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.
John F. Kennedy Center
The Kennedy Center: Lift Every Voice and Sing
Explore and analyze "Lift Every Voice and Sing" , a poem by James Weldon Johnson, which was set to music and is considered the "Black National Anthem."
TheatreHistory.com
Theatre History: American Musical Theatre: An Introduction
A commercial website that provides a solid history of American musical theatre. Includes summaries of many musicals through history. Focus is on shows before 1960.
Georgia Humanities Council and the University of Georgia Press.
New Georgia Encyclopedia: Blues Music: Overview
Overview and definition of blues music that developed in the southern United States in the early nineteenth century. Performers from Georgia include Ray Charles, Ma Rainey, Little Richard, and the Allman Brothers.
Digital History
Digital History:the Great Migration
The Great Migration for African Americans began during World War I as blacks left the segregated south to find jobs in the north. Read about how segregation followed them into their northern neighborhoods. See also how the Harlem...
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: Us History: 1945 1980: Popular Culture and Mass Media in the 1950s
In the 1950s, financial prosperity allowed young Americans to participate in a shared culture of rock and roll music, movies, and television.
Digital History
Digital History: Slave Culture
Find out about the contributions African slaves and African American slaves made to not only their culture, but American culture in general. See what words have African roots, how African culture influenced food and music, and how there...
Digital History
Digital History: Formation of Modern American Mass Culture
A mass culture developed in America in the 1920s due to several factors. Read about the influence of radio, movies, and spectator sports in the adoption of common speech. Find out about the creativity of the time in literature and music.
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: American Culture in the 1920s
The First World War had a crippling effect on any notions of positivity in the artists, writers, and intellectuals of that time and they became known as the Lost Generation. This page discusses this group of people, the emergence of jazz...
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame: Sti Lesson 2: Langston Hughes and the Blues
Explore relationship between music and poetry in this African-American history lesson on Langston Hughes, the Harlem Renaissance, and other artists such as Bessie Smith, John Hammond, the Beatles, and the Rolling Stones.
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.
PBS
Pbs: Music, Slavery and the Civil War
This lesson could serve as the basis of a curriculum unit on slavery and/or the Civil War. Spirituals are analyzed, especially their cultural implications.
PBS
Pbs: The Blues Classroom
Access the educational resources developed by a Seattle-based museum to supplement the PBS documentary series "The Blues." Includes background essays on the blues; biographies, video clips, and sound clips from the series; a blues...
Wikimedia
Wikipedia: Music of the United States
Very thorough resource for music in the United States. History, genres, and references can be found on this site. Includes sample audio recordings.
Black Past
Black Past: Queen Latifah
This encyclopedia entry extols Queen Latifah as the most influential female rap singer. You can read about her evolution as a rap singer and actress.
Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Comission
Explore Pa History: Billy Eckstine
Learn of the historical contributions of jazz musician, band leader, and Pennsylvania native, Billy Eckstine in this succinct biography.
Yale University
Yale New Haven Teachers Institute: Musical Theater
Introductory site focusing on American musical theatre and Broadway. Shows how these parts can be taught in the classroom. Useful for teachers and students working with music theater.
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame: Understanding Poetry of Maya Angelou Through Rap Lyric
By examining the lives and lyrics of popular, positive black female rappers such as Queen Latifah and Lauryn Hill, students can trace a direct line back to the inspirational writer and poet, Maya Angelou. Rap lyrics will help explicate...
Digital History
Digital History: Avant Garde
Synopsis of the huge cultural shifts that occurred in America in the 1920s in art, music, literature, and among intelligentsia.
Countries and Their Cultures
Countries and Their Cultures: Multicultural America: Sioux
Provides an overview of the traditional culture and lifestyle of the Sioux, a Native American tribe. (Note: Content is not the most current.)
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame: Sti Lesson 45: Democracy Not Yet!
The following lesson uses the lyrics of four popular songs (songs that were commonly sung or played) to stimulate critical thought and discussion of what is right or wrong with American democracy.
American Museum of Natural History
American Museum of Natural History: Anthropology: Sounds of the Silk Road
Travel the tales and sounds of the Silk Road through this resource and understand how music shaped Asian, and eventually, western cultures. You can create your own music to share with your friends, and gain knowledge about common...
Other
Parlor Songs Academy: Music as Propaganda in World War I
Scroll through the history of the use of popular music as propaganda until reaching the lengthy section about how music was used, not just in the United States, but throughout the world as propaganda in World War I. Find the lyrics and...
Annenberg Foundation
Annenberg Learner: American Passages: Poetry of Liberation
This unit examines poetry of the postmodernism period, focusing on the Beat Movement, Black Arts Movement, feminism, and other related movements and periods in recent literary history. An extensive list of authors, time line, video, and...