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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Lesson: Looking Closer: The Artwork of Shinique Smith

For Teachers 9th - 12th
A critical discussion regarding the nature of Shinique Smith's second-hand clothing art is the foundation for the lesson. Critical thinkers fully analyze the meaning behind her work, taking close consideration of where the clothing came...
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Lesson Plan
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National Park Service

Lesson 2: Hope

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
There's hope in music. Pupils discover what gave enslaved people hope by examining lyrics and music during their time of bondage. A series of prompts helps individuals investigate songs of enslaved people. The cumulative assignment...
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Lesson Plan
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National Park Service

Lesson 1: Journaling with Songs of Freedom

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
There's more to music than a memorable tune. The songs of those who were enslaved reveal the harsh realities of their lives. Using both songs and slave narratives, historians uncover this hidden history. The lesson plan incorporates a...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Jazz Dance and Music

For Teachers 4th
Fourth graders write a poem. In this jazz music lesson, 4th graders learn about the basics of jazz dance and practice basic movements. Students learn common terminology and listen to several recordings of jazz music. Students create a...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Folk Music

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Students explore Folk Music in Iowa. For this folk music lesson, students discuss different types of folk music and how it relates to life in Iowa. They take the tune of a song and write their own lyrics to describe their life. 
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Lesson Plan
National Endowment for the Humanities

The Music of African American History

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
High schoolers examine role spirituals have played in African American history and religion, examine Harriet Tubman's use of spirituals in her work, explore power of spirituals in Civil Rights Movement, and work with oral tradition,...
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Lesson Plan
Smithsonian Institution

Songs, Sounds and Stories from the Georgia Sea Islands

For Teachers K - 12th
American music is the result of the influence of many cultures, including the traditions brought by the African slaves. Young scholars study the polyrhythms, the call-and-response format, and the vocal improvisations of the Gullah...
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Lesson Plan
Smithsonian Institution

Spirits Across the Ocean: Yoruban and Dahomean Cultures in the Caribbean Brought by the Slave Trade

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Much of Latin American music owes its origins to the slave trade. Peoples from the Yoruban and Dahomean cultures brought with them the distinctive rhythms, time signatures, and eighth note patterns that now characterize Caribbean music....
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Lesson: The Power of Music

For Teachers 9th - 12th
The sounds of the past echo through art and our social understanding. Will the sounds of today echo into the future? Learners discuss the cultural and social impact of music, then analyze the art on an African Drum. They develop...
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Lesson Plan
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National Park Service

Lesson 4: Escape

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Some enslaved people decided to run for their liberation. Using lyrics of songs they sang, young historians look at these anthems of freedom. An assessment asks them to write the story of escape from the perspective of an enslaved person. 
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

1920s Variety Show

For Students 6th - 8th Standards
To better understand the cultural achievements of the Harlem Renaissance and become familiar with its major figures, class members examine a painting by Aaron Douglas and a poem by Langston Hughes and compare how the artists develop...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Mood in Music

For Teachers 9th - 11th
Students portray the mood of a piece of music in a drawing.  In this mood in music lesson, students discuss how music creates a mood.  Students listen to Vivaldi's "Four Seasons," "The Wreck of The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" as well...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

African Popular Music

For Teachers 6th - 10th
Young scholars explore popular music of West Africa. In this musicians lesson, students complete listening tasks that challenge them to analyze the music of Oumou Sangare, Angelique Kidjo, and Baaba Maal.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The South, the North and the Great Migration: Blues and Literature

For Teachers 8th - 12th Standards
Here is a complex lesson plan that interweaves the history of the Jim Crow South and the Great Migration with the study of poetry, art, and blues music from the Harlem Renaissance. The plan helps young historians develop a deep...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

African Chants

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students perform African chants. In this geography skills lesson, students read about African chants and watch videos about them prior to performing them in groups with appropriate rhythm and cadence.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

African American Community and Culture

For Teachers 4th
Fourth graders explore the rise of jazz music. In this Duke Ellington lesson plan, 4th graders watch video segments regarding Ellington's life and showcasing a performance of Ellington and his band. Students discuss the rhythm of jazz as...
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Lesson Plan
K20 LEARN

Diversity Quilt: A Lesson on Culture

For Teachers 10th - 11th
After brainstorming the various aspects of cultural identity, class members interview each other, examine video clips, and read stories to discover how these aspects reveal one's cultural identity. Individuals then craft a quilt square...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Billie Holiday's Song "Strange Fruit"

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Pupils analyze a variety of primary source materials related to lynching (news articles, letters written to or written by prominent Americans, pamphlets, broadsides, etc.) in order to assess the effectiveness of the anti-lynching...
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Unit Plan
Curated OER

Africa: Small Sounds From a Big Country

For Teachers 8th
Students explore the music from Burundi, Zimbabwe, and Pygmy cultures. They listen to and discuss music from the African cultures, analyze the musical elements, write a song, and perform music.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Learning the Blues

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students take a virtual field trip to Memphis, Tennessee in their study of the blues, its characterisitics, founding fathers, and histororical influence on modern music. They compose blues lyrics that reflect present-day attitudes and...
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Lesson Plan
Carolina K-12

Affrilachia

For Teachers 8th Standards
What makes a culture unique? Learners research life in the Appalachia region of the United States. Poetry, music, and oral history create Affrilachia, the term used to describe the lifestyle of the area. African-American mountain culture...
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Lesson Plan
Syracuse University

Harlem Renaissance

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
The music and literature of the Harlem Renaissance defined American culture, including its poetry. Using a poem from the period, individuals explore its musical qualities and how it is reflective of the period. Then, they use what they...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Tears of Joy Theatre Presents Anansi the Spider

For Teachers 4th - 6th Standards
Accompany the African folktale, Anansi the Spider, with a collection of five lessons, each equipped with supplemental activities. Lessons offer multidisciplinary reinforcement in English language arts, social studies, science, and arts...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Say It Loud!: A Celebration Of Black Music In America

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students watch a video that highlights the role of artists' images throughout the history of Black music in the United States and describe the influences of the civil rights movement on Black culture.