#pmpsjf23 course calendar

About the Course Calendar

Texts are to be read/watched/listened to for day they are listed. Homework in addition to texts will be presented in yellow. The schedule is subject to change; it is your responsibility to check it regularly.

We meet as a full class unless the schedule reads, “Meeting Individually.”

Jump to a week: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16

Week One: Introductions and Case Studies 1 & 2

M 8/28: Case Study 1 (instrumentation has meaning): Jimi Hendrix, “Star Spangled Banner” (1969); live footage
Hand out Reading Response Assignment

Assignment for Wednesday, 8/24

Please read through the course web site carefully and post two questions you have about it to this anonymous form:

https://forms.gle/EaqmsFTJBrpVJ8Dg6

If you have yet to complete the confidential Start of Semester survey I emailed last week, please do.

And read through the Reading Response Assignment. Your first response is due next Wednesday.

There is no Reading Response due, but I would like you to read the beginning of Rosenthal and Flacks, “Aretha Franklin Signs to Charlie Manson,” which is chapter two of the book Playing for Change: Music and Musicians in the Service of Social Movements. Read up to the heading “From the Artist: Transmission” on page 48. I’d like you to annotate and take notes on the text. I will check that you have done both in class on Wednesday. You can find this and all readings on the Readings and Texts page.

As you are reading I’d like you to pay close attention to and be ready to discuss Rosenthal and Flacks’ discussions about: 1. how music (as opposed to lyrics) make meaning; and 2. distinctions between message, content, and effect. We will begin to discuss these ideas (ideas we will return to throughout the semester) in terms of Bruce Springsteen’s 1984 mega-hit, “Born in the U.S.A.”

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to email me.

W 8/30: Case Study 2 (music vs lyrics): Bruce Springsteen, “Born in the U.S.A.” (1984), (original recording, 1982), (Broadway version, 2018); BITUSA lyrics; Rosenthal and Flacks (2011) “Aretha Franklin Sings to Charlie Manson”, pages 39 – 48.

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Week Two: The Complexity of Meaning and Case Study 3

M 9/4: No Class — Labor Day

Assignment for Wednesday, 9/6
On Wednesday we move to our 3rd Case Study, which will focus on how historical contexts, visual and performative choices, song credits, and sampling choices communicate messages.

Then, watch the below videos of Shakira & J. Lo’s Full Pepsi Super Bowl LIV Halftime Show, Sinead O’Connor’s 1992 SNL performance of Bob Marley’s “War”, and listen to the following songs on the Protest Music Spotify Playlist from Beyonce’s 2022 album, Renaissance: “Cozy,” “Alien Superstar,” “Break My Soul,” and “Pure/Honey.”

Please note that the songs we listen to this semester, as well as many of the texts we read/watch/listen to, will contain foul language, sexualized language, sexualized images, racial slurs, critiques of religion, and other potentially other sensitive and/or offensive content. You are not required to listen to, watch, or read anything that will make you uncomfortable.

I’d also like you to read from Rosenthal and Flacks, “Aretha Franklin Signs to Charlie Manson,” from page 48 (where we left off through the end. Annotate and take notes.

As you watch and listen, I’d like you to try to tease out the arguments (if any) the artists are making based on their deliberate choices in the visuals, performance, collaborations, and/or use of samples. I recommend doing some research to help you understand the context in which these are appearing and/or what the artists were attempting to achieve with the performances and use of samples/collaborations (these three articles might help you get started). As Rosenthal and Flacks suggest, limit your focus on the lyrics as much as possible.

For your first Reading Response, I’d like you to:

On page 48, Rosenthal and Flacks argue that we need to “look at other contributing factors through which music conveys meanings, but that also shape what the music means.” In the pages that follow, the authors discuss many of those contributing factors, such as genre, performance, context, voice, performer’s image, and so on.

For your Reading Response, I’d like you to consider how the Shakira & J. Lo in their Superbowl performances, Beyonce in one of the songs we listened to, and Sinead O’Connor are using non-lyrical codes, cues, and contexts to make particular arguments and, as a result, impact meaning. Refer to and cite Rosenthal and Flacks to both enhance and further your discussion.

Don’t forget that the Reading Response has TWO parts: the Response and the Reflection. Both MUST be completed. Use bolded headers to separate the two.

If you have any questions, please let me know.

Wed 9/6: Case Study 3 (context, performance, and sampling): Shakira & J. Lo’s FULL Pepsi Super Bowl LIV Halftime Show (2020); Sinead O’Connor’s 1992 SNL performance of Bob Marley’s “War”; selections from Beyonce’s Renaissance (2022); Rosenthal and Flacks (2011) “Aretha Franklin Sings to Charlie Manson” (pages 48 – 64)
Reading Response 1 Due (required)
Hand out Podcast and Podcast Proposal Assignments

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Week Three: Visuals and Lyrics, Case Studies 4 & 5

Assignment for Monday, 9/11
Please read through the Podcast Overview and Proposal Assignments and come to class with any questions you have. I strongly recommend you also spend some quality time listening to prior student podcasts, which you can find on the Podcast page Protest Anthems website, so you can get an idea what they are like.

The assignment for Monday is going to focus on how visuals compliment, enhance, or create new meaning and/or make more clear the song’s possible message (as Rosenthal and Flacks understand the terms meaning and message), and to consider what role visuals can play in making a song political. We’ll be doing this through the videos for five songs, Pink Floyd, “Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)” (1979), Hozier, “Take Me to Church” (2013), Childish Gambino, “This is America” (2018), Brandi Carlile, “The Joke” (2018), and Janelle Monae, “Turntables” (2020).

I’d like you to read Rosenthal and Flacks, “What Counts as Political Music?” (see the Readings and Texts page) and then watch each of the below videos.

