PBS
Pbs: American Roots Music: Lesson Three: Gospel Music Meets a Wide Audience
The third lesson deals with the emergence of gospel as a form of popular music among a general public. Gospel is a musical genre with roots in the African American church, particularly in the South. Between the 1940s and the 1960s,...
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...
PBS
Pbs: American Roots Music
If teaching a unit about the history of popular music in America, this PBS web site supporting their four-part TV broadcast of a few years ago would make a great resource. Includes lesson plans and oral histories too.
Lin and Don Donn
Lin and Don Donn: Africa Lesson Plans
A large collection of lesson plan links, including links to video clips, stories and folk tales, games, PowerPoints, and clip art.
PBS
Pbs: Continental Harmony
PBS presents several activities and lesson plans that cover the concepts of identifying different forms of music, learning about musical imagery, writing in response to music, and creating lyrics. The Sound Lounge has many interactive...
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.
National Endowment for the Humanities
Neh: Edsit Ement: Freedom Riders and Popular Music of the Civil Rights Movement
In this lesson plan, young scholars will consider "The Freedom Riders and the Popular Music of the Civil Rights Movement." The plan includes worksheets and other student materials that can be found under the resource tab.
PBS
Pbs: Music, Slavery and the Civil War
This lesson plan could serve as the basis of a curriculum unit on slavery and/or the Civil War. Spirituals are analyzed, especially their cultural implications.
Other
Dayton Art Institute an African Slit Gong
Art and music are very much related. In fact, the African culture often times designed fun looking instruments like the gong on this website. Includes directions on how to make your own gong.
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...
PBS
Pbs Teachers: February One (Lessons on the Greensboro Sit in of 1960)
Find two lesson plans developed for a PBS documentary about the Greensboro Four, whose sit-in at a whites-only Woolworth's lunch counter was a key event in the unfolding history of the civil rights movement. The lessons ask students to...
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."
Library of Congress
Loc: Family Customs Past and Present: Exploring Cultural Rituals
Photos, documents, music, and stories help students deepen their understanding of the rituals and customs of various cultures throughout American history.
PBS
Pbs American Masters: Scientific American: Following Muddy's Trail
This site has a lesson plan on Muddy Waters focused on the American Masters documentary about him. Parallels the Great Migration with the growth of the blues music movement in America. Click on Muddy's name to access a detailed biography...
PBS
Pbs: The Blues as Poetry
Discover what the relationship is between poetry and the blues. This site features lesson plans and online resources.
PBS
Pbs: Crossroads Blues
Your student will discover more about the life and work of Robert Johnson with this informative lesson plan. This resource features lesson plans, web resources, and more.
Scholastic
Scholastic: Early Childhood Today: Soulful Festival
Provides early childhood education activities that engage African American culture. Poetry, music, foods, and more are included.
Georgia Department of Education
Ga Virtual Learning: American Literature and Composition: The Harlem Renaissance
This lesson is an introduction to a unit on The Harlem Renaissance, the period between the end of WW I through mid 1930s when African Americans were recognized for their literature, music, and art. It discusses their themes and lists...
PBS
Pbs: New Perspectives on the West
This in-depth resource presents a history of the American West from pre-Columbian times until World War I with profiles, documents, and images. It encourages visitors to link these into patterns of historical meaning for themselves....
Emory University
Emory University: Odyssey Online
Odyssey Online is a resource for both students and teachers as they explore world mythology in reading, writing, history, and art classes. Providing sections on Near Eastern, Egyptian, Greek, Roman, and African mythology, Odyssey uses...
John F. Kennedy Center
The Kennedy Center: Harriet Tubman: Secret Messages Through Song
This ArtsEdge instructional activity, part of a larger unit about Harriet Tubman, not only teaches students about spirituals but effectively illustrates the struggle for freedom from slavery.
PBS
Pbs: Identity, Oppression, and Protest
This lesson plan supplements a study of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. The lesson is designed to help students understand the impact of Jim Crow Laws and their impact of oppression on African Americans. Blues music is shared to help...
Yale University
Yale New Haven Teachers Institute: Influence of Folk
This site, which explores the influence of musical folk traditions in the poetry of Langston Hughes and Nicolas Guillen, provides lesson plans, a biography, examples of Hughes' poetry, and details about his meeting with Nicolas Guillen.
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Math + Arts: Drum Beating & Foot Stomping
In this lesson, students watch African dance and calculate tempo. Students also calculate heart beats at rest and after exercise and convert beats per second to beats per minute. Media resources and teacher materials are included.