Subject: Social Studies/History

lesson:
The Great Depression featuring Blues and Jazz songs of the 1930s

Grades: High
Subjects: Social Studies/History

Why did the Great Depression happen and what can songs from the time period tell us about its impact?

lesson:
The Harlem Renaissance featuring Mamie Smith, Ma Rainey, and Bessie Smith

Grades: High
Subjects: Social Studies/History

How did the Harlem Renaissance represent the New Negro Movement, and what role did music play in this context?

lesson:
The Roaring 1920s featuring Josephine Baker, George Gershwin, and Harry Pace

Grades: High
Subjects: Social Studies/History

How did the economic and political policies of the 1920s affect American businesspeople, cultural figures, politicians, and activists?

lesson:
The United States and World War I featuring Tin Pan Alley Songs

Grades: High
Subjects: Social Studies/History

Why did the United States enter World War I and how did music reflect the changing viewpoint of Americans toward the war?

lesson:
The Spanish-American War’s Impact on Cuba and Puerto Rico Featuring Bad Bunny

Grades: High
Subjects: Social Studies/History

What was the impact of the Spanish-American War on Cuba and Puerto Rico and how is that impact still present in the 21st Century?

lesson:
The Annexation of Hawaii featuring Joseph Kekuku

Grades: High
Subjects: Social Studies/History

How did the annexation of Hawaii by the United States mark a significant turning point in Hawaiian history, and in the development of American music?

lesson:
American Imperialism in the Philippines featuring ALAMAT

Grades: High
Subjects: Social Studies/History

What was the justification and impact of American imperialism in the Philippines and how does ALAMAT’s music video “kasmala” reflect American imperialism in the Philippines?

lesson:
The Progressive Era featuring Music from the Labor and Women’s Suffrage Movements

Grades: High
Subjects: Social Studies/History

When was the Progressive Era, how did the Labor and Women’s Suffrage movements achieve many of the goals of Progressivism, and how did music express the experience of the people in those movements?

lesson:
The Asian American Immigrant Experience at the Turn of the 20th Century featuring Hollis Wong-Wear

Grades: High
Subjects: Ethnic Studies, Social Studies/History

How have Asian immigrants and their descendants been uniquely affected by U.S. immigration policy, and how have the arts provided a source of strength and resiliency for Asian Americans confronting a history of prejudice and xenophobia?

lesson:
Immigration and Ellis Island featuring Irving Berlin and Bruce Springsteen

Grades: High
Subjects: Social Studies/History

What was Ellis Island, and what might have been the experience of Europeans who immigrated to the United States at the turn of the century?

lesson:
The Rise of Populism and Socialism featuring Oliver Anthony

Grades: High
Subjects: Social Studies/History

What criticism did the Populist and Socialist Party have of the U.S. government and economy at the turn of the century, what solutions did they offer, and how have musicians since made similar critiques?

lesson:
The Gilded Age featuring the Phonograph

Grades: High
Subjects: Social Studies/History

How does the invention of the phonograph represent how the daily lives of Americans changed during the Gilded Age?

lesson:
Emo: A Short History

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: ELA, General Music, Social Studies/History

How did Emo music emerge from Punk to become its own unique genre, and how has Emo influenced a newer generation of artists and audiences?

lesson:
Indigenous Voices in Global Environmental Protection

Grades: AP/Honors/101, High
Subjects: Civics, Geography, Social Studies/History

How do Indigenous perspectives contribute to international environmental protection policies?

lesson:
Motown Records: Detroit’s Sound of Success

Grades: High
Subjects: General Music, Social Studies/History

How did Detroit’s cultural and economic history influence the sound and success of Motown Records?

lesson:
The Homestead Act featuring Cowboy Songs collected by John Lomax

Grades: High
Subjects: Social Studies/History

How did the Homestead Act of 1862 impact growth and development in the American West, and what is meant by the term “crossroads of culture” in the context of the American West?

lesson:
Native Americans and Westward Expansion featuring Redbone

Grades: High
Subjects: Social Studies/History

What were the experiences of Native Americans during Westward Expansion and how did the U.S. government use music and other aspects of culture to force assimilation on Native Americans?

lesson:
Late Reconstruction featuring The Jubilee Singers

Grades: High
Subjects: Social Studies/History

Who were the Jubilee Singers and how do their experiences reflect the final years of Reconstruction in the United States?

Student Edition:
Riot or Rebellion? Asbury Park in the Summer of 1970

Grades: AP/Honors/101, High
Subjects: Civics, Social Studies/History

What factors led up to the Asbury Park Riots in New Jersey in the summer of 1970?

lesson:
Early Reconstruction featuring the Hyers Sisters

Grades: High
Subjects: Social Studies/History

Who were the Hyers Sisters, and how did their work represent the Reconstruction era?

