Black History Series Part 1: Learning Black History through Music

February 5, 2019 David Childs Black History Month, Democracy & Me Blog, Lesson Plans 59

By Dr. David Childs, Ph.D.
Northern Kentucky University

A critical component in the success of the American democratic project is to embrace the diversity within the United States and its history. In this way, we can celebrate our differences, seeing diversity as a strength and an asset. Black history month is an opportune time to do so, in that it is a time to reflect upon and celebrate the complex history of African Americans in the United States. The study of Black history is a multi-faceted, varied and deeply complex subject. African American history is American history, in the sense that Black folks have been an integral part of United States history from its inception. One of the most commonly explored and researched aspects of African American history is slavery in America. Another topic that is explored often is the Civil Rights movement. Even though these aspects of Black history are of the utmost importance and have played a critical role in shaping history, other aspects of African American history must also be explored. A major back drop and cultural thread through every era of Black history has been music. It is important to understand how it has shaped Black culture and also how Black culture has been shaped by music. Music created by African Americans (Black music) is varied and complex, coming in many shapes and sizes. Indeed, African American music is a very broad phenomenon that describes a wide range of musical styles and genres.

Black music was shaped by historical conditions that was a response to a variety of emotions including happiness, joy, suffering, disappointment, despair, exhilaration and pain. Early black music from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries was shaped by the terrible conditions and hardships brought on by slavery. The songs that were birthed from slavery were spirituals, work songs and folk songs. After the Civil War many African Americans became employed as musicians playing European classical music. When black musicians blended African culture and rhythms with the European classical music they developed the ragtime style of music. Ragtime would eventually become jazz; both forms of music are distinctly American, but specifically African American. Other styles of music stemming from African cultural roots included the blues and gospel, which led to more contemporary genres such as soul, rock and roll, rhythm and blues and hip-hop. Historic music from certain eras help us understand the way of life during the time it was developed.

Classrooms can come alive when teachers incorporate the rich reservoir of African American music that can now be easily accessed via a computer and the Internet. Below we share a wealth of musical resources that allow readers to explore the wide variety of music genres in black cultural history. We also include lesson plan ideas on how music can be incorporated into classroom curriculum in creative, effective and meaningful ways.

Lesson Plans

Lesson Ideas

Using spirituals to teach about African American slavery and the Civil War
Teachers can use Negro spirituals to teach about the challenges and hardships of slavery. Teachers can use the Internet to locate the words to the songs to accompany the videos, allowing students to do a text analysis of the lyrics. Students can write about the mood and tone of the songs, the religious themes, historical content, melancholy subject matter and even double meaning of the songs. Students can identify the time period in which the song was written and situate it historically, to tie it in to lectures, text book readings and primary source documents.
Hip-hop and the urban Black experience
Students can use various hip-hop songs to highlight the struggle of the urban poor and African Americans in the late twentieth century to present. Thousands of song lyrics are readily available for free on the Internet to supplement the music videos to allow students to take a closer look at the meaning behind the songs. Hip-hop is a great resource for language arts and social studies teaching because many artists address complex social, political, economic and historical issues such as poverty, abortion, racism, drugs and broken families.
Using the blues and gospel music to teach Black history
Teachers can use the blues and early gospel music to teach about southern rural black culture from the early twentieth century. Classrooms can address all sorts of topics such as the share cropping system, rural poverty, racism, southern cuisine, black families and even popular music as it relates to black musicians in the early twentieth century.

Sample Lesson Plans
Lead Belly and His Legacy of Southern Song- Lesson Plan
Blending African and Irish Sensibilities in Virginia’s Music
Songs, Sounds, and Stories from the Georgia Sea Islands A Smithsonian Folkways Lesson
The Vocal Blues: Created in the Deep South of the United States A Smithsonian Folkways Lesson
African American Music: Let’s Sing and Play Clapping Games A Smithsonian Folkways Lesson
African-American Gospel Music Lesson Plan
The History of Hip-Hop: Fresh Air Features Interviews with Some of the Greatest Names in Hip-hop

Please click on any of the links below to explore the various song selections in each genre.

