Activity
Digital History

Digital History: Avant Garde

For Students 9th - 10th
Synopsis of the huge cultural shifts that occurred in America in the 1920s in art, music, literature, and among intelligentsia.
Handout
Encyclopedia Britannica

Encyclopedia Britannica: Guide to Black History: Taj Mahal

For Students 9th - 10th
This entry from Encyclopedia Brittanica's Guide to Black History features Taj Mahal, an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, and one of the pioneers of what came to be called world music. He combined blues and other African-American...
Handout
Other

Classical Music Navigator: Forms and Styles

For Students 9th - 10th
This alphabetized list of musical forms and styles briefly defines and describes the types of musical sounds and genres created throughout history.
Interactive
American Museum of Natural History

American Museum of Natural History: Anthropology: Sounds of the Silk Road

For Students Pre-K - 1st
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...
Interactive
Smithsonian Institution

National Museum of American History: Within These Walls

For Students 4th - 8th
If these walls could talk! Explore American History through one house that has experienced over 200 years of history. This interactive site has pictures of artifacts, primary sources, and music from 1757-1945. Be a detective and guess...
Website
Other

Parlor Songs Academy: Music as Propaganda in World War I

For Students 9th - 10th
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...
Unit Plan
Annenberg Foundation

Annenberg Learner: American Passages: Poetry of Liberation

For Students 9th - 10th
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...
Website
Smithsonian Institution

National Museum of American History: A Vision of Puerto Rico

For Students 9th - 10th
A virtual look at a wide-ranging mix of art and artifacts that visually represent Puerto Rico's culture and history. With thematic overviews of everyday life on the island, music, families, and religion along with many useful educational...
Unit Plan
Smithsonian Institution

National Museum of American History: Documents Gallery: Ellington and Strayhorn

For Students 9th - 10th
Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn, two of the greatest jazz composers, collaborated on hundreds of works. As you explore this exhibition, you will have an opportunity to view original music scores, listen to audio clips, and view videos...
Website
PBS

Pbs: Independent Lens: Strange Fruit: Protest Music Past and Present

For Students 9th - 10th
Listen to audio clips of songs of protest from eight eras of U.S. history. Explore the lyrics, learn about the songwriters, and gather background information on the music that served and continues to serve as a catalyst for thought,...
Website
Other

Lone Star College Kingwood: American Cultural History: The Twentieth Century

For Students 9th - 10th
A comprehensive look at life in the twentieth century complete with timelines and photos. Decades are broken down by art and architecture, books and literature, educational movements, fads and fashion, historic events and technology,...
Website
Library of Congress

Loc: An American Ballroom Companion:dance Instruction Manuals (1490 1920)

For Students 9th - 10th
The Library of Congress has over 200 original dance manuals from 1490 to 1920. This resource includes essays and treatises on etiquette, dance theory and history, theatrical dance, music for the dance, and more.
Website
PBS

Pbs: Independent Lens: Strange Fruit, the Film

For Students 9th - 10th
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.
Graphic
Smithsonian Institution

Smithsonian American Art Museum: Picturing the 1930s

For Students 9th - 10th
Enter a virtual movie theater and learn about art of the 1930s in the United States. Exhibitions include: The Depression, The New Deal, The Country, Industry, Labor, The City, Leisure, and American People.
Handout
Other

Kingwood Library: American Cultural History: 1940 1949

For Students 9th - 10th
Take a walk through this part of American history surrounding World War II. Each section includes cultural history of the time, with links pertaining to art and architecture, books and literature, education, fads and fashion, historic...
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.
Lesson Plan
Smithsonian Institution

National Museum of American History: Smithsonian Jazz: Duke Ellington

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
This site provides audio clips, photos, and biographical information of this legendary composer and performer. A match game teaches and tests your knowledge of Ellington.
Handout
Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Comission

Explore Pa History: Billy Eckstine

For Students 9th - 10th
Learn of the historical contributions of jazz musician, band leader, and Pennsylvania native, Billy Eckstine in this succinct biography.
Lesson Plan
PBS

Pbs: The Blues Classroom

For Teachers 9th - 10th
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...
Activity
Library of Congress

Loc: Native American Reference Weblist

For Students 9th - 10th
The Library of Congress provides a series of sites about Native Americans, featuring their history, literature and culture, news and current events,government and law, their libraries, museums, and archives, and, lastly, their tribes and...
Primary
Library of Congress

Loc: Sheet Music About Civil War

For Students 9th - 10th
This resource provides more than 200 sheet music compositions that represent Lincoln, the Civil War and the times. Compiled by the greatest private collector of Lincoln material, Alfred Whital Stern.
Lesson Plan
National Endowment for the Humanities

Neh: Edsit Ement: Freedom Riders and Popular Music of the Civil Rights Movement

For Teachers 9th - 10th
In this lesson plan, students 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.
Unit Plan
Texas Education Agency

Texas Gateway: The American Identity: An Artistic Reflection

For Students 9th - 10th
[Accessible by TX Educators. Free Registration/Login Required] Given selected examples of American art, music, and literature, students will be able to identify the era of U.S. history that is reflected in the art.
Article
A&E Television

History.com: The First Woman to Swim the English Channel Beat the Men's Record by Two Hours

For Students 9th - 10th
It was August 6, 1926, the day that an American, Gertrude Ederle, was poised to become the first woman to swim the English Channel. Only five men had ever swum the waterway before. The challenges included quickly changing tides, six-foot...

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