Student Edition:
The Origins of Disco

Grades: High
Subjects: ELA, Social Studies/History

lesson:
The Origins of Disco

Grades: High
Subjects: ELA, Ethnic Studies, General Music, Social Studies/History

What are the cultural, economic, and geographic origins of Disco and how has the genre been presented, remembered, and represented in popular culture?

lesson:
The Transcontinental Railroad featuring Work Songs Collected by John Lomax

Grades: High
Subjects: Social Studies/History

In what ways did the Transcontinental Railroad contribute to the physical, cultural, and musical growth of the American West in the late 19th Century?

lesson:
Plessy v. Ferguson featuring Bert Williams

Grades: High
Subjects: Social Studies/History

Who was Bert Williams and how does his life represent an American experience during the rise of Jim Crow laws and the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson?

Student Edition:
Black Radio and the Civil Rights Movement

Grades: High
Subjects: Civics, Social Studies/History

lesson:
Black Radio and the Civil Rights Movement

Grades: High
Subjects: Civics, Social Studies/History

How did Black radio empower Black Americans, aid the Civil Rights Movement, and influence U.S. society?

Student Edition:
Chicana Punk and the Chicano Movement

Grades: High
Subjects: Ethnic Studies, General Music, Social Studies/History

Student Edition:
1950s American Society and Conformity

Grades: High
Subjects: Ethnic Studies, Social Studies/History

Student Edition:
The Zoot Suit: Style and Swing in the Wartime Economy

Grades: High
Subjects: Ethnic Studies, Social Studies/History

Student Edition:
Brazilian Music and Culture in the United States

Grades: High
Subjects: Ethnic Studies, General Music, Social Studies/History

Student Edition:
Lydia Mendoza: Tejano Life and Music on the Mexico/Texas Border

Grades: High
Subjects: Ethnic Studies, General Music, Geography, Social Studies/History

Student Edition:
Westward Expansion and Country Music’s Hispanic Influence

Grades: High
Subjects: Ethnic Studies, General Music, Social Studies/History

Student Edition:
Mi Gente: Fania Records & New York Salsa Music

Grades: High
Subjects: Ethnic Studies, General Music, Social Studies/History

Student Edition:
Contemporary Latin Artists and Activism

Grades: High
Subjects: Civics, Ethnic Studies, Social Studies/History

Unit Plan:
Latin Music and Culture in U.S. History

Grades: High
Subjects: Ethnic Studies, General Music, Social Studies/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

Grades: High
Subjects: General Music, Geography, Social Studies/History

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

Grades: High
Subjects: Ethnic Studies, General Music, Social Studies/History

What is the influence of Brazilian music and culture in the United States?

lesson:
Chicana Punk and the Chicano Movement

Grades: High
Subjects: Ethnic Studies, General Music, Social Studies/History

What is Chicana Punk, how does it relate to the Chicano Movement, and how did it transform the Punk music scene?

lesson:
1950s American Society and Conformity

Grades: High
Subjects: Ethnic Studies, Social Studies/History

How did the presence of Latin American artists challenge the image of 1950s American society seen in popular media?

Trace It Back:
Miguel

Grades: All Ages
Subjects: General Music, Social Studies/History

lesson:
Lydia Mendoza: Tejano Life and Music on the Mexico/Texas Border

Grades: High
Subjects: General Music, Geography, Social Studies/History

How does Lydia Mendoza’s Tejano music connect to the history of Texas and the influence Mexico has had on that state?

lesson:
Contemporary Latin Artists and Activism

Grades: High
Subjects: Civics, Ethnic Studies, Social Studies/History

How are contemporary Latin artists pursuing activism and promoting positive change in their communities?

lesson:
The Zoot Suit: Style and Swing in the Wartime Economy

Grades: High
Subjects: Ethnic Studies, Social Studies/History

What was the cultural, social, and historical significance of the zoot suit during the period of World War II?

Student Edition:
Student Activism and Music During the Civil Rights Movement

Grades: High
Subjects: Civics, Social Studies/History

Student Edition:
Music of the Civil Rights Movement

Grades: High
Subjects: Civics, General Music, Social Studies/History

Student Edition:
Latin Music and Puerto Rican Migration to New York City

Grades: AP/Honors/101, High
Subjects: Ethnic Studies, Social Studies/History

lesson:
Student Activism and Music During the Civil Rights Movement

Grades: High
Subjects: Civics, Social Studies/History

How did activism by Black students challenge Jim Crow segregation during the Civil Rights Movement, and what unique role did music play as an organizing tool?

lesson:
Latin Music and Puerto Rican Migration to New York City

Grades: AP/Honors/101, High
Subjects: Ethnic Studies, General Music, Social Studies/History

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?

lesson:
Music of the Civil Rights Movement

Grades: High
Subjects: Civics, General Music, Social Studies/History

How did music advance the goals and inform the tactics of the Civil Rights Movement?

lesson:
Westward Expansion and Country Music’s Hispanic Influence

Grades: AP/Honors/101, High
Subjects: Ethnic Studies, General Music, Social Studies/History

What was Westward Expansion, and what effect did it have on American Popular music?

lesson:
Aguinaldos: Venezuelan Songs for the Holiday Season

Subjects: General Music, Social Emotional Learning, Social Studies/History

What are Aguinaldos, and how do children in Venezuela celebrate the winter holiday season known as La Navidad?

lesson:
Writing Personal Narratives and The Harlem Renaissance

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: ELA, Social Studies/History

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

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: Civics, ELA, Social Studies/History

How have works of literature and music by Black Americans shared an empowering theme of identifying and resisting Jim Crow?