Spirituals
Marion Williams – Mean Old World
Jubilaires- Noah
Black Delta Religion
Hold On” (Negro Spiritual)
Been In The Storm So Long [Full Compilation]

Ragtime
Maple Leaf Rag Played by Scott Joplin
Ragtime Piano : Scott Joplin “The Entertainer ” (1902)
The Definitive Jelly Roll Morton – Ragtime & Early Sounds from New Orleans
Scott Joplin – Ragtime (Full Album)

Jazz
Louis Armstrong – West End Blues 1928
Charlie Parker – I’ve Got Rhythm (Best jazz ever)
Charlie Parker – Anthropology
Miles Davis – So What
Blue in Green by Miles Davis
Herbie Hancock – Cantaloupe Island
John Coltrane – Equinox (Original)
John Coltrane – A Love Supreme [Full Album] (1965)

Work Songs
Negro Prison Songs / “Rosie” 1947
Work Songs in a Texas Prison

Blues
Etta James – I’d Rather Go Blind
Etta James – At Last
BB King on Ralph Gleason’s Jazz Casual 1968 Part 2
Howlin’ Wolf “Smokestack Lightning” Live 1964 (Reelin’ In The Years Archives)
Mississippi John Hurt – You Got To Walk That Lonesome Valley (Live)
Lonnie Johnson – Another Night To Cry
Muddy Waters, Memphis Slim, Willy Dixon, Otis Spann et al – Bye Bye Blues
Leadbelly – House of the Rising Sun
Lead Belly – “The Gallis Pole”
Lead Belly – Midnight Special
Leadbelly – Three Songs 1945 – The Only One Video File with Leadbelly
BB King Called This His Best Performance
Skip James- Hard Time Killin’ Floor Blues
“Devil Got My Woman” by Skip James
Lightin’ Hopkins pt 1
Soundies: Black Music from the 1940s
Robert Johnson- Crossroad

Gospel
Sister Rosetta Tharpe – This Train
Five Blind Boys of Mississippi “Lord, You’ve Been Good To Me” 1965 (Reelin’ In The Years Archives)
Mightly Clouds of Joy- I’ve Been in the Storm Too Long
The Soul Stirrers – “I’m a Soldier”
“Something’s Got a Hold of Me” (1959)- James Cleveland
The Swan Silvertones – Saviour Pass Me Not
The Swan Silvertones – Only Believe (Live)
Mahalia Jackson ~ How I Got Over
Donnie McClurkin- I’ll Trust You

Early Twentieth Century African American Music
Sam Cooke – A Change Is Gonna Come (Official Lyric Video)
Chuck Berry – Johnny B. Goode (Live 1958)
Little Richard Long Tall Sally – Tutti Frutti
Chubby Checker – Let’s Twist Again (lyrics)
Harry Belafonte – Banana Boat Song (Day-O)
Stand By Me, Ben E King, 1961
Little Eva – Loco-motion (1962)
Jimi Hendrix Experience – Hey Joe Live
The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Foxey Lady (Miami Pop 1968)
Jimi Hendrix Live Full Concert 1969 Amazing Clear Footage
Jimi Hendrix “Wild Thing” 1967-05-11

Female Black Groups
Be My Baby – The Ronettes – 1963
The Shirelles Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow

Ray Charles
Ray Charles – Hit the Road Jack!
Ray Charles – (Night time Is) The Right Time
Ray Charles – What’d I Say Pts.
Ray Charles – Unchain My Heart HQ
Ray Charles – Drown In My Own Tears
Ray Charles – Drown In My Own Tears
Ray Charles – Hard Times
Ray Charles – I Believe to My Soul

Temptations
Temptations – I wish It Would Rain
Temptations – My Girl & Get Ready – (1965-66)
The Temptations Papa Was A Rolling Stone 1972 Single Version

James Brown
James Brown – Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag Live 1965 (Remasterted)
Say It Loud, I’m Black & I’m Proud-James Brown
James Brown – Say It Loud, I’m Black And I’m Proud / If I Ruled The World (1968)
James Brown- The Famous Flames 1964
James Brown performs “Please Please Please” at the TAMI Show (Live)
James Brown – “Cold Sweat” (part 1 & 2)
James Brown – Out of Sight 1965 (Remastered audio)

Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson – Billie Jean Live First Time Moonwalk
Michael Jackson – Billie Jean (Official Music Video)
Michael Jackson – Beat It (Official Video)

Funk Music/Early R and B
The Chi-lites “Have you seen her”
George Clinton – Atomic Dog [Atomic Mix Long Version]
One Nation Under A Groove – Funkadelic (1978)

Hip-Hop

References
The History of African-American Folk Music Understanding the Multi-genre Influences to American Folk Music
History of Ragtime
African-American Music
History of Jazz
Roots of African American Music
The Evolution of African-American Music
Howling Wolf Biography

Treyvin Moss
September 27, 2019 at 3:33 pm

Music is an important part of our culture and I believe that everyone should connect in some way with music. Music is very powerful and most provides a story that they want listeners to understand. When you listen to the music it paints a picture of what they go through and the things they deal with in everyday life. You would be surprised what you can learn from connecting with music and listening deep into the artists lyrics.

