 By the time of Dylan 's second album , The Freewheelin ' Bob Dylan , in May 1963 , he had begun to make his name as a singer and a songwriter . Many songs on this album were labeled protest songs , inspired partly by Guthrie and influenced by Pete Seeger 's passion for topical songs . " Oxford Town " , for example , was an account of James Meredith 's ordeal as the first black student to risk enrollment at the University of Mississippi . 
