Genre: Jazz
Student Edition:
The Zoot Suit: Style and Swing in the Wartime Economy
Student Edition:
Mi Gente: Fania Records & New York Salsa Music
Unit Plan:
Latin Music and Culture in U.S. History
Through ten lessons, students will explore different people, music, events, and places that helped shape Latin music and culture in the United States. Students will discover how Latin Music like Salsa, Latin Rock, Tejano, Bossa Nova, Swing, and Chicana Punk reflect the experiences of Latin people living in the...
lesson:
Mi Gente: Fania Records & New York Salsa Music
What is Fania Records, and how does it reflect the history of Spanish-speaking Caribbean communities in New York City?
lesson:
Brazilian Music and Culture in the United States
What is the influence of Brazilian music and culture in the United States?
Student Edition:
Latin Music and Puerto Rican Migration to New York City
lesson:
Latin Music and Puerto Rican Migration to New York City
What is the history behind Puerto Rican migration to New York City in the 1940s and 1950s, and how did Puerto Rican migration affect American Popular Music?
Trace It Back:
Gil Scott-Heron
Trace It Back:
Louis Armstrong
Trace It Back:
Aretha Franklin
Trace It Back:
Bessie Smith
lesson:
Writing Personal Narratives and The Harlem Renaissance
How do Langston Hughes, Gladys Bentley, and Louis Armstrong effectively write personal narratives about living during the Harlem Renaissance?
lesson:
Identifying and Resisting Jim Crow with Words and Songs
How have works of literature and music by Black Americans shared an empowering theme of identifying and resisting Jim Crow?
Trace It Back:
ChocQuibTown
Trace It Back:
Nina Simone
Trace It Back:
Amy Winehouse
Trace It Back:
Lana Del Rey
lesson:
Blues, Poetry, and the Harlem Renaissance
How does Langston Hughes’ Blues-inspired poetry exemplify the ideals of the Harlem Renaissance?
lesson:
Debating the Apollo 11 Moon Landing
What was NASA’s Apollo program and why was it controversial?
lesson:
“Alright” and the History of Black Protest Songs
How have Black artists throughout the 20th century used music to speak about racial injustice in America?
lesson:
100 Years of Dance
Why might people dance, and how have dance trends changed in America since the 1920s?
lesson:
The Impact of the Electric Guitar
How did the electrification, amplification and design of the guitar facilitate its emergence as a dominant instrument of popular music?
lesson:
The Birth of the Microphone
How did the development of microphones in the 20th century change the way people make and listen to music?
lesson:
The Evolution of Sound Recording
How did multitrack recording technologies enable musicians to create a form of music that could only be realized in the studio?
lesson:
Multitracking in the Countercultural 1960s
How did The Beatles’ use of cutting edge recording technology and studio techniques both reflect and shape the counterculture of the 1960s?
lesson:
World War II and the Shrinking of the Ensemble
How did wartime restrictions and other factors cause popular music ensembles to shrink in size during the 1940s, helping to set the stage for the small “combos” of Rock and Roll?
lesson:
The Rise of the Electric Guitar
What factors led to the rise of the electric guitar as the dominant symbol of Rock and Roll?
lesson:
Radio Before Rock and Roll
How did radio influence American life in the years before the birth of Rock and Roll?
lesson:
The Influence of Rhythm and Blues
What did R&B bring to early Rock and Roll, and how was early Rock and Roll different?
lesson:
The Roots of Progressive Rock
How did Progressive Rock’s incorporation of classical traditions and countercultural values help to forge a unique Rock genre in the late 1960s?
lesson:
Italian-American Vocalists Before Rock and Roll
How did the careers of Italian American vocalists in the first half of the 20th century reflect the experiences of Italian American immigrants and attitudes toward them in the wider American culture?