Student Edition:
Segregation and the Founding of Asbury Park

Grades: High
Subjects: Social Studies/History

lesson:
Part 3: Asbury Park from the 1970s to Today

Grades: AP/Honors/101, High
Subjects: Social Studies/History

What social issues continue to confront Asbury Park today, and how are activists tackling them?

lesson:
Part 2: Riot or Rebellion? Asbury Park in the Summer of 1970

Grades: AP/Honors/101, High
Subjects: Civics, Social Studies/History

What factors led up to the Asbury Park "Riots" in New Jersey in the summer of 1970?

lesson:
Part 1: Segregation and the Founding of Asbury Park

Grades: AP/Honors/101, High
Subjects: Civics, Social Studies/History

What does the founding and early history of Asbury Park reveal about practices of segregation in the Northern United States?

lesson:
Second Wave: Women’s Rights and Music in the 1960s

Grades: High
Subjects: Social Studies/History

What was second-wave feminism, and how did music contribute to the movement?

Student Edition:
Rap Like ChocQuibTown with LADAMA

Grades: Elementary K-3
Subjects: ELA, General Music, Social Studies/History

Student Edition:
Learn Joropo with LADAMA

Grades: Elementary K-3
Subjects: ELA, General Music, Physical Education, Social Studies/History

Student Edition:
Learn Cumbia with LADAMA

Grades: Elementary K-3
Subjects: ELA, General Music, Physical Education, Social Studies/History

Student Edition:
Dolores Huerta: Labor Leader

Grades: Elementary K-3, Middle
Subjects: ELA, General Music, Social Emotional Learning, Social Studies/History

Unit Plan:
Civic Environmentalism

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: Civics, Social Studies/History, STEAM

Civic environmentalism is a collective action to address critical environmental issues and implement solutions through democratic processes that will result in an improved and sustainable community. Through six lessons, students identify, analyze, and explore specific details and events related to the origins of the environmental movement in the United States...

Student Edition:
The United Farm Workers Movement through Music and Poetry

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: ELA, Ethnic Studies, Social Studies/History

lesson:
The Myth of the American Cowboy

Grades: AP/Honors/101
Subjects: Social Studies/History

How did Westward Expansion and the idea of Manifest Destiny inform the image of the cowboy in American culture?

lesson:
Dolores Huerta and The United Farm Workers Movement

Grades: Elementary 4-6, Middle
Subjects: Art/Design, Civics, ELA, Social Studies/History

Who is Dolores Huerta, what role did she play in the United Farm Workers movement, and how is she recognized today?

Student Edition:
Afrofuturism and Flying Africans

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: Art/Design, ELA, General Music, Social Studies/History

lesson:
The United Farm Workers Movement through Music and Poetry

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: Civics, ELA, Ethnic Studies, Social Studies/History

Who is Dolores Huerta, what role did she play in the United Farm Workers movement, and how is she recognized today?

Student Edition:
A Veteran’s Soundtrack to the Vietnam War

Grades: AP/Honors/101, High
Subjects: Social Studies/History

lesson:
A Veteran’s Soundtrack to the Vietnam War

Grades: AP/Honors/101, High
Subjects: Social Studies/History

How did popular music amplify the voices and experiences of Americans serving in the United States Armed Forces during the Vietnam War?

Student Edition:
Toby Keith and The Chicks: Songs and Words during the War on Terror

Grades: AP/Honors/101, High, Middle
Subjects: Social Studies/History

Student Edition:
What is Cultural Appropriation?

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: Civics, ELA, Social Emotional Learning, Social Studies/History

Student Edition:
What is Cultural Identity?

Grades: All Ages
Subjects: Art/Design, ELA, Social Emotional Learning, Social Studies/History

Student Edition:
The Music Behind the Red Power Movement

Grades: AP/Honors/101, High
Subjects: ELA, Social Studies/History

Student Edition:
Indigenous Music: From Wounded Knee to The Billboard Charts

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: ELA, Social Studies/History

Student Edition:
Music and the Berlin Wall during the Cold War

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: ELA, Social Studies/History

Student Edition:
Art, Music, and the AIDS Epidemic

Grades: AP/Honors/101, High
Subjects: Art/Design, Social Studies/History

lesson:
Toby Keith & The Chicks: Songs and Words During the War on Terror

Grades: AP/Honors/101, High, Middle
Subjects: Social Studies/History

What were the different reactions to songs and comments by Country musicians about the September 11th terrorist attacks versus the Iraq War?