Please watch both videos and in your second Reading Response I’d like you to choose two videos where you consider how the visuals complement, enhance, or create new meaning and/or make more clear the song’s possible message. You can feel free to do some research on the visuals, but please don’t just regurgitate what others have suggested as interpretations. In your discussion, cite Rosenthal and Flack’s discussions on political music and what they have written about visuals (from last week’s reading). And if you think a screenshot or two of scenes will enhance your discussion, go ahead and add ’em!

If you have any questions, please let me know.

M 9/11: Case Study 4 (visuals): Pink Floyd, “Another Brick in the Wall (part 2),” Pink Floyd (1979), Hozier, “Take Me to Church” (2013), Childish Gambino, “This is America” (2018), Brandi Carlile, “The Joke” (2018), Janelle Monae, “Turntables” (2020); Rosenthal and Flacks, “What Counts as Political Music?”
Reading Response 2 Due (required)

Assignment for Wednesday, 9/13
On Wednesday we will discuss our 5th case study, past to present, where we consider how within protest and social justice music the past is often present and the present is often reflective of the past.

To begin the work, I’d like you to read Sanger (1995), “The Need for Redefinition of Self,” from her wonderful book, “When the Spirit Says Sing!”: The Role of Freedom Songs in the Civil Rights Movement. This can be found on pages 3 – 10 in Selections Part 1 on the Readings and Texts page. Please ONLY read pages 3 – 10 under the heading, “The Need for Redefinition of Self.” We’ll read more for another day.

Then, I’d like you to listen to the following Talia Schlanger-narrated 2019 World Cafe interview with R&B, soul, and civil rights icon, Mavis Staples (who started performing with her family group, The Staples Singers) that aired on World Cafe (a radio show that is produced here in Philly):

For the music, we’ll be listening to at 9 songs by 7 Black women artists/groups starting with The Staples Singers’ 1965 hit, “Freedom Highway,” and then jumping to contemporary songs by Black women all released since 2018. On the Protest Music Spotify Playlist, start with “Freedom Highway” and continue through Mavis Staples and Levon Helm’s 2022 cover of “I Wish I Knew How it Would Feel to Be Free.” The song was was written and recorded by Billy Taylor in 1963 (10 days before JFK was assassinated, actually) and released in 1964. Nina Simone’s 1967 cover is the best known version.)

As you listen to the songs, I’d like you to identify several themes that you find running through them—themes that were perhaps introduced by Sanger and also perhaps discussed in the World Cafe interview. I’d also like you to do some research on both the artists and the songs themselves. (Note that you may come across some traumatizing childhood stories through this search.)

There is no Reading Response due on Wednesday, but please come to class with 5 things you are ready to share as part of the discussion. Please have these written on paper so you don’t need your computers open.

If you have any questions, please let me know.

W 9/13: Case Study 5 (past to present): Mavis Staples, H.E.R., Mickey Guyton, Our Native Daughters, Resistance Revival Chorus, Adia Victoria; Sanger (1995), “The Need for Redefinition of Self” (pages 3 – 10); Jack Blount on the banjo; Our Native Daughters on Banjo
Reading Response 3 Due (required)
F 9/15: Podcast Proposal Due by noon

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Week Four: Black Song Traditions and Political Music

Assignment for Monday, 9/18
The work for Monday is going to move us from our Case Studies to the main content of the course. To do so, we are starting with Black Spirituals from the period of American slavery. The spirituals we’ll be listening to were recorded by former partners in music and life, Kim and Reggie Harries, who have committed themselves to continuing to bring attention to and educate people about the importance of these songs.

So, I’d like you to read in Sanger Part 1 just the text under the heading “The African American Song Tradition,” which appears on pages 21 – 25 of the text. (There are two Sanger readings; be sure to choose the correct one.) I’d also like you to read the liner notes of Kim and Reggie Harris’s 1997 album, Steal Away: Songs of the Underground Railroad, including their introductory essay. Both texts are in the Readings and Texts page.

Then, please listen to the songs on the Protest Music Spotify Playlist by Kim and Reggie Harris (songs 24 – 29), which are selections from Steal Away and it’s 2007 sequel, Get On Board! Underground Railroad & Civil Rights Freedom Songs.

There is no Reading Response due on Monday, but please come to class with 5 things you are ready to share as part of the discussion, especially considering how these songs provided a potential space for empowerment. Please have these written on paper so you don’t need your computers open.

Please note that I have removed Reading Response 4, but Response 5 will still be required.

The work for Wednesday will include watching the documentary, Strange Fruit: The Biography of a Song (2002, 57 minutes). You will need to log in to Kanopy with your SJU email to be able to watch it. The documentary gives background information about Billie Holiday’s classic song, “Strange Fruit,” the era in which it was written, its effect on the Civil Rights movement, and why it is still important today. Note that the documentary depicts graphic images and descriptions of lynching and includes the use of racist language, ideas, and images in the presentation of historical events. Since it is an hour long, you may want to get started watching it this weekend.

If you have any questions, please let me know.

M 9/18: Sanger on Black song traditions (pp 21-25); Black Spirituals; songs of Kim and Reggie Harris; notes-for-sanger-harris-f23.docx
Reading Response 4 Due (required)
Hand out Listening Assignment

Assignment for Wednesday, 9/20
The work for Wednesday is going to move us into the initial stages of the Civil Right Movement, help us come to an understand of political music is (versus, say, outright protest music), and introduce us to a concept associated with both political and protest music that we’ll be referring to throughout the semester: “psychological imagination.”