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Lauren
September 10, 2019 at 3:12 pm

I believe that music really does make a difference in the classrooms today, and this is a great way to not only listen to the music but to learn from it. I think building a lesson around music can be beneficial because it seems like we can all memorize lyrics to a song after listening to it 2-3 times however when it comes to reading from a book and memorizing facts it can be a challenge. Doing a text analysis of the lyrics is a great way for the students to think deeper about the words and to figure out the meaning behind them. Many times people pour their heart and soul into lyrics which will give students a deeper “feeling” for the content than what any textbook could hope to accomplish. I enjoyed reading this article and have really taken a lot from it and how teachers can use all types of music and genre styles to learn about different moments in history. I remember going through middle school and some of my classes in high school learning about different moments in history through music the teachers would play. They would have us study the lyrics, and it helped me comprehend the material better. I really love how this article gives a ton of options for teachers to use.

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Lauren Reynolds
September 2, 2019 at 8:24 pm

I believe that music really does make a difference in the classrooms today, and this is a great way to not only listen to the music but to learn from it. I think building a lesson around music can be beneficial because it seems like we can all memorize lyrics to a song after listening to it 2-3 times however when it comes to reading from a book and memorizing facts it can be a challenge. Doing a text analysis of the lyrics is a great way for the students to think deeper about the words and to figure out the meaning behind them. Many times people pour their heart and soul into lyrics which will give students a deeper “feeling” for the content than what any textbook could hope to accomplish. I enjoyed reading this article and have really taken a lot from it and how teachers can use all types of music and genre styles to learn about different moments in history. I remember going through middle school and some of my classes in high school learning about different moments in history through music the teachers would play. They would have us study the lyrics, and it helped me comprehend the material better. I really love how this article gives a ton of options for teachers to use.

Reply
Ann Lillie
September 2, 2019 at 7:37 pm

Music is a great way to teach students about Black history. Through the lyrics of the songs, students can decipher what story is being told by the artist. Students can learn the hardships these artist went through in their life. When I was in High School we listened to some of the work songs and we had to translate what we thought that they were going through at the time. By doing this it opened my eyes to the conditions that people were working in. Doing this in classrooms now will hopefully do the same.

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Breahna Satterfield
August 27, 2019 at 11:36 pm

There is so much culture and history in black music. Humming tunes during slavery on the plantation was a way how slaves communicated with each other. Growing up in the black church, the “Mother” would drop a humming tune and all the elders would chime in. During church certain songs are called negro spirituals because a lot of the songs originated in the Deep South. Today, there are rappers such as J. Cole, Jay-Z and Kendrick Lamar who are speaking black culture through their verse. I believe a way to connect to students especially students of color is through music.

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Chloe Seckman
August 25, 2019 at 10:13 pm

Music plays a huge role in our world today. Students relate differently when it comes to music that is why it is such a good idea to incorporate music into learning. Instead of sitting there listening t a teacher talk for an hour it would be better to maybe start the class with music from the early 1900’s such as jazz. This will make them more anxious to learn more about the subject.

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Christine Owens
August 23, 2019 at 8:31 pm

I think of music as being one of the first thing that breached the divide among races. I think, because having musical talent is often undeniable, that it makes since it kind of was one of the first and most effective avenues used in showing everyone that “Hey, I’m just as capable as you, if not more.” Often times African Americans in the past, and still sometimes even still today, are perceived as “lesser”, but with music being a thing that most everyone enjoys, it’s no surprise that it was something that jumped those divides and started to open the minds of close-minded people. This doesn’t have much to do with what the article said, but more just something I have observed and thought about.

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Hannah Bittlinger
June 13, 2019 at 1:43 pm

I was confused at first about how music could teach students about Black History. After reading this article and looking at the lesson plans I feel it is a great way to teach kids of all ages about Black History. I feel like it would get students involved in a class room discussion and not make it hard for kids to engage. This would help students feel more open to discussion and then they could get a better understanding.

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Brent Comley
June 3, 2019 at 8:03 pm

Music gives the writer the opportunity to express themselves and messages and the listener an opportunity to understand and empathize with the writer. By offering teaching students different types of music and the history behind will allow great student engagement, an empathy and understanding of different viewpoints and what was happening in the world at a specific time. Listening and engaging with black music is an important way to learn and understand black history.

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melissa Armitage
June 1, 2019 at 9:14 pm

this article is something that is helpful to ready about especially when you are going into the educational field as i am. children often find it hard to focus when they are being taught and it can be hard to get the information through to them. incorporating music is a great way to get their attention. it can be hard at times to think of something to do for the children especially to celebrate black history month. it was interesting to hear the different types of music that we have and learned a few new things myself.

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