Students identify musical characteristics of gospel and sing a gospel selection. They practice the call and response technique. After going through individual parts, they sing the entire song with piano accompaniment.

High schoolers identify many careers within the music industry such as producer, A&R representative and recording studio engineer. They connect achievements of noted artists with their roles in the music industry.

Students listen to many examples of Motown music and explain the relationship between the word "Motown" and the city of Detroit. They examine and identify distinctive musical elements of the early "Motown Sound."

Students explore the connections between Langson Hughes and blues music. In this African American culture lesson, students compare and contrast blues music with poetry and short stories by Langston Hughes.

The Harlem Renaissance brought forth many American art forms including jazz, and the writings of Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes. Using a carefully curated set of documents from the Library of Congress, pupils see the cultural...

Ezell Blair, Jr., David Richmond, Franklin McCain and Joseph McNeil changed history. Their sit-in at the lunch counter of the Woolworths in Greensboro, North Carolina on February 1, 1960 became a model for the nonviolent protests that...

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....

Learners examine the time period of the Harlem Renaissance. In groups, they compare and contrast the type of art before and after the movement along with the state of society at the time. After reading a book on the topic of their...

This lesson focuses on how the blues both operates as poetry and informs the poetry of many prominent African American poets. Young scholars consider the poetic devices and recurring themes in blues lyrics and the significance of the...

Students complete a unit of 9 lessons to learn about realism in music during the time of the Underground Railroad. In this music realism lesson, students learn about coded lyrics in the slave songs. Students complete 9 lessons using...

Music, writing, and activism all tell the story of history! The resource uses these elements and more in a presentation to discuss the Jazz Age and Harlem Renaissance. Your class views biographies, discusses important events, and...

In this music worksheet, students identify and define migration. They circle the different types of music created by the African-Americans who were brought to the New World. Students also explain why slavery is a bad thing.

Middle schoolers recognize and clap the syncopated rhythmic beat of a rap song and identify recurring rhythmic pattern in the excerpt of "Dance of the Adolescents" from Igor Stravinsky's Rite of Spring.

In this music learning exercise, students circle names of Native American tribes or nations. They answer three true/false questions. Students answer 3 multiple choice question about the history of Native America. They name 8 music...

Who else had a dream other than Martin Luther King, Jr.? Pupils explore civil rights leaders in a fourth lesson out of a series of five about people who paved the way to freedom for African Americans. The inquiry-based unit has your...

Display creative works of art after learning about Kwanzaa. Kindergartners hear stories about the history of Kwanzaa and its celebrations. They then create artwork, practice African dances and listen to African music.

Students discover the significance of similarities and contrasts of three separate cultures of the United States through music. They take out maps and trace the expedition of the Spanish along the coasts of Mexico and North and South...

In this English activity, students read about Barack Obama. Students engage in a variety of reading and listening comprehension activities related to the article on Barack Obama.

Students explore music by African women. In this African society lesson plan, students compare and contrast the roles of African and American women. Students listen to music by African women and analyze the lyrics of the music.

Students discover how storytelling can shape a person's tradition.Students examine different methods of storytelling such as music, biographies, and African folktales. They then demonstrate their knowledge of storytelling by writing...

Learners gain an understanding of early jazz. They study Dixieland and the Roaring Twenties. They examine the American historical significance and cultural implications of early jazz.

A reading of Walter Dean Myers' "Harlem" sets the stage for studying the literature, art, and music of the Harlem Renaissance. The lesson begins with a review of the social, political, and economic conditions of the 1920s and 1930s that...

Introduce your seventh graders to the Harlem Renaissance with a unit that explores this dynamic period's music, literature, and ideas. The 160-page guide includes a unit calendar, an introduction to the unit, 10 richly detailed lessons...