HI 280 A1: Music and Civil Rights in America Fall 2015 CAS 214, M/W/F 2:00-3:00 pm

Transcription

1 HI 280 A1: Music and Civil Rights in America Fall 2015 CAS 214, M/W/F 2:00-3:00 pm Professor Eric Jarvis 226 Bay State Road, Room 410 Phone: Office Hours: Wednesdays, 10:30-11:30 am, and by appointment Course Description: This course investigates the relationship between musical trends and campaigns for civil rights from the mid-nineteenth century to present. We will explore the social, political, and cultural contexts in which distinct popular musical styles emerged, including minstrelsy, blues, jazz, rock n roll, pop, rhythm and blues, soul, funk, and hip-hop, and analyze their influence on issues of race, gender, and class. In addition, we will consider how musical trends have intersected with national campaigns for civil rights, drawing on primary and secondary sources to evaluate the degree to which musicians and music have helped to bring about social and political change. More broadly, we will reflect upon how popular music has fueled social movements, and how social movements, in turn, have shaped musical expression. Course Organization/Requirements: This course requires a good deal of reading, writing, and listening along with your active participation in class discussions. For each class, you should arrive prepared to discuss the assigned readings and songs. Class meetings will mix lectures with discussions of assigned readings and songs and occasionally introduce additional primary and secondary sources. Specific course requirements are as follows: 4 Reading Responses Take Home Exam Analytic Paper Final Exam Attendance and active participation in class discussions Further details about each of these requirements will be provided in class. Please note that each student is required to meet with the professor to discuss his or her selected topic for the analytic paper. Required Books: The following books are available at the Barnes and Noble in Kenmore Square: Chang, Jeff. Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation. New York: Picador, Davis, Angela Y. Blues Legacies and Black Feminism: Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Billie Holiday. New York: Vintage Books, 1999.

2 HI-280 A1 pg. 2 Miller, Karl Hagstrom. Segregating Sound: Inventing Folk and Pop Music in the Age of Jim Crow. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, Smith, Suzanne E. Dancing in the Street: Motown and the Cultural Politics of Detroit. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, All other readings will be available on the course Blackboard site (see below). You will always be expected to bring a copy of the reading materials to class on the day on which they are due. You will also need to view the following films: What Happened, Miss Simone? and Soundtrack for a Revolution. What Happened, Miss Simone? can be viewed on Netflix and Soundtrack for a Revolution can be rented from itunes or amazon.com. Grade Breakdown: Your final grade will be calculated as follows: Reading Responses: 10% Take Home Midterm Exam: 25% Analytic Paper: 25% Final Exam: 25% Class participation: 15% Blackboard: Our class has a Blackboard site that contains the syllabus, assignments, readings, songs, and other course-related materials. You can log in to our Blackboard page at: You will have a personal Blackboard folder where you will submit completed assignments. Policy: I welcome your communications. Please allow up to 48 hours for a response. I do not discuss grades over , so if you wish to discuss the grade you received on a particular assignment, please schedule a time to meet with me. Laptop Policy: You may use a laptop for select classroom activities, and I will indicate when students are allowed to do so. Otherwise, students may not use laptops during class. Cell Phone Policy: Cell phones are not allowed during class. If you use your cell phone during class, it will lower your class participation grade. Late Assignments: Graded assignments will be penalized by one-third of a letter grade for each class day they are late. If you are habitually late with your assignments, you will be unable to participate fully in the class, which will be reflected in your class participation grade. Attendance Policy: Your regular attendance and participation are essential both to your own learning and to your classmates learning. Missing more than three classes will lower your final grade. Missing more than two weeks of class may lead to a failing grade in the course. Note that these absences need not be consecutive. If you have a special obligation that will require you to miss several classes (e.g., varsity athletics, religious observances), please talk with me at the beginning of the semester.