Student Edition:
Third-Wave Feminism: Women’s Rights and Music in the 1990s

Grades: AP/Honors/101, High
Subjects: General Music, Social Studies/History

Student Edition:
9/11: Country Music Responds

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: Social Studies/History

Student Edition:
Golden Age of Radio in the U.S.

Grades: All Ages
Subjects: ELA, Social Studies/History

Student Edition:
Music as a Window to the Past

Grades: All Ages
Subjects: ELA, General Music, Social Studies/History

Student Edition:
Kanye and Katrina: Environmental Racism in New Orleans

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: Social Studies/History

Student Edition:
Lost Friends

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: ELA, Social Studies/History

Student Edition:
Rhythm as Representation of People and Place

Grades: All Ages
Subjects: General Music, Social Studies/History

Student Edition:
“Y’all Better Quiet Down”: Black and Latinx LGBTQ+ Pioneers

Grades: High
Subjects: Social Studies/History

Student Edition:
The Journey to Marriage Equality in the United States

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: Civics, Social Studies/History

Student Edition:
The Stonewall Riots in the Fight for Equality

Grades: Elementary K-3, Middle
Subjects: Social Studies/History

Student Edition:
#Blacklivesmatter: Music In A Movement

Grades: High
Subjects: Social Studies/History

Student Edition:
Funk Upon A Time: The Beginnings of Funk

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: Art/Design, General Music, Social Studies/History

Student Edition:
“Alright” and the History of Black Protest Songs

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: General Music, Social Emotional Learning, Social Studies/History

Student Edition:
The Ethics of “Sampling” in Art and Music: A Classroom Trial

Grades: High
Subjects: Art/Design, General Music, Social Studies/History

Student Edition:
Going Viral

Grades: All Ages
Subjects: General Music, Social Emotional Learning, Social Studies/History

Student Edition:
The Birth of Hippie Culture

Grades: Elementary K-3
Subjects: ELA, Social Studies/History

Student Edition:
Apollo 11 & Gil Scott-Heron

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: ELA, Social Studies/History

Student Edition:
How a Bill becomes a Law: The Story of the MLK Holiday

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: Civics, Social Studies/History

lesson:
The Birth of Hippie Culture in the 1960s

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: Social Studies/History

How did the Grateful Dead reflect new ideas about life and society in the 1960’s?

Student Edition:
“Here Comes the Sun”

Grades: Elementary K-3
Subjects: Art/Design, Science, Social Emotional Learning, Social Studies/History

Student Edition:
Supporting Sobriety in a Musical Community

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: Social Emotional Learning, Social Studies/History

Student Edition:
“Life is Beautiful” with Keb’ Mo’

Grades: All Ages
Subjects: ELA, General Music, Social Emotional Learning, Social Studies/History

Student Edition:
The Roots of Surf Sound

Grades: Elementary K-3, Middle
Subjects: ELA, Science, Social Studies/History

Student Edition:
Who Is Mavis Staples?

Grades: High
Subjects: General Music, Social Studies/History

Student Edition:
Who Is Ritchie Valens?

Grades: Elementary K-3, Middle
Subjects: ELA, General Music, Social Studies/History

Student Edition:
The Reclamation of the Cowboy

Grades: High
Subjects: Social Studies/History

lesson:
The Reclamation of the American Cowboy

Grades: AP/Honors/101, High
Subjects: Social Studies/History

How has the image and history of the American cowboy been reclaimed in the 21st Century?

Student Edition:
Gen Z Environmental Activists

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: Social Studies/History

Student Edition:
The Indigenous Roots of Rock and Roll

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: ELA, General Music, Social Studies/History

Student Edition:
DAMN.: The Art and Importance of Storytelling

Grades: High
Subjects: Art/Design, ELA, Social Studies/History

Student Edition:
The Roots of Hip Hop

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: General Music, Social Studies/History

Student Edition:
Drawing To Music

Grades: All Ages
Subjects: Art/Design, General Music, Social Studies/History

Student Edition:
Design A Distortion Pedal

Grades: All Ages, High, Middle
Subjects: Art/Design, General Music, Social Studies/History

lesson:
Women’s Perspectives in Country and Tejano Music

Grades: AP/Honors/101, High
Subjects: Social Emotional Learning, Social Studies/History

How did female Country and Tejano artists approach the issues of feminism and Women’s Rights in the 20th and 21st century?

lesson:
The Musical Roots of the Surf Sound (Elementary Version)