I’d like you to re-read the short selection “What Counts as Political Music?” by Rosenthal and Flacks (see the Readings and Texts page) and Sanger (in Part 1) pages 21 – 25. Then watch the documentary, Strange Fruit: The Biography of a Song (2002, 57 minutes). You will need to log in to Kanopy with your SJU email to be able to watch it. The documentary gives background information about Billie Holiday’s classic song, “Strange Fruit,” the era in which it was written, its effect on the Civil Rights movement, and why it is still important today. Note that the documentary depicts graphic images and descriptions of lynching and includes the use of racist language, ideas, and images in the presentation of historical events.

(Update: At 12:00, the documentary discusses efforts to pass a federal antilynching law. The Emmett Till Antilynching Act was passed and signed into law on March 29, 2022, ten years after the documentary was released and 104 years after the first federal antilynching law was proposed.)

To help you understand the context in which “Strange Fruit” was written, please spend some time with the Monroe Work Today web site, which documents lynchings and other white supremacist activities in the United States (1834 – 1964). Make sure you click on the link to the interactive Map and zoom in to see the individual events.

Then, on the Protest Music Spotify Playlist, I’d like you to listen to Billy Holiday’s (1939) and Nina Simone’s (1965) versions of “Strange Fruit,” as well as Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car” (1998); Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” (2002) (songs 30 – 33).

For your Required Reading response, I’d like you to address the following prompt:

On page 20, Rosenthal and Flacks, borrowing from C. Wright Mills, begin a multipage exploration into the characteristics of political music by introducing the concept of “sociological imagination.” In your response, I’d like to try to consider if or how both “Strange Fruit” and either “Fast Car” or “Lose Yourself” function as political music. Where do we see psychological imagination at work? Each song’s “social roots”? Do they “have a purpose that goes beyond entertainment”?

We’ll talk about these in detail in class on Wednesday.

Please read through the Listening Posts assignment. If you have any questions, please let me know.

W 9/20: Billie Holiday, “Strange Fruit” (1939); Strange Fruit documentary; Nina Simone, “Strange Fruit” (1965); Tracy Chapman, “Fast Car”; Eminem, “Lose Yourself”; Rosenthal and Flacks (2011), “What Counts as Political Music?”; sociological imagination
Reading Response 5 Due (required)
F 9/22: First Listening Post (Context and Critique) Due by 11:00pm

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Week Five: Early Folk and Early Civil Rights Call and Response

Assignment for Monday, 9/25
Please read Rosenthal and Flacks, “The Music-Movement Link” (4 pages) and Brian Garman (2000) on Woody Guthrie’s politics, both of which are on the Readings and Texts page, and listen to Anderson’s Studio 360 on “This Land is Your Land”:

(Important note: Several large sections of the Garman piece is covered up so you don’t need to read them. They appear as covered up when viewed online. But, if you print your readings, depending on your settings, the full text may appear. Make sure you don’t read the sections you are not asked to read.)

Please listen to the songs 34 – 46 on the Protest Music Spotify Playlist starting with “This Land is Your Land” by Woody Guthrie, through “Deportees” by Tish Hinojosa. (There’s a bonus “Song to Woody” by Bob Dylan in there, too, and a version of “Which Side are You On?” by Guthrie’s good friend and collaborator, Pete Seeger, because Spotify doesn’t have a version by Guthrie.)

I have created an Early Folk and Blues Spotify playlist with songs that Garman discusses. You don’t need to listen them, but I strongly recommend listening to at least a few because doing so will give you sonic context for the discussions.

“Deportees” written but never recorded by Guthrie. I’ve included a few versions, so you can consider how different deliveries and voices affect your appreciation and understanding. In 2013, NPR did a story on The People Behind Woody Guthrie’s “Deportee,” which you might be interested in listening to. You can also see the original 1948 AP newspaper article.

This is the first week of Optional Reading Responses. I can’t recommend strongly enough that you complete your Optional Responses sooner rather than later, so you don’t need to complete them while trying to focus on your poodcast assignment work.

If you are completing Reading Response 6, please respond to the following prompt:

On page 116, Garman writes, “Describing himself as an “educator” rather than an “entertainer,” Guthrie articulated a repressed history in which working people fought for social and economic justice.” In your response, I’d like to show how that comes across in one or more of the songs we’re listening to (recognizing that Guthrie had 100s of songs). Try to connect back to sociological imagination and political music, as well.

If you have any questions, please let me know.

M 9/25: Rosenthal and Flacks on Social Movements and Folk Music (pages 7 – 14); Garman on Guthrie; Studio 360 on “This Land Is Your Land”; “This Land is Your Land” Obama Inauguration; lyrics; quotes
Reading Response 6 due (optional)

Assignment for Wednesday, 9/27
The work for Wednesday is going to bring us into the Civil Rights movement, specifically looking at the roll of call and response community-based singing. There’s a lot of material on this subject and I have tried to narrow it down, but there is a bit more reading for Wednesday than usual. You can find both of the readings mentioned below on the Readings and Texts page.

I’d like you to read Part 2 of Sanger’s “When the Spirit Says Sing!”: The Role of Freedom Songs in the Civil Rights Movement, which covers the role emotionalism, spirituality, and the transformative nature of the call and response method of singing, both while in church and while protesting.

Sanger touches briefly on call and response, but for more on that I’d like you to read a selection of Bernice Johnson Reagon’s liner notes to the glorious CD box set, Voices of the Civil Rights Movement: Black American Freedom Songs 1960-1966. Reagon was one of the musical leaders of the Civil Rights Movement and is now a music scholar. The whole of the liner notes is fascinating, so I encourage you to read it all, but you are required to read only pages 4 (starting with Roots: Notes on Black American Choral Song Style) to page 16.