3 HI-280 A1 pg. 3 Formatting for Papers: All assignments must be word-processed and adhere to the Chicago style guidelines. Assignments should be submitted as Microsoft Word files and formatted in the following way: double spaced, 12pt Times New Roman font, 1-inch margins. In addition to submitting hard copies of assignments, you are required to submit all completed assignments electronically by uploading the files to your personal Blackboard folder. BU History Department Writing Guide: For a detailed description of the proper format for historical essays, students should consult the BU History Department Writing Guide: Plagiarism: Plagiarism is the passing off of another s words or ideas as your own, and it is a serious academic offense. Cases of plagiarism will be handled in accordance with the disciplinary procedures described in the College of Arts and Science Academic Conduct Code. All students are subject to the CAS code, which can be read online at: Penalties for plagiarism can range from failing an assignment or course to suspension or expulsion from the university. If you have any questions about plagiarism, please speak with me. Class Schedule Please note: Readings and songs followed by an asterisk (*) are available on our course Blackboard website. All readings and songs should be completed or listened to in advance of the class for which they are assigned. W 9/2 Introduction: Music and the Long Civil Rights Movement Minstrelsy in the Antebellum Era F 9/4 Minstrelsy I 1. Excerpt from Robert C. Toll, Blacking Up 2. Frederick Douglass, "Gavitt's Original Ethiopian Serenaders," North Star June 29, 1849* ( 3. "Songs of the Blacks" from Dwight's Journal of Music (1856)* ( 1. Recent recordings of pre-1852 minstrel songs: Zip Coon and Old Folks at Home * ( M 9/7 Labor Day No Class

4 HI-280 A1 pg. 4 W 9/9 Minstrelsy II 1. Alexander Saxton, Blackface Minstrelsy and Jacksonian Ideology * 2. Eric Lott, The Seeming Counterfeit: Blackface Minstrelsy and Racial Ideology * 1. Recent recordings of pre-1852 minstrel songs: Zip Coon, Old Dan Tucker, and Old Folks at Home * ( Blues and Jazz in the Era of Jim Crow F 9/11 Jim Crow: Social and Political Contexts 1. Ida B. Wells, Excerpt from Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases* M 9/14 Voices of the Early Civil Rights Movement 1. Excerpt from W.E.B. DuBois, The Souls of Black Folk* 2. Booker T. Washington, Atlanta Exposition Address * W 9/16 Musical Legacies of Minstrelsy: Coon Songs 1. Karen Sotiropoulos, Staging Race, chapter 3 (available online through Mugar Library) F 9/18 Blues I 1. Excerpt from Lawrence W. Levine, Black Culture and Black Consciousness* Deadline: Reading Response on Levine or Sotiropoulos M 9/21 Origins of the Musical Color Line I 1. Miller, Segregating Sound, Introduction, chapters 1-2 W 9/23 Race Relations in the Early Twentieth Century 1. Miller, Segregating Sound, chapter 3

5 HI-280 A1 pg. 5 F 9/25 Origins of the Musical Color Line II 1. Miller, Segregating Sound, chapter 4 M 9/28 Origins of the Musical Color Line III 1. Miller, Segregating Sound, chapters 6-7 Deadline: Reading Response on Miller W 9/30 Blues II: Classic Blues Singers 1. Davis, Blues Legacies and Black Feminism, pp Bessie Smith, Backwater Blues * 2. Ma Rainey, Blame it on the Blues * F 10/2 Blues III: Classic Blues Singers 1. Davis, Blues Legacies and Black Feminism, pp Excerpt from Lawrence W. Levine, Black Culture and Black Consciousness* M 10/5 Blues IV: Country Blues In-class viewing and discussion: Leadbelly, Pick a Bale O Cotton 1. Benjamin Filene, Our Singing Country : John and Alan Lomax, Leadbelly, and the Construction of an American Past * W 10/7 Jazz and Civil Rights: Billie Holiday and Strange Fruit 1. Davis, Blues Legacies and Black Feminism, pp Billie Holiday, Strange Fruit * F 10/9 In-class viewing and discussion: Strange Fruit Take Home Exam distributed at end of class