Grades: Elementary 4-6, Middle
Subjects: Art/Design, Social Studies/History

How does the “Surf Sound” in Rock and Roll reflect early surf culture, and what are the roots of this genre of music?

lesson:
Almost Emancipated: Reconstruction

Grades: AP/Honors/101
Subjects: Social Studies/History

What is the significance of Reconstruction and what does it reveal about the freedom that the post-Civil War constitutional amendments secured for African Americans?

lesson:
Greta Thunberg, Music, and the Climate Crisis

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: General Music, Science, Social Studies/History

How have musicians helped spread climate activist Greta Thunberg’s message?

lesson:
How a Bill Becomes a Law: Legislating the Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: Civics, Social Studies/History

How does a bill become a law in the United States of America?

lesson:
Almost Emancipated: The Civil War and the Port Royal Experiment

Grades: AP/Honors/101
Subjects: Social Studies/History

How does the Union occupation of Port Royal highlight the complex issues behind the Civil War?

lesson:
DAMN.: The Art and Importance of Storytelling

Grades: AP/Honors/101, High
Subjects: Art/Design, ELA, Social Studies/History

How do Kendrick Lamar’s album DAMN. and the work of photojournalist Gordon Parks tell stories that bring attention to social issues?

lesson:
Singer-Songwriters and the Environmental Movement (Elementary Version)

Grades: Elementary 4-6
Subjects: Art/Design, Science, Social Studies/History

How did the singer-songwriters of the 1960s and 70s address the concerns of the environmental movement?

lesson:
Ritchie Valens (Elementary School Version)

Grades: Elementary 4-6
Subjects: General Music, Social Studies/History

How did Ritchie Valens meld traditional Mexican music and Rock and Roll?

lesson:
Deadheads and Reagan’s America in the 1980s

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: Social Studies/History

Who are the Deadheads and how did their lifestyle contrast with the conservative values promoted by President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s?

lesson:
Counterculture in the 1960s

Grades: AP/Honors/101, High
Subjects: ELA, Social Studies/History

How did the counterculture movement of the late 1960s challenge traditional American behaviors and values, and how did the Grateful Dead reflect these changing views of life and society?

lesson:
The Original “Going Viral”

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: CTE, General Music, Social Emotional Learning, Social Studies/History

Could a musical group “go viral” before the internet?

lesson:
“Y’all Better Quiet Down”: Black and Latinx LGBTQ+ Pioneers

Grades: AP/Honors/101, High
Subjects: Social Studies/History

How did Black and Latinx people in the LGBTQ+ community take initiative in the Stonewall Inn rebellions, Gay Liberation Movement, and in the preservation of LGBTQ+ history?

lesson:
The Science and Civics of the Flint Water Crisis

Grades: Elementary 4-6, Middle
Subjects: Civics, Science, Social Studies/History, STEAM

What is the Flint water crisis, and why did it occur?

lesson:
The Journey to Marriage Equality in the United States

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: Civics, Social Studies/History

How did same-sex marriage become legal in the United States?

lesson:
Art, Music, and the AIDS Epidemic

Grades: AP/Honors/101, High
Subjects: Art/Design, Social Emotional Learning, Social Studies/History

How did the LGTBQ+ community creatively respond to the AIDS crisis in the 1980s and 1990s, and protest government inaction in addressing the epidemic?

lesson:
“Seneca Falls, Selma, Stonewall”: The Stonewall Riots in the Fight for Equality

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: Civics, Social Studies/History

What were the Stonewall Riots, and what role did they play in ongoing struggles for LGBTQ+ equality in the United States?

lesson:
Third Wave: Women’s Rights and Music in the 1990s

Grades: AP/Honors/101, High
Subjects: Civics, General Music, Social Studies/History

What was Third Wave Feminism, why did it occur, and how did musicians address some of the movement’s demands?

lesson:
Debating the Apollo 11 Moon Landing

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: Social Studies/History

What was NASA’s Apollo program and why was it controversial?

lesson:
#BlackLivesMatter: Music in a Movement

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: Social Studies/History

How have musicians responded to the Black Lives Matter movement?

lesson:
Distortion: The Sound of Rock and Roll’s Menacing Spirit

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: CTE, General Music, Science, Social Studies/History, STEAM

What is distortion, and how did it become a desired guitar effect in Rock and Roll?

lesson:
Musical Reactions to the Vietnam War

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: Social Studies/History

How were American’s divisive opinions over the Vietnam War articulated by musicians in the 1960s and early 1970s?

lesson:
Music and the Berlin Wall during the Cold War

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: ELA, Social Studies/History

What was the Berlin Wall and how did music respond to what it symbolized?

lesson:
9/11: Country Music Responds

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: Social Emotional Learning, Social Studies/History

How did Country musicians’ responses to the September 11th terrorist attacks speak to the feelings of some Americans after the tragedy?

