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...
Handout
Black Past

Black Past: Bert Williams

For Students 9th - 10th
This encyclopedia article gives a good overview of the life of Bert Williams, a black entertainer of the early 1900's who broke many color lines.
Handout
Black Past

Black Past: Watts, Andre

For Students 9th - 10th
This encyclopedia article gives a brief biography of Andre Watts, the first internationally known black classical pianist.
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Black Past

Black Past: Joplin, Scott

For Students 9th - 10th
This is a brief encyclopedia biography of the ragtime composer, Scott Joplin, whose music was influential in the growth of jazz.
Activity
Smithsonian Institution

Anacostia Museum: The Renaissance: Black Art of the Twenties

For Students 9th - 10th
Provides an informative description of the "Black Arts of the Twenties," which was better known as the Harlem Renaissance. Learn about the culture, art, music, and writings of this period.
Handout
Encyclopedia Britannica

Encyclopedia Britannica: Guide to Black History: Jack the Rapper

For Students 9th - 10th
Jack the Rapper (Jack Gibson) helped open the first African-American-owned radio station in the United States, WERD in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1949. Gibson learned about radio while working as a gofer for deejay Al Benson in Chicago. He...
Handout
Encyclopedia Britannica

Encyclopedia Britannica: Lloyd Price

For Students 9th - 10th
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Lloyd Price, an American singer, songwriter, and entrepreneur. Price made his mark in rock music history with his exuberant tenor and his flair for recasting rhythm and blues as...
Handout
Black Past

Black Past: Remembered and Reclaimed: Josephine Baker

For Students 9th - 10th
Entry, from an online encyclopedia of African American history, for Josephine Baker.
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Encyclopedia Britannica

Encyclopedia Britannica: Guide to Black History: Berry Gordy, Jr.

For Students 9th - 10th
This entry from Encyclopedia Brittanica's Guide to Black History features Berry Gordy, Jr., an American businessman, founder of the Motown Record Corporation (1959), which became the most successful black-owned music company in the...
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...
eBook
Blackdog Media

Classic Reader: "Two Hearts That Beat as One" by Frank Norris

For Students 9th - 10th
"Two Hearts that Beat as One" is the first of four in the collection about the Three Black Crowes by Frank Norris. Read the full text on this site.
Handout
Black Past

Black Past: Jackson, Mahalia

For Students 9th - 10th
This encyclopedia article tells the high points of Mahalia Jackson's life. She was a world-renowned gospel singer whose influence was felt in the civil rights movement.
Lesson Plan
John F. Kennedy Center

The Kennedy Center: Lift Every Voice and Sing

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
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."
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PBS

Pbs American Masters: Sarah Vaughan

For Students 9th - 10th
An informative biography of jazz singer Sarah Vaughan (1924-1990 CE) is presented highlighting her long musical career.
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Encyclopedia Britannica

Encyclopedia Britannica: Snoop Dogg

For Students 9th - 10th
Learn about the life of American rapper and songwriter, Snoop Dogg, who became one of the best-known figures in gangsta rap in the 1990s and was for many the epitome of West Coast hip-hop culture.
Handout
Encyclopedia Britannica

Encyclopedia Britannica: Celia Cruz

For Students 9th - 10th
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Celia Cruz, a Cuban singer who reigned for decades as the "Queen of Salsa Music," electrifying audiences with her wide-ranging, soulful voice and rhythmically compelling style.
Handout
Encyclopedia Britannica

Encyclopedia Britannica: Carl Van Vechten

For Students 9th - 10th
Learn about Carl Van Vechten, a U.S. novelist, music and drama critic, and an influential figure in New York literary circles in the 1920s.
Handout
Encyclopedia Britannica

Encyclopedia Britannica: Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five

For Students 9th - 10th
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, an American group that was instrumental in the development of hip-hop music.
Handout
Encyclopedia Britannica

Encyclopedia Britannica: Modern Jazz Quartet (Mjq)

For Students 9th - 10th
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Modern Jazz Quartet (MJQ), an American musical ensemble noted for delicate percussion sonorities, innovations in jazz forms, and consistently high-performance standards sustained over a...
Handout
Encyclopedia Britannica

Encyclopedia Britannica: Mississippi John Hurt

For Students 9th - 10th
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Mississippi John Hurt, an American country-blues singer and guitarist who first recorded in the late 1920s but whose greatest fame and influence came when he was rediscovered in the early...
Handout
Encyclopedia Britannica

Encyclopedia Britannica: Wayne Shorter

For Students 9th - 10th
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Wayne Shorter, an African-American musician and composer, a major jazz saxophonist, among the most influential hard-bop and modal musicians and a pioneer of jazz-rock fusion music.
Handout
Encyclopedia Britannica

Encyclopedia Britannica: Whitney Houston

For Students 9th - 10th
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Whitney Houston, an American singer and actress who was one of the best-selling musical performers of the 1980s and '90s.

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