For African Americans, achieving freedom was an uphill struggle. Through the civil rights movement that continued into the 1970s, African Americans fought for rights that would grant them the most basic privileges. Although no longer enslaved, African Americans quickly learned that freedom was not as easy as they thought it would be. “Liberty” was a white man's life that included equality in all aspects of life and freedom from discrimination. After returning from the war, African American men began to want more equal rights and opportunities, they expected justice from the country they had fought for. This included voting rights, citizenship, and desegregation. For every black man and woman, no opportunity was simply given. If they were accepted, it was with criticism and discrimination. With the new freedom that disco music gave black artists, they began to have more options within society. With Disco, black men were given the opportunity to become more than the stereotype. They brought a new sophistication, masculinity and sexuality that allowed black "soul music" to create a stake in popular culture and the music industry. "Disco provided a partial map of black America's changing relationship with masculinity, upward mobility, and politics in the post-civil rights era." Their music, although often seen as a form of conformity and a ripoff of pop music, gave them a presence. This allowed them to “go beyond the stultifying racial categorizations that confined them.” They were no longer confined to the accepted stereotype of the male; they began to be seen as sweet, adorable, and sexual, everything women wanted and began to respond to. While their music gave men a new freedom, many people criticized their middle of paper over the glitz and glamor of drag queens, sexuality and pulsating dance floors; it gave these excluded groups the courage to fight for a place in society and allowed them to gain this freedom. Martin Luther King Jr. said: “Liberty is never given willingly by the oppressor; this must be demanded by the oppressed", disco gave African American men, gays and women the strength to demand their freedom, this was not given after years of movements, so through disco and their music, they came together and fought for it. and won it.BibliographyEcholls, Alice. Hot Stuff: Disco and the Remaking of American Culture. New York, NY: WW Norton & Company, Inc., 2010. Oakes, James and Michael McGerr and Jan Ellen Lewis and Nick Cullather and Jeanne Boydston. Of the People: A History of the United States. New York, New York: Oxford University Press, Inc.... 2011.