lesson:
Kanye and Katrina: Environmental Racism in New Orleans

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: Social Studies/History

What was Hurricane Katrina, and how did Black Americans articulate the frustrations they felt in its aftermath?

lesson:
“Alright” and the History of Black Protest Songs

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: Social Emotional Learning, Social Studies/History

How have Black artists throughout the 20th century used music to speak about racial injustice in America?

lesson:
Cleaning up the Plastic Beach (Middle School/High School Version)

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: Art/Design, Science, Social Studies/History, STEAM

How is plastic made, how does it affect our marine environments, and how can plastic waste be eliminated?

lesson:
“Glory” and the Continuing Civil Rights Movement

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: Civics, Social Studies/History

How does Common and John Legend's “Glory” signal Civil Rights movements of the past and the present?

lesson:
Muddy Waters, the New Kid in Town

Grades: Elementary 4-6, Elementary K-3
Subjects: Social Emotional Learning, Social Studies/History

How did Muddy Waters’ music change after he moved to Chicago, and what does that say about the relationship between place and self-expression?

lesson:
Singing Democracy During the Second Great Awakening

Grades: AP/Honors/101
Subjects: Social Studies/History

What was the Second Great Awakening, how did it change American society, and how does Sacred Harp singing exemplify its ideals?

lesson:
The Banjo, Slavery, and the Abolition Debate

Grades: AP/Honors/101
Subjects: Social Studies/History

What is the relationship between the banjo and slavery, and how did music making by enslaved people influence the abolition debate during the 18th and early 19th century?

lesson:
Mining and Union Songs in the Early 20th Century

Grades: AP/Honors/101
Subjects: Social Studies/History

How do Nimrod Workman’s songs and stories about his life as a coal miner illustrate the struggles of working class people during the Gilded Age and Progressive Era?

lesson:
Reagan and the Cold War: A Document-Based Question

Grades: AP/Honors/101, High
Subjects: Social Studies/History

Did President Ronald Reagan’s Cold War policies serve to heighten or to reduce tensions with the Soviet Union?

lesson:
Hometown Documentaries

Grades: AP/Honors/101, High, Middle
Subjects: Art/Design, CTE, General Music, Social Studies/History, STEAM

How can music help tell the story of your hometown?

lesson:
The Vietnam War: A Document-Based Question

Grades: AP/Honors/101, High
Subjects: Social Studies/History

In what ways and to what extent did the Vietnam War change American culture, society, and values?

lesson:
The Civil Rights Movement: A Document-Based Question

Grades: AP/Honors/101, High
Subjects: Civics, Social Studies/History

In what ways did the Civil Rights Movement mark a turning point in United States history?

lesson:
Who is “Us” in P!nk’s “What About Us”?

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: General Music, Social Studies/History

Who is the ‘us’ in P!nk’s song “What About Us?”

lesson:
The Music and Poetry Behind the Red Power Movement

Grades: AP/Honors/101, High
Subjects: Civics, Social Studies/History

What was the Red Power movement, and what role did Folk and Country music play within it?

lesson:
Negotiating Native Identity through Art, Poetry and Music

Grades: AP/Honors/101, High
Subjects: Art/Design, Social Emotional Learning, Social Studies/History

How have Native American musicians, poets, and visual artists negotiated their identity, and what role does physical space play in these negotiations?

lesson:
Debating Cultural Appropriation

Grades: AP/Honors/101, High
Subjects: ELA, Social Emotional Learning, Social Studies/History

What is cultural appropriation, how does it affect Native American communities, and should it be regulated by law?

lesson:
The Indigenous Roots of Rock and Roll

Grades: AP/Honors/101, High
Subjects: ELA, Social Studies/History

What does Link Wray’s biography say about how Native Americans lived in the first half of the 20th century, and what role did Wray’s upbringing have on his music?

lesson:
Indigenous Music from Wounded Knee to the Billboard Charts

Grades: AP/Honors/101, High, Middle
Subjects: ELA, Social Studies/History

In what ways did the music of Native Americans mark them as outsiders from the developing narratives of “American-ness” in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and how did the federal government attempt to use music as a tool to force assimilation?

lesson:
Sun City: A Musical Force Against Apartheid – Part 1

Grades: High
Subjects: Social Studies/History

What was South African apartheid, and how did musicians unite to challenge it?

lesson:
The Beatles Work Towards Success

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: Math, Social Studies/History, STEAM

How did The Beatles' rigorous work schedule during the years 1960-63 build their strengths as performers, as musicians, and as a band?

lesson:
The Beatles and Teen Culture

Grades: High
Subjects: Social Studies/History

How did the Beatles’ image as a “rock band” affect young people in America?

lesson:
From the Stage to the Studio

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: General Music, Social Studies/History

What caused The Beatles to cease touring in 1966 and how did the innovative music they then created during their subsequent immersion in the recording studio both reflect and influence the world at that time?

