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.
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).
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.