Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Music Styles

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Young scholars identify many genres of music and connect styles of music with various cultures. They watch "The Greatest TV Moments: Sesame Street Music A to Z" and list music styles: folk, jazz, rock, etc.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Extraordinary Women in the Great Plains

For Teachers 8th
Eighth graders write what they predict were the roles women played in the Great Plains. Using the internet, they research and identify the roles they did play and use a Venn diagram to compare and contrast their predictions to the...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

James Van Der Zee

For Teachers 9th - 12th
High schoolers recognize James Van Der Zee as an outstanding photographer who documented and reflected life in Harlem during the 1920s. They identify important aspects of Van Der Zee's life and artwork and compose and shoot their own...
Website
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Dance Theatre of Harlem

For Students 9th - 10th
Learn about the Dance Theatre of Harlem is this segment from A Walk Through Harlem.
Website
Other

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater: Revelations

For Students 9th - 10th
A description of the dance Revelations, choreographed by Alvin Ailey. The dance was first performed on January 31, 1960, and made Ailey an overnight sensation in the dance world. Includes video and photographs, as well as links to videos...
Website
Other

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater: Repertory

For Students 9th - 10th
Description and information about works in the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre repertory.
Website
Smithsonian Institution

National Museum of African American History: Playful Performers

For Students Pre-K - 1st
A past exhibition that offers a fascinating look at the African tradition of mask-making and masquerades. Includes colorful photos and information, to spark children's creativity.
Article
Other

Brand South Africa: The a to Z of South African Culture

For Students 9th - 10th
Presented as an ABC list of cultural features of South Africa. Each letter links to a topic, and each topic has a paragraph with a link to more in-depth, and often fascinating, information about that topic, and about the history of South...
Lesson Plan
Yale University

Living Pictures Representing the History of Black Dance

For Students 9th - 10th
A brief history of black dance in America, includes dance pioneers in jazz dance, ballet, and modern dance.
Article
National Humanities Center

National Humanities Center: Teacher Serve: Jazz and the African American Literary Tradition

For Students 9th - 10th
Article explores the influence of jazz on African American literature from the early history of jazz, noted jazz artists, the black-white tensions within jazz, to its literary influence after World War II.
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: The History of African American Social Dance

For Students 9th - 10th
Why do we dance? African-American social dances started as a way for enslaved Africans to keep cultural traditions alive and retain a sense of inner freedom. They remain an affirmation of identity and independence. In this electric...
Article
Other

African American Registry: The Cakewalk, a Black Expression Through Dance

For Students 9th - 10th
This resource presents an article on the Cakewalk, a popular dance in the early 1900s that originated with black slaves impersonating their masters.
Handout
Black Past

Black Past: Alvin Ailey Dance Theater

For Students 6th - 8th
This brief encyclopedia entry describes the creation and development of the dance company Alvin Ailey began. There is a link to a website that will take you to the theater's web page.
Website
Other

Telematique, Inc.: Dance Styles

For Students 9th - 10th
This site from Telematique, Inc. provides a list of many different dance styles and tells the origin of them.
Unknown Type
Other

Gotta Dance: American Rumba

For Students 9th - 10th
This site from Gotta Dance offers an easy-to-read history of rumba.
Website
Other

Zadonu African Music and Dance Company

For Students 9th - 10th
There are many videos of several African dance styles. Learn about the culture and history of these dances at this entertaining site.
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: A Tap Dancer's Craft

For Students 9th - 10th
Tap dance, born out of the marriage of African and European dance traditions, went from extremely popular to barely existent to grand revival, all in under a century. Professional tap dancer and TED Fellow Andrew Nemr taps into the...
Website
PBS

Pbs: The Story of Jazz

For Students 9th - 10th
A supplement to a ten-part film series on jazz, this resource describes the growth and development of jazz music from the gritty streets of New Orleans to the Lincoln Gardens on Chicago's south side, where Louis Armstrong first won fame,...
Handout
Black Past

Black Past: Rap/hip Hop

For Students 9th - 10th
This encyclopedia entry gives a brief history of rap and hip hop and the influences of the music on modern culture.
Article
Other

The Vinyl Tourist: Mambo Mania

For Students 9th - 10th
This is an article on the 50s dance sensation, the mambo. This gives the history of the dance and description of it, but towards the end they discuss "Mambo Mania" or the heyday in the 50s.
Lesson Plan
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Rock & Roll Hall of Fame: Understanding Poetry of Maya Angelou Through Rap Lyric

For Teachers 9th - 10th
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...
eBook
OpenStax

Open Stax: The Jazz Age: Redefining the Nation 1919 1929: A New Generation

For Students 11th - 12th
Looks at the new morality that emerged in the 1920s. It changed the role of women and the perception of African Americans, the latter facilitated by the Harlem Renaissance and its impact on the music and dance of the Jazz Age. Also...
Handout
Black Past

Black Past: Ailey, Alvin

For Students 9th - 10th
This brief encyclopedia entry tells about Alvin Ailey, influential black dancer and choreographer. There is a link to a website that takes you to his theater's page.
Graphic
Curated OER

Yemeya

For Students 9th - 10th
This is an article on the 50's dance sensation, the mambo. This gives the history of the dance and description of it, but towards the end they discuss "Mambo Mania" or the heyday in the 50's.

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