lesson:
The Beatles, a New Kind of Star

Grades: High
Subjects: General Music, Social Emotional Learning, Social Studies/History

How did The Beatles establish a new paradigm for the image of "the star," and how did that image support their global success?

lesson:
The Cassette Tape Offers New Possibilities

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: CTE, Science, Social Studies/History, STEAM

How did the cassette tape change the audience’s experience by allowing the listener to record, compile and disseminate music?

lesson:
World War II and the Shrinking of the Ensemble

Grades: High
Subjects: Social Studies/History

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 Beat as an Object of Celebration and Concern in Segregation-Era America

Grades: High
Subjects: General Music, Social Studies/History

How has “the beat” been an object of both celebration and concern in the history of popular music?

lesson:
The Beatles and American Segregation

Grades: All Ages, Elementary 4-6, High, Middle
Subjects: Social Studies/History

How did the Beatles take a stand against segregation while touring America? And what did it mean for popular music culture?

lesson:
Producing the Sounds of a Changing South

Grades: High
Subjects: General Music, Social Studies/History

How did the recordings Sam Phillips produced at Sun Records, including Elvis Presley’s early work, reflect trends of urbanization and integration in the 1950s American South?

lesson:
The History of Music Videos

Grades: High
Subjects: Art/Design, CTE, General Music, Science, Social Studies/History

How has the relation between sound and image shifted through the history of recorded music, and how did the rise of MTV bring that relationship to a culmination of sorts?

lesson:
The Influence of Rhythm and Blues

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: General Music, Social Studies/History

What did R&B bring to early Rock and Roll, and how was early Rock and Roll different?

lesson:
The Emergence of Folk Rock

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: General Music, Social Studies/History

What is Folk music? To what extent did Folk Rock sustain the spirit of Folk music?

lesson:
Considering the Future of Rock and Roll

Grades: High
Subjects: ELA, Social Studies/History

How is Rock and Roll's power, at least in part, a result of its being born on the margins of society?

lesson:
Thematic Lesson: Love Songs

Grades: All Ages, AP/Honors/101, Elementary 4-6, Elementary K-3, High, Middle
Subjects: ELA, General Music, Social Studies/History

Why is the Pop song such a common medium for expressing feelings about love, and how do individual songs relate to their historical moments?

lesson:
Singer-Songwriters and the Environmental Movement

Grades: High
Subjects: ELA, Social Studies/History

How did the singer-songwriters of the 1960s and 70s address the concerns of the environmental movement?

lesson:
Radio Before Rock and Roll

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: Social Studies/History

How did radio influence American life in the years before the birth of Rock and Roll?

lesson:
Assembling Hits at Motown

Grades: High
Subjects: Social Studies/History

How did Motown Records in Detroit operate during the 1960s?

lesson:
Glam: The Return of the Teenager

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: ELA, General Music, Social Studies/History

How was Glam Rock part of a new teenage culture in the 1970s?

lesson:
The Rise of the Electric Guitar

Grades: High
Subjects: General Music, Social Studies/History

What factors led to the rise of the electric guitar as the dominant symbol of Rock and Roll?

lesson:
The Blues and the Great Migration

Grades: High
Subjects: Social Studies/History, STEAM

How did the Great Migration spread Southern culture, helping to give the Blues a central place in American popular music?

lesson:
Artists Protest McCarthyism

Grades: High
Subjects: Civics, Social Studies/History

How were musicians and artists affected by McCarthyism in 1950s America?

lesson:
Bo Diddley: The Grandfather of Hip Hop?

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: General Music, Social Studies/History

How were Bo Diddley’s recordings an anomaly in relation to 1950s Pop music, and how is his rhythm-driven sound and self-presentation a precursor to Hip Hop style?

lesson:
Funk Asserts Itself

Grades: High
Subjects: Social Studies/History

How did 1970s Funk respond to African-American life in the decade following the Civil Rights movement?

lesson:
Soul Music and the New Femininity

Grades: High
Subjects: ELA, General Music, Social Studies/History

How did Aretha Franklin represent a new female voice in 1960s popular music?

lesson:
The Memphis Sound and Racial Integration

Grades: High
Subjects: ELA, Social Studies/History

How has Memphis music culture provided one example of art’s capacity to challenge the racial boundaries that have so often structured American life?

lesson:
Music and Political Movements

Grades: High
Subjects: Civics, ELA, Social Studies/History

How did Sixties Soul help give voice to the Civil Rights movement?

lesson:
Gospel Music and the Birth of Soul

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: General Music, Social Studies/History

How did Gospel influence American popular music?

lesson:
The Birth of the Electric Guitar

Grades: AP/Honors/101, High
Subjects: CTE, Science, Social Studies/History, STEAM

How did the electric guitar transform Blues music from the 1940s forward?

lesson:
The Who’s Generation

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: ELA, Social Studies/History

How did the Who represent “My Generation” in mid-1960s England?