As for the songs, I’d like you to listen to songs 48 and 49 on Protest Music Spotify Playlist, which are both by Civil Rights leader Fannie Lou Hamer, as well as the songs from Reagon’s CD listed under the Civil Rights Songs for 9/27 heading on the Readings and Texts page. The CD is not on Spotify so I have uploaded some songs to Dropbox. 

To see how at least one of these songs still holds importance today, please listen to the following audio story about “This Little Light of Mine.”

If you choose to complete the 7th Reading Response, please discuss the complex relationship among music, identity, history, emotionality, spirituality, and community in the Black community, and how the call and response format works within that complexity to result in empowerment. Be sure to reference/quote from Sanger and Reagon, as well as a few of the songs.

Please come to class with handwritten or printed notes on the above subject so you don’t need to have your computer open or your phone out.

If you have any questions, please let me know.

W 9/27:  Sanger on Black song deliberate communication (pages 32 – 55); NPR radio shows on “This Little Light of Mine”; Reagon Liner Notes (pages 4 – 16); notes-for-sanger2-reagon-f23.docx
Reading Response 7 due (optional)
F 9/29: Second Listening Post (Lineages) Due by 11:00pm

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Week Six: Pete Seeger and His Legacy

Assignment for Monday, 10/2
Your Second Listening Post (Lineages) is due Friday, 9/29.

These readings are going to continue our discussion of the Civil Rights Movement, and then extend through the 1950s and McCarthyism, and into the Anti-Vietnam War Movement, through the lens of Pete Seeger, who has been mentioned throughout our readings and texts so far as a key player. Now, we’re going to get to know him, his approach, and why he was so important for just about ever protest movement from the 1930s to his death in 2014.

Please first watch from 29:00 – 1:10:00 (41 total minutes) of Brown’s documentary, Pete Seeger: The Power of Song (see the Readings and Texts page), which begins with Seeger standing in the woods and then shifts to Paul Robeson singing before moving in to the famous concert in Peekskill, NY. (You’re welcome to watch the whole thing, of course, but are only required to watch this portion; just after the doc moves to his environmental causes, which is also very interesting.)

Then, read Jarnow’s few pages from Wasn’t That a Time: The Weavers, the Blacklist, and the Battle for the Soul of America and Lithwick’s post, “When Pete Seeger Faced Down the House Un-American Activities Committee.” The post contains the complete transcript of Seeger’s testimony, which you don’t need to read in full, but I encourage you to read at least a part of.

Please also watch Harry Belafonte’s speech inducting Pete Seeger into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a way to see what one civil rights icon thinks of Pete’s impact; it also connects back to the HUAC activities.

I’ve also added songs to the Protest Music Spotify Playlist that exemplify Seeger’s work over his career (songs 50 – 65), from The Weaver’s “Goodnight Irene,” to If I Had a Hammer” to “Here’s to Cheshire – Here’s to Cheese.” He has 1000s of songs, so this is a representative sample. Please listen to them.

If you choose to complete Reading Response 8, please respond to the following:

In the documentary, Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul, and Mary, says that Pete Seeger embraces “folk music as a tool for justice and consciousness and caring that became a model for all of us.” In your response, I’d like you to write about how we see that playing out in Seeger’s songs (name a few specifically), his response to the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), and his overall approach to music. Try to connect your discussion to our readings on the freedom songs of the Civil Rights movement as a tool for building movements.

Please come to class with 5 things you are ready to share as part of the discussion. Please have these written on paper so you don’t need your computers open.

If you have any questions, please let me know.

M 10/2: Artist Spotlight: Pete Seeger; Jarnow on blacklisting; Seeger documentary and HUAC testimony; “If I Had a Hammer” (1962); notes-for-seeger.docx; discuss podcast assignment and talk about examples
Reading Response 8 Due (optional)
Hand out Background Research Assignment

Assignment for Wednesday, 10/4
Building on Pete Seeger’s time spent singing, teaching, and talking with children, we’re going to move into a day where we consider additional social-justice themed work aimed specifically for children (of all ages). We’re going to be doing this by considering two foundational television shows that fully incorporated music and social justice into their founding values—Sesame Street, which first aired in November 1969, and Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, which first aired in February 1968—along with the work of Alastair Moock, a folk artist who visited the class last year.

I’d like you to read and watch the videos in the following order about the shows:

If you’re not familiar with Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood and/or Sesame Street (or even if you are), you might be interested in seeing how the shows opened in 1969:

Here are also some pivotal moments from the show:

I’d also like you to read, “New LGBTQ-Inclusive Music Album for Young Leaders Invites Kids to ‘Be a Pain’,” and listen to Alastair Moock’s songs (67 – 78) on the Protest Music Spotify Playlist (and if you didn’t listen to the Seeger children’s songs before these, listen to them, too). They are selections from three albums, Singing Our Way Through: Songs for the World’s Bravest Kids) (2013), which he wrote after his daughter was diagnosed with leukemia, All Kinds of You and Me (2015), and Be A Pain: An Album for Young (and Old) Leaders. They start with “When I Get Bald” (song 67) and end with “Be a Pain” (song 78).

I’d like you to come to class ready to talk about how (and if) Sesame Street, Mister Rogers, and Alastair Moock embody and the build on activists’ goals for music in the Civil Rights movement. Come to class with 5 things you are ready to share as part of the discussion. Please have these written on paper so you don’t need your computers open. I’m also very curious about the impact engaging this material (again) as an adult has on you. If you choose to do Reading Response 9, please discuss those subjects.

