Nina Simone began playing piano at the age of 3 and was only 12 when she made her classical performance debut. Before her first concert, Simone's parents were forced from the front rows of the venue to make room for white patrons, but Nina refused to play until her parents were moved back to their original seats in the front. This pivotal moment launched her

lifelong advocacy for Black rights through both song and protest.

Simone's music intentionally carried messages of Black power, reflected in "Backlash Blues" (1967) with lyrics by poet and friend Langston Hughes:

You give me second class houses / And second class schools / Do you think all colored folks / Are just second class fools?