lesson:
The Sound of Blue Collar Detroit

Grades: High
Subjects: Social Studies/History

How did Rock and Roll serve as an expressive tool for the working-class youth of Detroit?

lesson:
Rhythm and Blues Hit the Airwaves

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: ELA, Social Studies/History

How did Dewey Phillips and Hunter Hancock help bring Rhythm and Blues music to mixed race audiences?

lesson:
Italian-American Vocalists Before Rock and Roll

Grades: High
Subjects: Social Studies/History

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?

lesson:
Protest as Event

Grades: High
Subjects: Civics, Social Studies/History

Since the 1960s, how have artists used musical events to promote change?

lesson:
Liverpool: The Birthplace of the Beatles

Grades: High
Subjects: Social Studies/History

How did growing up in post-WWII Liverpool influence the Beatles?

lesson:
Birth of the American Teenager

Grades: High
Subjects: Social Studies/History

How did teenagers become a distinct demographic group in the 1950s?

lesson:
The Impact of 1960s Antiwar Music

Grades: High
Subjects: Civics, Social Studies/History

How did antiwar protest music provide a voice for those opposed to the Vietnam War?

lesson:
The Rise of Black Pride

Grades: High
Subjects: ELA, Social Studies/History

How did Social Soul reflect a new vision of African-American identity in the late 1960s and early 1970s?

lesson:
Seventies Soul: The Soundtrack of Turbulent Times

Grades: High
Subjects: General Music, Social Studies/History

How did changes in the Soul music of the early 1970s reflect broader shifts in American society during that time?

lesson:
The Sound of the Suburbs

Grades: High
Subjects: Social Studies/History

How did the music of the Beach Boys reflect the suburbanization of postwar America?

lesson:
Car Culture in Postwar America

Grades: High
Subjects: Social Studies/History

How did car culture intersect with and inspire Rock and Roll?

lesson:
Punk as Reaction

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: Art/Design, Social Studies/History

How was Punk Rock a reaction both to the commercialization of Rock and Roll and to the social climate in late 1970s Britain?

lesson:
How to Study Rock and Roll

Grades: AP/Honors/101, Elementary 4-6, Elementary K-3, High, Middle
Subjects: ELA, General Music, Social Studies/History

How can teachers help students analyze and understand Rock and Roll?

lesson:
Rock and Roll and the American Dream

Grades: High
Subjects: ELA, Social Studies/History

What is the American Dream and how did Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash personify its ideals?

lesson:
Divergent Paths in the 1990s: Gangsta Rap and Conscious Hip Hop

Grades: High
Subjects: ELA, Social Studies/History

How did Gangsta Rap and Conscious Hip Hop respond to the social and political conditions of the 1990s?

lesson:
Dion and the Teen Idols

Grades: High
Subjects: ELA, Social Studies/History

What role did the so-called "teen idols" of the late 1950s play in bringing Rock and Roll into mainstream American culture?

lesson:
Rock and Roll Goes to the Movies

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: Social Studies/History

How did movies help to introduce Rock and Roll culture to mainstream audiences in the 1950s?

lesson:
The Roots of Hip Hop

Grades: High
Subjects: ELA, Social Studies/History

What are the roots of Hip Hop?

lesson:
Beatlemania

Grades: High
Subjects: Social Studies/History

What were the factors that contributed to the rise of Beatlemania?

lesson:
The Rise of Disco

Grades: High
Subjects: Art/Design, General Music, Social Studies/History

How did Disco relate to the sentiments and social movements of the 1970s?

lesson:
Female Singer-Songwriters in the Early 1970s

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: Social Studies/History

What did the success of the female Singer-Songwriters of the early 1970s reveal about the changing roles of women in the United States?

lesson:
Dancing the Twist on Television

Grades: High
Subjects: Social Studies/History

How did teen dance shows and the Twist influence American culture?

lesson:
The Rise of the “Girl Groups”

Grades: High
Subjects: ELA, Social Studies/History

Were the Girl Groups of the early 1960s voices of female empowerment or reflections of traditional female roles?

lesson:
The San Francisco Scene, 1967

Grades: AP/Honors/101, High
Subjects: Social Studies/History

Why did nearly 100,000 young people descend upon San Francisco in 1967 for a “Summer of Love"?

lesson:
The Blues: The Sound of Rural Poverty

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: Social Studies/History

How do the Country Blues reflect the challenges of sharecropping, racial injustice, and rural poverty in early 20th-century African-American life?

lesson:
Mainstream Metal, Parental Advisories, and Censorship

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: ELA, General Music, Social Studies/History

How was Heavy Metal involved in the 1980s controversy surrounding the creation of parental advisories for “offensive” music?

lesson:
The Rolling Stones: Giving America Back the Blues

Grades: High
Subjects: Social Studies/History

How did the early Rolling Stones help popularize the Blues?