6 HI-280 A1 pg. 6 M 10/12 Columbus Day No Class Deadline: Take Home Exam Rock n Roll, Pop, Rhythm and Blues, Soul, Funk, and the Civil Rights Movement Tu 10/13 Monday Schedule of Classes The Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s: Social and Political Contexts W 10/14 Rock n Roll & Musical Miscegenation 1. Excerpt from Ward, Just My Soul Responding, pp * 1. Big Mama Thornton, Hound Dog * 2. Elvis Presley, Hound Dog * F 10/ s Pop Music 1. Excerpt from Ward, Just My Soul Responding, pp * 1. Sam Cooke, A Change is Gonna Come * M 10/19 The Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s: Social and Political Contexts 1. Excerpt from Bruce J. Schulman, Lyndon B. Johnson and American Liberalism* 2. Lyndon B. Johnson, The American Promise * W 10/21 Voices of the Civil Rights Movement: King and X 1. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail * 2. Malcolm X, The Ballot or the Bullet * F 10/ s Freedom Songs I In-class discussion: Soundtrack for a Revolution 1. We Shall Overcome * Film:

7 HI-280 A1 pg Soundtrack for a Revolution M 10/ s Freedom Songs II 1. Excerpt from Shana L. Redmond, Anthem W 10/28 Motown & Cultural Politics I Smith, Dancing in the Street, Introduction, chapter 1 F 10/30 Motown & Cultural Politics II Smith, Dancing in the Street, chapter 2 M 11/2 Motown & Cultural Politics III Reading: Smith, Dancing in the Street, chapters 3-4 Deadline: Reading Response for Smith W 11/4 Nina Simone In-class discussion: What Happened, Miss Simone? Film: 1. What Happened, Miss Simone? F 11/6 Nina Simone II 1. Ruth Feldstein, I Don t Trust You Anymore : Nina Simone, Culture, and Black Activism in the 1960s * 1. Nina Simone, Mississippi Goddam * M 11/9 Folk Singers and Civil Rights I In-class viewing and discussion: Pete Seeger: The Power of Song 1. Excerpt from Ronald D. Cohen, Rainbow Quest*

8 HI-280 A1 pg. 8 W 11/11 Folk Singers and Civil Rights II 1. Charles Hughes, Allowed to Be Free: Bob Dylan and the Civil Rights Movement * 1. Bob Dylan, Oxford Town F 11/13 Civil Rights in the 1970s: Social and Political Contexts Funk and Cultural Nationalism I 1. Ward, Just My Soul Responding, pp * M 11/16 Funk and Cultural Nationalism II 1. Ward, Just My Soul Responding, pp , * 2. Larry Neal, The Black Arts Movement * 1. James Brown, Say it Loud! (I m Black and I m Proud) * Hip-Hop in the Post-Civil Rights Era W 11/18 Hip-Hop and Civil Rights I Chang, Can t Stop Won t Stop, Introduction, Prelude, chapters 1 and 4 F 11/20 Hip-Hop and Civil Rights II Chang, Can t Stop Won t Stop, chapters 5 and 7 M 11/23 Hip-Hop and Civil Rights III In-class viewing and discussion: The Freshest Kids: A History of the B-Boy Deadline: Analytic Paper W 11/25-11/29 Thanksgiving Recess M 11/30 Hip-Hop and Civil Rights IV Chang, Can t Stop Won t Stop, chapters 8-11 Deadline: Reading Response for Chang

9 HI-280 A1 pg. 9 W 12/2 Race Relations in the 1980s 1. Excerpt from Gil Troy, Morning in America* F 12/4 Hip-Hop and Civil Rights V In-class viewing and discussion: Straight Outta Compton 1. Chang, Can t Stop Won t Stop, chapter 14 M 12/7 Hip-Hop and Civil Rights VI 1. Craig A. Meyer and Todd D. Snyder, The New Political Rhetoric of Hip-Hop Music in the Obama Era * 2. Derrick P. Alridge, From Civil Rights to Hip Hop: Toward a Nexus of Ideas * W 12/9 Course Wrap-Up Final Exam Date TBD