Curated OER
VH1's When Disco Ruled the World
Learners choose a minority culture or an event and research the musical influences of that culture or event on American popular music. They discuss how minority cultures and events in American society influenced the Disco era.
Curated OER
Songs of Unrest - Lesson 4
Students identify popular songs from 1968 and make connections with the year's current events. They pretend that they are producing a new CD. The CD includes four songs that comment on today's social issues. They write the liner notes.
Curated OER
VH1 Legends Sam Cooke Lesson 2
Students examine the reasons and controversy regarding Sam Cooke's transition from gospel to pop.
Curated OER
Jackie Steals Home
Students read articles relating to Jackie Robinson's breaking of the racial barrier in professional baseball. This leads to a deeper exploration of racism in the United States. They use a variety of worksheets imbedded in this plan to...
Curated OER
Fallen Angels
Learners read the novel, Fallen Angels, and examine the theme of coming of age during the Vietnam War. They create timelines of the 1960s, highlighting important issues of the era. They write research papers focusing on one particular...
Curated OER
Censorship in America
Students follow resource links to study the history of art censorship in the US. They study the work of the FCC and the Hip-Hop 4 Peace campaign.
Curated OER
Marian Anderson
Students examine the life of Marian Anderson. They listen to a CD recording of Marian Anderson. Students take notes about her life and they discuss how some of her experiences are similar to those they have experienced. Students practice...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Neh: Edsit Ement: Freedom Riders and Popular Music of the Civil Rights Movement
In this lesson plan, students will consider "The Freedom Riders and the Popular Music of the Civil Rights Movement." The plan includes worksheets and other student materials that can be found under the resource tab.
Alabama Learning Exchange
Alex: Civil Rights Movement Photo Story Timeline
In this instructional activity students will be able to explain various events that took place during the Civil Rights Movement. The students will be divided into groups of 5. Each student within the group will receive an individual role...
PBS
Pbs: Jazz Music and the Crisis Over School Desegregation
Working in cooperative groups, your young scholars will learn how jazz musicians expressed the Civil Rights era in their music. This lesson focuses on the Civil Rights movement in Little Rock, Arkansas. Also, they will learn to about the...
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Singing, Making of African American Identity: V. 3
An analysis of the role music played in the civil rights movement. The well known spiritual, "We Shall Overcome," is referenced as playing a key role in supporting this movement.
Black Past
Black Past: Jackson, Mahalia
This encyclopedia article tells the high points of Mahalia Jackson's life. She was a world-renowned gospel singer whose influence was felt in the civil rights movement.
English Club
English Club: History of Soul Music
Learn the history of soul music from its origins in gospel music, through Motown and Memphis Soul, to contemporary rhythm and blues. The site includes three videos: Sam Cooke singing "A Change is Gonna Come," from 1964, with images from...
PBS
Pbs: Jazz Is About Collaboration: Jim Crow Laws: Segregation
Engage your students in discussion about segregation and the Jim Crow laws with this in-depth lesson plan. Using jazz music, you will contrast the ways in which America's most significant contribution to the arts depended on...
PBS
Pbs: Independent Lens: Strange Fruit, the Film
Website on Strange Fruit, a documentary film about the history and legacy of the protest song "Strange Fruit." Includes the lyrics and audio for the song.
Black Past
Black Past: Cooke, Sam (1931 1964)
Sam Cooke's influence on music, as the pioneer in cross-over from gospel to rhythm and blues, is described in this encyclopedia entry. His music was important to the African-American identity in the Civil Rights movement.
Other
Labor Arts: Labor Sings
Many songs, born of the American labor and civil rights movements, called people to action and were used to spread the messages of workers' rights and civil rights. Here you will find a nice collection of such songs. All songs in the...
PBS
Pbs Teachers: February One (Lessons on the Greensboro Sit in of 1960)
Find two lesson plans developed for a PBS documentary about the Greensboro Four, whose sit-in at a whites-only Woolworth's lunch counter was a key event in the unfolding history of the civil rights movement. The lessons ask students to...
University at Buffalo
University at Buffalo: Abiodun Oyewole
This site from the University at Buffalo provides you with the opportunity to link to sites and information regarding The Last Poets, primarily relating to one of its original members, Abiodun Oyewole. You will find links, information,...