Art as Social Justice
Lin-Manuel Miranda has become an avid artist activist in a number of ways. His biggest contributions to justice have been through his art – more specifically his music. Other than Hamilton and In the Heights, which both act as a forms of advocation, Lin-Manuel Miranda has written songs to sell and raise money for specific causes.
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His song “Almost Like Praying” came out in September 2017 following Hurricane Maria (Contreras). The hurricane devastated Puerto Rico and Lin-Manuel wrote this song to help raise money for hurricane relief. He collaborated with many Latinx artists, such as J Lo and Gloria Estefan, to create what he calls “a love letter to Puerto Rico” (Gonzalez).
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His most recent song, “Found/Tonight”, was created with Ben Platt to raise money for March for Our Lives. According to Lin-Manuel, he said this mash-up of “You Will Be Found” (from Dear Evan Hansen) and “Story of Tonight” (from Hamilton) was a “Thank You” to the students who banded together to lead this movement (Kreps).
Works Cited:
Contreras, Felix, and Robin Hilton. “Lin-Manuel Miranda Explains How He Made His New Benefit Song For Puerto Rico.” NPR,
NPR, 6 Oct. 2017.
Gonzalez, Sandra. “Lin-Manuel Miranda's Song for Puerto Rico.” CNN, Cable News Network, 9 Oct. 2017.
Kreps, Daniel. “Lin-Manuel Miranda, Ben Platt Release New Song for March for Our Lives.” Rolling Stone, Rolling Stone, 19 Mar.
2018.