W 10/4: Class Canceled — Bill sick. Children’s music: Sesame Street, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, and Alastair Moock
Reading Response 9 due (optional)
F 10/6: Third Listening Post (Delivery, Versions, Performances, Videos, Covers) Due by 11:00pm

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Week Seven: The 60s

Assignment for Monday, 10/9
The work for Week Seven is going to bring us into the 1960s and the Counter Culture Movement, which is where we’ll be staying for a little a while. Just so much going on in the 1960s. We start with Bob Dylan, as he, like Pete Seeger, is in a direct lineage from Woody Guthrie (and Seeger, who brought Dylan to Mississippi to sing with and for sharecroppers) to all music that has come after.

I used to ask students to watch some Martin Scorsese’s amazing 2005 documentary, No Direction Home: Bob Dylan, but that isn’t available for free anymore. So, I’d like you to read some selections from Dylan’s 2004 memoir, Chronicles, which you can find on the Readings and Texts page. The reading starts around 1959/1960 when Dylan is playing at a club called the Purple Onion in St. Paul, Minnesota. Around that time he first hears a Woody Guthrie record and, as he writes, “when the needle dropped, I was stunned—didn’t know if I was stoned or straight. . . . [O]ne after another made my head spin. It made me want to gasp. It was like the land parted” (pp. 243-244). The reading takes you from Guthrie to some of his other influences.

Please watch these videos of Dylan performing (first in 1963 and then in 1965) and think about the similarities and difference to Seeger:

The Protest Music Spotify Playlist contains songs by Dylan but also some by Joan Baez, Robert Johnson, and Nina Simone’s haunting version of “Pirate Jenny,” each of whom Dylan references. Listen to them as you would like, so you can hear what he heard.

Please do listen to the 8 Dylan songs on the playlist, songs 84 – 91, from “Blowin’ in the Wind” (1963) to “Like a Rolling Stone” (1965). Some you will most certainly be familiar with, others perhaps not. “Oxford Town” refers to Oxford, Mississippi, where in 1962, a riot broke out in response to Black student, James Meredith, attempting integrate the University of Mississippi. “A Pawn in Their Game” references Medgar Evers, a Civil Rights activist who was assassinated in his driveway in Jackson, Mississippi.

I have also added only 7 anti-Vietnam War songs to the Playlist, songs 92 – 98. There are so many great songs that it was hard to narrow down, but I forced myself to do so. I’ve selected a range of genres, too, but you’ll see we’re definitely moving into the rock ‘n roll era. Listen to a few of them, at least, especially those you haven’t heard before.

As you prepare to discuss the the songs in class, I’d like you to consider how Dylan’s version of folk was similar and different from Guthrie’s and Seeger’s versions of folk. And, importantly, just what it was about Dylan that resonated so greatly with the world in the the 1960s. Consider the lyrics, music, delivery, and context (maybe sociological imagination?) and try to parse it out. Come to class ready to discuss and to point to specific parts of the songs—not just the lyrics—but actual timestamp moments of the songs that help illuminate your ideas. Have this on paper. There’s no right answer here, of course, which makes it even more fun to consider.

To get an idea of the time period Dylan is leading into in the wake of the release of his first album in 1962 (which is where the memoir ends), I’d like you to watch Bill Lictenstein’s incredible 2019, documentary WBCN and the American Revolution (1 hour 57 minutes), which is described as:

The amazing untold story of the radical underground radio station WBCN-FM set against the profound social, political and cultural changes of the late-1960s and early-70s, using the actual sights, sounds and stories of those who connected through the station, exploding music and countercultural scenes, militant anti-war and civil rights protests and emerging women’s and LGBTQ-liberation movements.

The link above should bring you to it, but you may need to log in with your SJU account.

As you’re watching it the documentary, I’d like you to pay attention and record some time stamps that show or are indicative of what Dylan discusses in his songs. That is, places where we see “times a-changin’,” where we see answers “blowin’ in the wind,” where we see people feeling disconnected and lost; and so on. Think about how those ideas also translate into the anti-Vietnam War songs, too. Please have that info written on paper and bring with you 5 talking points you’d like to bring up.

If you choose to complete Reading Response 10, please address that in writing.

M 10/9: Artist Spotlight: Bob Dylan, WBCN and the American Revolution documentary, and anti-Vietnam War songs; Plastic Ono Band, “Give Peace a Chance” (1969)
Reading Response 10 due (optional)

Assignment for Wednesday, 10/11
The texts and songs for Wednesday are going to be about and released during the height of the Black Power movement, which lasted from 1966 to the mid-1970s. During that period, here are many of the important events:

1963: Children’s Crusade Civil Rights March (May 2)
1963: Medgar Evers Assassinated (June 12)
1963: March on Washington (Aug 28)
1963: 16th Street Baptist Church bombing (Sept 15)
1963: JFK Assassinated (Nov 22)
1964: Civil Rights Act Passed
1965: Malcolm X Assassinated (Feb 21)
1965: Voting Rights Act Passed
1965: Watts Race Riots
1967: Detroit Race Riots
1968: MLK Assassinated (April 4)
1968: Robert F Kennedy Assassinated (June 6)
1968: 16,899 Americans Killed in Vietnam War (highest yearly total)
1970: Asbury Park race riots
1972: Watergate
1975: Vietnam War Officially Over

To get us started, I’d like you to watch this short video with Henry Louis Gates introducing the concept of Black Power:

Then, please read the following short pieces from History.com adding additional context to the time period:

Then, please listen to the songs on the Protest Music Spotify Playlist starting with “Mississippi Goddam” by Nina Simone” (song 99) through “What’s Going On” by Marvin Gaye (song 113). We’ll be focusing on the work of Nina Simone for the first half of class and then moving to the others. The list includes Hozier’s 2019 glorious homage to Nina Simone and other protest singers, “Nina Cried Power,” which features Mavis Staples and inspired by Simone’s tour de-force, “Sinnerman.”

