Other
Jews in America: Portal to Jewish American History
Complete with music from Aaron Copland, the Center for Jewish History provides an interactive website that traces the history of Jews in the United States from 1654 until today. Authors provide a searchable gallery of photographs,...
Wikimedia
Wikipedia: Literatura De Los Estados Unidos
Wikipedia overview in Spanish of American literature from its roots to contemporary authors and themes. This entry is a broad sweep -- no era is covered in depth but it's a helpful "big picture" view for Spanish-speaking students, with...
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.
Smithsonian Institution
Anacostia Museum: The Renaissance: Black Art of the Twenties
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.
Library of Congress
Loc: Performing Arts Encyclopedia: Take Me Out to the Ball Game
Did you know that the song "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" is over one hundred years old? Find out why this song has enjoyed lasting popularity. Includes an image of the artwork for the sheet music of this song.
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...
Library of Congress
Loc: The African American Odyssey: A Quest for Full Citizenship
Online exhibit from the Library of Congress explores black America's quest for equality from the early national period through the twentieth century. Exhibit contains a wealth of items including books, government documents, manuscripts,...
Digital History
Digital History: Avant Garde
Synopsis of the huge cultural shifts that occurred in America in the 1920s in art, music, literature, and among intelligentsia.
Other
Life in the Usa: American Culture: Country and Western Music
This site gives a brief definition and history of country and western music.
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: Guide to Black History: Taj Mahal
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...
Other
Classical Music Navigator: Forms and Styles
This alphabetized list of musical forms and styles briefly defines and describes the types of musical sounds and genres created throughout history.
American Museum of Natural History
American Museum of Natural History: Anthropology: Sounds of the Silk Road
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...
PBS
Pbs: Independent Lens: Strange Fruit, the Film
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.
Annenberg Foundation
Annenberg Learner: American Passages: Poetry of Liberation
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...
PBS
Pbs: Independent Lens: Strange Fruit: Protest Music Past and Present
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,...
PBS
Wnet: Thirteen: Slavery & the Making of America
Using primary documents, oral histories, and other historical resources, discover how the arts of Africa, Europe, and pre-Civil War America influenced the culture of enslaved African Americans.
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.
Library of Congress
Loc: Native American Reference Weblist
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...
Library of Congress
Loc: Sheet Music About Civil War
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.
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of American History: Lisa Law Timeline 1963 1973
This timeline shows some very important events in the ten year span between 1963 and 1973. It is a quick, brief overview by year.
Yale University
Yale New Haven Teachers Institute: A Guide Through the Culture of the Blues
An extraordinary curriculum unit to teach blues and all its cultural implications.
Siteseen
Siteseen: American Historama: The Jazz Age
A comprehensive overview with many interesting facts and information on the Jazz Age, a period in U.S. history associated with exuberance and the introduction of jazz music.
PBS
Pbs: Biography of Dizzy Gillespie
This PBS biography about trumpeter and jazz musician Dizzy Gillespie includes photos, multiple audio features, and links within the text to other famous musicians.
Library of Congress
Loc: Florida Folklife
Library of Congress provides materials from the WPA Collections, 1937-1942. Selections include narratives and songs from ethnic and cultural groups, including African Americans, Bahamian Americans, Cuban Americans, American Indians, and...