Creating a Civil Rights Movement Soundtrack

Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students activate prior knowledge to analyze song lyrics from the civil rights movement and then create an extended play list (EP), which contains more music tracks than a single but fewer than a full album, to represent a specific event in that history—while also creating accurate citations for the music.

This lesson was originally used for 5th graders after they accessed an informational text about Emmett Till in class. Although this specific lesson was created around analyzing lyrics that could represent events during the civil rights movement, the product of the lesson could be applicable to various content areas. Examples include creating a soundtrack for a daily independent reading title, a different time period in history, general music/music appreciation, or works of art.

SUBJECT:	Social Studies The Arts Other
GRADE LEVEL:	Middle School High School
OBJECTIVES:	Students will use background knowledge to create an EP that represents a chosen segment of the civil rights movement. Students will write about how the songs they chose represent that specific event in history. Students will learn how to create citations for audio sources, including for music and speeches.
MATERIALS:	Lift Every Voice and Sing: A Celebration of the African-American National Anthem by James Weldon Johnson, illustrated by Elizabeth Catlett (Bloomsbury Children's Books 2019) Audio of Beyonce's "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing" Laptops Internet Lyrics handouts Lesson slide deck View the PDF
TIME NEEDED:	One 50-minute lesson

INSTRUCTIONAL PROCEDURE

Instructional Note: This lesson uses a scaffolding instructional strategy of "I do, we do, you do." With this method, the lesson starts with the teacher as the primary content deliverer ("I do"); then moves to a shared construction of knowledge, as the teacher still models and cues but students give more input ("we do"); then to students relying on themselves and each other to complete the learning task ("you do").

Warm Up/Bell Ringer

Warm up with a read aloud of Lift Every Voice and Sing; provide background and explain the significance during time period (I Do); pair with audio of Beyonce's "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing."

Essential Question: How does music reflect culture?

Note: This question is essential for students to understand how music is a representation of an artist's perception of society at that moment in time. It also demonstrates how music can convey messages of oppressed/marginalized groups. Music helps listeners understand perspectives of current events.

Follow-up question: Why does this matter?

Ask students to give examples of how music they're familiar with reflects today's culture (e.g. "Alright" by Kendrick Lamar, "This is America" by Childish Gambino, "Glor"y by John Legend, "Praying" by Kesha).

Introduce Lesson

Students will learn how to write a citation by creating an EP representative of the civil rights movement.

Present instructional content by using the lesson slide deck (available in the Materials above), discussing the following:

What is a citation?
Why is a citation important?
How to write a citation
"Strange Fruit" video (We Do)
"I Have a Dream" video
"A Change Gonna Come" video

What are the messages conveyed in King's speech and Cooke's song? Discuss how they reflect what's happening during this time period. (You Do)

Assignment

Students create an EP with three to four tracks that represent a period or event during the civil rights movement. Students can create the playlist using a music streaming platform like Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube (on their phones or laptop) or the printed template.

Students will work in table groups for the "You Do" discussion. Creating the EP is independent work, except for differentiation as needed.

Lesson Closure

Regroup as a whole class to share; refer back to the essential question (How does music reflect culture?), and ask students to share a track from their EP, why they chose it, and how it reflects the time period.

Ask students: How did we achieve the standards during the lesson?

Submit the MLA citation for the songs included in the EP to show evidence of ethically using others' work.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

For more on this activity, see Courtney Pentland's editorial, "Exploring the Soundtracks of History" and the accompanying episode of the SLC Podcast, One Lesson at a Time, where Erika Long shares with us the process of bringing this lesson to students.

About the Author

Erika Long, MSIS, is a certified school librarian, currently serving as a consultant and library advocate. Long is secretary/treasurer of AASL, past-president of the Tennessee Library Association, and serves in ALA governance. She has guest blogged and co-authored the "Equity" chapter in Core Values in School Librarianship: Responding with Commitment and Courage. Connect with her on Twitter @erikaslong and Instagram @notyomamaslibrarian.

Select Citation Style:

MLA Citation

Long, Erika. "Creating a Civil Rights Movement Soundtrack." School Library Connection, March 2022, schoollibraryconnection.com/content/lessonplan/2275825?learningModuleId=2275825&topicCenterId=0.

Chicago Citation

Long, Erika. "Creating a Civil Rights Movement Soundtrack." School Library Connection, March 2022. https://schoollibraryconnection.com/content/lessonplan/2275825?learningModuleId=2275825&topicCenterId=0.

APA Citation

Long, E. (2022, March). Creating a civil rights movement soundtrack. School Library Connection. https://schoollibraryconnection.com/content/lessonplan/2275825?learningModuleId=2275825&topicCenterId=0

https://schoollibraryconnection.com/content/lessonplan/2275825?learningModuleId=2275825&topicCenterId=0

Entry ID: 2275825