As you listen to the songs, I’d like you to write down on paper (or have printed) themes you’re finding that connect them together and also connect to the context of the times. Bring those notes with you to class, as we’ll use them to inform discussion. Also come to class with 5 questions you have about the time period and/or the music.

If you choose to complete Reading Response 11, I’d like you to focus on the songs of Nina Simone. Look back to the themes we have been discussing in class, and consider how her songs both exist within a legacy of and challenge the legacy of the earlier songs of the civil right movement. How are we to understand the transition from call and response and folk to sing-songwriter and the role of that artist?

W 10/11: Artist spotlight: Nina Simone, “Mississippi Goddam” and others; songs of the Black Power movement; notes-for-simone-blackpower-f23.docx
Reading Response 11 due (optional)
F 10/13: Midterm Engagement and Presence Reflection Due by 11:00pm

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Week Eight: Podcast Transcripts

M 10/16: No Class — Fall Break

Assignment for Wednesday, 10/18
On Wednesday, we’re going to discuss the podcast project some more, particularly in terms of sources and transcripts. In preparation for that, I’d like you to listen to two radio stories from NPR’s American Anthem series, which inspired our Protest Anthem series, and two former student Protest Anthems:

When listening to the stories, I’d like you to write down (and bring to class) each kind of musical, oral, and textual source being used (lyrics, interview, scholar, etc.). I’d also like you to think about how the story moves from one source to the next. And think about how the music itself is being used. Please also look at how the content of the American Anthems web sites use sources and are different from the audio versions.

We’ll discuss these and getting started on your podcast transcripts in class.

W 10/18: Discuss sources, transcripts, and timelines; I Am Woman example
Hand out Transcript and Timeline Assignment
F 10/20: Background Research Due by 11:00pm

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Week Nine: Indigenous Activist Music

Assignment for Monday, 10/23
Please read over the Transcript and Timeline Assignment and bring to class any questions you have.

The readings and songs for Friday are going to introduce us to Indigenous Protest and Activist songs, as well as ask us to enter into a debate about “The Land is Your land.” We’ll be focusing primarily on Buffy Sainte Marie, perhaps the most famous Indigenous activist singer, but also Peter LaFarge and some others. Sainte Marie has written (and I encourage you to read the linked-to article):

A great three-minute protest song can be more effective than a 400-page textbook: immediate and replicable, portable and efficient, wrapped in music, easy to understand by ordinary people. It’s distributed word-of-mouth by artists, as opposed to news stories marketed by the fellas who may own the town, the company store and the mine.

In order to get to know Sainte Marie a bit, I’d like you to read “‘Protest Songs Spell Out Problems. Activist Songs Spell Out Solutions,’” by Alex Frank in the November 2017 issue of the Village Voice, which is based on an extensive interview with Sainte Marie.

Then, please listen the songs on the Protest Music Spotify Playlist starting with “Ira Hayes” by Peter LaFarge and ending with “Fight Like a Girl” by Raya Zaragoza. The songs range from 1964 to 2020.

These songs are going to introduce you to many historical events you may not be familiar with. That’s okay; you can look up some if you’d like. But, specifically if your last name starts

  • A – Fra, I’d like you to look up and be ready to discuss Native American Boarding (or Residential) Schools
  • Fre – J, I’d like you to look up and be ready to discuss the Wounded Knee Massacre from 1890
  • K – P, I’d like you to look up and be ready to discuss the Wounded Knee Occupation from 1973
  • R – W, I’d like you to look up and discuss the controversy surrounding the Kinzua Dam, circa 1960, and the Standing Rock Protests, 2016-2017

Moving on to “This Land is Your Land,” please read the following in order:

After reading these articles, I’d like to break down the concerns and responses being raised about “This Land is Your Land” and where you see yourself landing on the debate. Look for validity in all the articles. Come to class with printed or handwritten notes.

Please also come to class with a list of 3 printed questions you have about the songs, issues, and/or subjects the songs raise as well as a few lines that really stood out to you.

If you choose to complete Reading Response 12, please write about whatever you think most interesting in the readings and songs.

Bonus: If you are looking for an incredible show to watch, check out Reservation Dogs on Hulu. Season 3, Episode 3 is on the subject of residential schools, and is phenomenal — as is the whole series.

M 10/23: Indigenous Protest and Activist Songs: Buffy Sainte-Marie, Peter LaFarge, and others
Reading Response 12 due (optional)
New Due Date: Background Research Due by 11:00pm
W 10/25: Indigenous Protest and Activist Songs: Buffy Sainte-Marie, Peter LaFarge, and others (cont); notes-for-saint-marie-f23.docx

Make-up: Children’s music: Sesame Street, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, and Alastair Moock OR Artist Spotlight: Dolly Parton; early women country music
Reading Response 13 due (optional)

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Week Ten: Transcripts, Timelines, and 70s Punk

M 10/30: Discuss 2-minute transcripts and timelines, audio recording
2 Minute Transcript and Timeline Drafts Due

Assignment for Wednesday, 11/1
For Wednesday, we’re going to leap across the pond into the mosh pit with 70s punk. I’d like you to listen to the songs 126 – 134 on the Protest Music Spotify Playlist, which ranges from “Search and Destroy” (1973) by the Stooges to “London Calling” (1979) by The Clash.

I’d also like you to listen to the first two songs, “God Save the Queen” and “I Wanna Be Me,” from Sex Pistols January 14, 1978 concert at Winterland (you’re welcome to watch the whole incredible concert, of course, but you’re not required to).

In addition, please spend a few minutes looking at these 1970s-era photographs of the London punk scene, noting the fashion.

