Topic: Literature
lesson:
Lydia Mendoza: Tejano Life and Music on the Mexico/Texas Border
How does Lydia Mendoza’s Tejano music connect to the history of Texas and the influence Mexico has had on that state?
lesson:
The Juke Joint: Where Oral Literature Comes Alive
What role do Blues lyrics and juke joints play in Black American literature and life?
lesson:
The Crossroads as a Literary Symbol
How have writers, storytellers, and musicians explored the crossroads as a symbol in their work?
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:
Alice Bag
Student Edition:
What is Cultural Appropriation?
Student Edition:
What is Cultural Identity?
Student Edition:
The Music Behind the Red Power Movement
Student Edition:
Indigenous Music: From Wounded Knee to The Billboard Charts
Trace It Back:
Mitski
Student Edition:
The Indigenous Roots of Rock and Roll
Trace It Back:
Kate Bush
lesson:
DAMN.: The Art and Importance of Storytelling
How do Kendrick Lamar’s album DAMN. and the work of photojournalist Gordon Parks tell stories that bring attention to social issues?
lesson:
Beat Culture and the Grateful Dead
How did beat writers like Jack Kerouac influence the Grateful Dead’s music?
lesson:
Blues, Poetry, and the Harlem Renaissance
How does Langston Hughes’ Blues-inspired poetry exemplify the ideals of the Harlem Renaissance?
lesson:
Celebrating Community with Art and Poetry (High School Version)
What different types of communities exist, and how do the people in our communities impact us?
lesson:
Celebrating Community with Art and Poetry (Elementary School Version)
What different types of communities exist, and how do the people in our communities impact us?
lesson:
New Perspectives on The Great Gatsby’s Daisy Buchanan
Does Lana Del Rey’s “Young and Beautiful” help humanize Daisy Buchanan of The Great Gatsby?
lesson:
Debating Dylan’s Nobel Prize
What are the arguments for and against Bob Dylan receiving the Nobel Prize in Literature?
lesson:
Negotiating Native Identity through Art, Poetry and Music
How have Native American musicians, poets, and visual artists negotiated their identity, and what role does physical space play in these negotiations?
lesson:
Heroes and Mortals in “Something Just Like This”
Who are the gods and superheroes referenced in “Something Just Like This,” and what are the connections between them?
lesson:
“Blowin’ in the Wind” as a Rallying Cry
How does the song “Blowin’ in the Wind” use poetic devices to communicate an open-ended yet powerful message about the human condition, without ever losing its historical specificity?
lesson:
Singer-Songwriters and the Environmental Movement
How did the singer-songwriters of the 1960s and 70s address the concerns of the environmental movement?
lesson:
Music and Political Movements
How did Sixties Soul help give voice to the Civil Rights movement?
lesson:
The Rise of Black Pride
How did Social Soul reflect a new vision of African-American identity in the late 1960s and early 1970s?
lesson:
Dylan as Poet
How did Bob Dylan merge poetry with popular music?
lesson:
Divergent Paths in the 1990s: Gangsta Rap and Conscious Hip Hop
How did Gangsta Rap and Conscious Hip Hop respond to the social and political conditions of the 1990s?
lesson:
Rock and Roll and the American Dream
What is the American Dream and how did Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash personify its ideals?
lesson:
The Rise of the “Girl Groups”
Were the Girl Groups of the early 1960s voices of female empowerment or reflections of traditional female roles?