music had on the advance of the movement and what it meant for race relations.
The strength of this publication lies in the fact that it's not burdened by a drive to prove cultural imperialism. Some scholars on the subject of black music at times tend to get blinded in their effort to show how the white co operations tried to steal or destroy black music. Although Ward acknowledges such mechanisms, he paints a much more subtle picture. Ward shows us how black and white music influenced each other, that the lines weren't always as sharp as they seemed. Most tellingly is his analysis of Southern Soul, now often seen as the epiphany of black music. Ward dissect Southern Soul and shows how much of it is actually a multi-racial effort. A lot of the music was backed by integrated bands. White musicians brought Country into Soul and vice versa. Ward doesn't take the road of easy analyses but tries to pierce the way segregation worked, and how far it extended. Through the course of the book we get a picture of where the racial lines blurred and where the space of advancement lied.
Ward's publication is interesting reading for those interested in the civil rights movement but also for those just interested in the music as well. The book is littered with amusing anecdotes of Black music's most influential artist. Going though the book it becomes clear that for true appreciation of Black music knowledge of the civil rights movement is essential.