I’m not assigning an academic reading about punk because I know you have your podcasts to work on, but for class on Wednesday I’d like you to consider what can we learn about punk based on what we listened to, saw at the concert, and the photos we looked at? Think about how the following interact together generate meaning:

  • band names
  • vocal delivery
  • musical performance
  • lyrics (psychological imagination?)
  • fashion
  • album art

If you would like to complete Reading Response 14 (and many of you should, as you are behind), please consider the above and write about it.

If you have any questions, please let me know.

W 11/1: 1970s Punk; some audio tips, Elvis cover; The Damned, (Meet the Beatles cover; “Help” [1965])
Reading Response 14 due (optional)

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Week Eleven: Riot Grrrl Punk and Conferences

Assignment for Monday, 11/30
Please listen to songs 235 – 141 on the Protest Music Spotify Playlist, which is “Double Dare Ya” (1991) by Bikini Kill to “Bloody Ice Cream” (1998) by Bikini Kill. Find the lyrics online so you can understand what is being sung. Please note that the songs contain sensitive topics, but they are also the more tame of the songs that could be chosen. If you are interested in the more graphic and violent songs so you can get a fuller understanding of the bands and their messages, please see the full albums.

Please read “The Waves of Feminism, and Why People Keep Fighting Over Them” by Constance Grady.

Then, read Darms “Introduction” and Fateman’s essay, along with the Riot Grrrl Examples, which contains 70+ pages of Riot Grrrl zines — scroll down on the Readings and Texts page until you see the heading. You might try to keep the zine examples open as you read Darms’ and Fateman’s essages so you can move back and forth between examples and articles. Darms’ essay serves as the introduction to the important Riot Grrrl Collection book and Fateman’s is a short memoir-type piece about her experience with the Riot Grrrl movement that also appears at the front of the book.

I don’t expect you to read every word of every page of the zines. There are many examples just to show you the range of content. Read what interests you and skip what doesn’t. As with the songs, the zines cover and depict sensitive topics.

Because so many students are behind on their Reading Responses, the Reading Response for Monday is REQUIRED for all students (unless you have completed all your required responses). I’d like you to consider TWO Riot Grrrl zine page examples by looking at them in terms of Grady’s discussion of feminism, Darms’ and Fateman’s discussions of Riot Grrrl, and the “sociological imagination,” which we have written and talked about before. As a reminder, Rosenthal and Flacks introduce a term “C. Writing Mills called a ‘sociological imagination’: It helps musickers to see the social roots in what might otherwise be felt as individual stories or problems. It identifies collective and structural arrangements—who has power? who does the work? who gets the payoff? who decides?—as the origin of what is usually felt to be one’s personal situation” (p. 20). See the full passage for a complete definition. What are the songs and zines reacting against and how are the bands and writers reclaiming power? Include screenshots of the zine pages you discuss.

If You Are Behind on Your Reading Responses:
I have removed the requirement to read about and watch several videos by the Russian band, Pussy Riot. However, if you are behind on your Reading Responses and/or are interested in this fascinated and powerful collective, please read Zolandz (2012), watch “How Pussy Riot’s Punk Prayers Became a Movement” (6 minutes), and watch the videos under the Pussy Riot Videos for 11/6 heading on the Readings page.

The videos are often political, sexually explicit, and emotionally charged. If any of them makes you uncomfortable for any reason, please don’t hesitate to stop watching, fast forward, and/or move on to another. For the videos in Russian, watch with the Captions On.

If you wish to complete a Reading Response about this, label is Response 15b. Here is the prompt:

Toward the end of “My Riot Grrrl,” Fateman writes, “Two decades later, the imprisonment of members of the Russian feminist band Pussy Riot, who—also astoundingly—cite riot grrrl as an inspiration for their punk music and guerrilla performances, drives home the breadth of [Riot Grrrl’s] influence” (p. 17).

In your response, I’d like you to consider where you see the influence of Riot Grrrl zines, actions, and related music showing up in Pussy Riots’ music, actions, performances, and videos, and anywhere you see Pussy Riot pushing the feminist and Riot Grrrl boundaries even further than the Riot Grrrl women did in the 90s. Reference the videoes, zines,  and Zolandz, and any other text you think helps explore what you’re seeing and thinking.

M 11/6: 1990s Riot Grrrl Punk and Pussy Riot; notes-for-riot-grrrl-f23.docx
Reading Response 15 due (optional)
W 11/8: Class Canceled for 2-minute Podcast Draft Conferences
2 Minute Podcast Draft due by start of conference

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Week Twelve: 50th Anniversary of Hip-Hop

Assignment for Monday, 11/13
The work for twelve is going introduce us to golden era hip hip in honor of the 50th anniversary of hip-hip, which is commonly considered to have started on August 11, 1973, at a party hosted by DJ Kool Herc at his apartment in the Bronx. To get a strong feeling for the contexts that gave birth to the music, we’re going to watch two episodes of Fight the Power: How Hip-Hop Changed the World, a phenomenal PBS series created and narrated by Chuck D of Public Enemy as well as listen to some of the early songs.

Please watch the first two episodes, which you can watch the for free at the Internet Archive. They are each about an hour long, so plan accordingly.

(It is also streaming on Amazing Prime, but you will need a 7-day free trial of PBS.)

I’d also like you to listen to songs 142 – 154 on the Protest Music Spotify Playlist, which ranges from “The Message” (1982) by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five to “Fight the Power” (1990) by Public Enemy.

Please be aware that the series and the songs contain offensive language, depictions of violence, and other potentially sensitive representations.

To learn more about the technical features that allowed DJs to isolate and repeat the break in songs, which led to the creation of the sound that inspired hip-hop, you may be interested in watching 6:00 – 11:45 and 22:40 – 28:40 of Season 1 Episode 1 of the Netflix series, Hip-Hop Evolution.

Because so many students are behind on their Reading Responses, the Reading Response for Monday is REQUIRED for all students (unless you have completed all your required responses). Looking to the songs and the documentary, I’d like you to consider if and/or how, hip-hop is a natural descendant of all the genres of music we’ve been considering this semester, which includes: spirituals, call and response, folk, blues, rock, disco, soul, jazz, and punk. If so, how. If not, how not.

Regardless of whether or not you complete the Reading Response, I’d like you to bring to class in a notebook or printed, examples that would illustrate if and/or how, hip-hop is a nature descendant of all the genres of music we’ve been considering this semester. Please have lyrics and time-stamps ready.

On Wednesday, we will consider misogyny and hyper-sexualization of women in hip-hop.

If you have any questions, please let me know.

M 11/13: Fight the Power: How Hip-Hop Changed the World, episodes 1 and 2
Reading Response 16 due (optional)
W 11/15: Work on Audio; I Am Woman

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Week Thirteen: Conferences and Thanksgiving

M 11/20: Class Canceled for Conferences
5-Minute Podcast Draft Due by start of conference
W 11/22: Class Canceled — Thanksgiving

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Week Fourteen: Conferences and Pioneering Women in Hip-Hop

M 11/27: Class Canceled for Conferences

Assignment for Wednesday, 11/29
The work for Wednesday is going to introduce pioneering women in hip-hop and ask us to consider the overt misogyny present in the hip-hop industry, which presented itself in the lyrics and videos of male hip-hop groups, as well as on the corporate side, which often sought to exclude women and darker skinned Black women. It is also going to ask us to consider the relationship between that misogyny and the feminism found in many of these pioneering songs and videos.

I’d like you to watch the first two episodes of the Netflix documentary, Ladies First: A Story of Women in Hip-Hop. I’d also like you to listen to songs 155 – 166 on the Protest Music Spotify Playlist, which ranges from “Rapper’s Delight,” the first rap song ever, which was produced by a woman (Sylvia Robinson) through “Lost Ones” by Ms. Lauryn Hill (from The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, largely regarded as one of the best albums of all time). Note that the first two songs on the list are pretty long.

Please come to class with handwritten or printed notes/comments that will prepare you to discuss the complex issues of misogyny and feminism in hip-hop. The documentary brings the discussion up to the present day, and we’ll touch on that in class, as well. You might look to “The Waves of Feminism, and Why People Keep Fighting Over Them” by Constance Grady, which we read when discussing Riot Grrrl. Many of the songs we’re listening to were released during the same time period as Riot Grrrl punk.

Because so many students are behind on their Reading Responses, the Reading Response for Wednesday is REQUIRED for all students (unless you have completed all your required responses). Please discuss the complex issues of misogyny and feminism in hip-hop, citing the songs, documentary, and, as needed, Grady’s discussion of feminism.

If you have any questions, please let me know.

W 11/29: Ladies First: A Story of Women in Hip-Hop (Netflix, episodes 1 and 2)
Reading Response 17 due (optional)
Hand out Final Podcast, Transcript, and Reflections Instructions

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Week Fifteen: Lemonade and Songs of Love and Hope

Assignment for Monday, 12/4
Please listen to the complete album of Beyonce’s Lemonade, which is on the Protest Music Spotify Playlist starting with song 167 and then watch in full the movie that accompanied the release of Lemonade.

When watching, I’d like you to make a list of all the social justice-related themes invoked, overtly or subtly, by the film. Take a screenshot of one such instance and have it with you in class on Monday, ready to talk about what that scene evokes.

I’d also like you to think about if and/or how Beyonce, in the Lemonade film and record, is building on the pioneering work of the women in hip-hop we discussed for 11/29 and  doing very much what Darms wrote about the Riot Grrrl zines: providing “a set of instructions for remaking the world.”

Because so many students are behind on their Reading Responses, the Reading Response for Monday is REQUIRED for all students (unless you have completed all your required responses). Please address the question posed in the above paragraph: Is Beyonce providing “a set of instructions for remaking the world”? If so, what is the world she is remaking it into and how is it building on the pioneering work of women in hip-hop?

If you have any questions, please let me know.

M 12/4: Beyonce, Lemonade
Reading Response 18 due (optional)

Assignment for Wednesday, 12/6 (updated)
So, we’ve reached the end and I’d like to end by listening to and talking about songs of love and hope. On the Protest Music Spotify Playlist , please listen to songs 179 – 190, from Stevie Wonder’s “Love’s in Need of Love Today” through Dolly Parton’s “World on Fire” (2023). They are in chronological order. These are songs that you should be able to listen to while doing other things. Try identify some themes you see running through them and be ready to talk about some specific moments in the songs. I’ve tried to find a variety of genres and a mix of artists we’ve discussed already, you may know, and those you may not. Some are upbeat and some may be tear-jerkers.

As we come to our last full class meeting, please consider the following:

Speaking about the Civic Rights Movement, Pete Seeger said, “No one can prove anything, but of course if I didn’t believe [the songs] had some kind of power, I wouldn’t be trying to [sing them].”

I’d like you to come to class with some ideas on whether or not songs of protest and on social justice themes make a difference at all. If so, how? And how can we know? If not, why not?

If you still need to complete a Reading Response, please address these songs and that question.

If you have any questions, please let me know.

W 12/6: Songs of Love and Hope
Reading Response 19 due (optional)
Last Day is Meeting in the Classroom

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Week Sixteen: TBD

M 12/11: Class canceled — Individual Podcast Help Signups

Friday 11/15: Final Podcast and Final Post due by 11:00pm
Friday 11/15: Final Podcast Reflections due by 11:00pm
Saturday 11/16: Final Course Reflection Due by 5:00pm

Thursday 12/21: Grades Submitted to University 

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