AF21:014:305: Black Women in the United States ​ ​ Lady Day to Lizzo: A Century of Black Women Performers Professor Salamishah Tillet // [email protected] Tuesdays 2:30 - 5:30 pm Office Hours: Wednesdays 4 to 5 and by appt.

Teaching Assistant: Esperanza Santos // [email protected] ​ Office Hours: Wednesdays 4 to 5 and by appt.

Course Description African American women performers from the blueswoman Bessie Smith to gospel guitarist Rosetta Tharpe, from jazz darling Billie Holiday to megastar star Beyoncé, and from hip hop virtuoso Lauryn Hill to millennial polymath Lizzo, have constantly redefined and expanded American popular music. This course will explore the long century of African American history through Black women performers, who across genres and time, have consciously and sometimes contradictorily navigated the racial and sexual limits of American popular culture in order to assert artistic agency and political freedom.

Class Expectations Attendance and active class participation are required. Late assignments will not be accepted except in cases of proven emergency. If you know that you will be absent on a on a particular day, plan ahead and give your feedback to the class accordingly.

We are ALL required to follow the University’s Policy on Academic Integrity, which falls under the Code of Student Conduct. The policy and the consequences of violating it are

1 outlined here: http://www.ncas.rutgers.edu/office-dean-student-affairs/academic-integrity-policy. ​

Disabilities Rutgers University welcomes students with disabilities into all of the University's educational programs. In order to receive consideration for reasonable accommodations, a student with a disability must contact the appropriate disability services office at the campus where you are officially enrolled, participate in an intake interview, and provide documentation: https://ods.rutgers.edu/students/documentation-guidelines. If the documentation supports your request for reasonable accommodations, your campus’s disability services office will provide you with a Letter of Accommodations. Please share this letter with your instructors and discuss the accommodations with them as early in your courses as possible.

To begin this process, please complete the Registration form on the ODS web site at: https://ods.rutgers.edu/students/registration-form. For more information please contact Kate Torres at (973) 353-5375 or in the Office of Disability Services in the Paul Robeson CampusCenter, in suite 219 or by contacting [email protected].

Course Requirements

Participation: (20%) ​ ​ Students are required to attend all classes, read all assigned texts and participate in class discussions.

Mid-Term (20%): Tuesday, October 20, 2020 (take home) ​ ​ Group Presentation & Syllabi (30%)

Imagine that you are designing a course on one of these albums, artists, or a particular song or video. Working in small groups, you will be responsible for designing a syllabus based on your chosen topic or theme. Each group is responsible for presenting their interactive and multimedia syllabus in class as well as providing a written rationale for the syllabus.

Seminar Paper (30%) (10-12 pps.):

In order to best understand how these albums impact and imprint American culture, compare and contrast one of these albums to (1) another album from our class; (2) another album by the same artist; or (3) a contemporary artist/album. The research paper has a page requirement of 10-12 pages and must incorporate academic sources (a combination of journals and academic monographs). Your research paper must

2 include a thesis, and it will be graded on organization, inclusion of academic texts, and grammar. Each paper must be double-spaced, carefully proofread, and turned in on time. A late paper will result in a lowered grade of one-half point (A to A-, A- to B+, etc.) for each day. Final Paper Due: December 15 pm at NOON

Required Texts (at the Rutgers University, Newark Bookstore )

● Angela Davis, Blues Legacies and Black Feminism: Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, ​ Bessie Smith, and Billie Holiday (1999) ​ ● Farah Griffin, If You Can’t Be Free, Be A Mystery: In Search of Billie Holiday ​ ​ (2001) ● Ruth Feldstein, How It Feels to Be Free: Black Women Entertainers and the ​ Civil Rights Movement (2013) ​ ● Joan Morgan, She Begat This: 20 Years of The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill ​ (2018) ● Morgan Parker, There Are More Beautiful Things Than Beyonce (2017) ​ ​ Required Articles, Essays & Book Chapters:

All required and recommended course packet readings are available electronically via the course website.

Recommended Films:

● Mick Csasky, Rosetta Tharpe: The Godmother of Rock & Roll (2013) ● Liz Garbus, What Happened, Miss Simone? (Netflix, 2015) ​ ​ ● Dee Rees, Bessie (HBO Max, 2015) ​ ​ ● Judy Chaikin, The Girls in the Band (2015) ​ ​ ● Sydney Pollack, Amazing Grace (2018) ​ ​ ● Michael Gondry, Dave Chapelle’s Block Party (2005) ​ ​ ● Beyoncé, Homecoming (Netflix, 2018) ​ ​ ● Janelle Monae, Dirty Computer: An Emotion Picture (2018) ​ ​

Course Schedule

September 8: Introduction

September 15: The Black Women’s Voice

● Farah Jasmine Griffin, When Malindy Sings: A Meditation on Black Women's Vocality ● *Ruth Feldstein, “Introduction: Performing: Civil Rights” in How It Feels to Be ​ Free: Black Women Entertainers and the Civil Rights Movement

3 ● Noah Berlatsky, Why Don't More People Call Beyoncé A Genius

September 22: Ladies (and Queens) Got The Blues: Bessie Smith and Billie Holiday ● *Angela Davis, Blues Legacies and Black Feminism, Ch Introduction, 1, 2, 4, ​ ​ 7, 8 ● *Farah Griffin, If You Can't Be Free, Be a Mystery Ch 1-5 ​ ​ ● Hazel Carby, It Jus Be's Dat Way Sometime: The Sexual Politics of Women's Blues Recommended Film: Dee Rees, Bessie (HBO Max, 2015) ​ ​ ​ ​

September 29: Gospel’s Great Crossovers: Mahalia Jackson & Rosetta Tharpe Guest Speaker: Professor Melanie Hill

● Gayle Wald, Shout, Sister, Shout: The Untold Story of Rock-and-Roll ​ Trailblazer Sister Rosetta Tharpe pps. vii – 74, 94-109, 215-220 ​ ● Mellonee V. Burnim, “Women in African American Gospel Music” ● Mahalia Jackson, Just Mahalia, Baby, Chapters 23-26 ​ ​ ● Craig Werner, “The Dream, Mahalia, and the Movement” Recommended Film: Mick Csasky, Sister Rosetta Tharpe: The Godmother of Rock & ​ ​ Roll (PBS, 2013)

October 6: The Angry Women of Jazz: Abbey Lincoln & Nina Simone Guest Speaker: Professor Ruth Feldstein

● Phyl Garland, “Nina Simone: High Priestess of Soul” ● *Ruth Feldstein, “More than Just a Jazz Performer: Nina Simone’s Border Crossings” and “No One Asks Me What I Want: Abbey Lincoln, Diahann Carroll, and The Promise of Integration in Popular Culture” in How It Feels to ​ Be Free ● Salamishah Tillet,”Nina Simone Our National Treasure” ● Ingrid Monson, “Abbey Lincoln’s ‘Straight Ahead’: Jazz in the Era of the Civil Rights Movement” ● Farah Griffin, “Abbey Lincoln: The Dawn of the New Day” in If You Can't Be ​ Free, Be a Mystery Recommended Film: Liz Garbus, What Happened, Miss Simone? (Netflix, 2015) ​ ​ ​ ​

October 13: Boogie Woogie and BeBop: Hazel Scott and Sarah Vaughn Guest Speaker: Wayne Winborne, Director of the Institute for Jazz Studies

4 ● Charlene Regester, “Hazel Scott and Lena Horne: African American Divas, Feminists, and Political Activists” ● Kristin McGee, “Swinging the Classics: Hazel Scott and Hollywood’s Musical-Racial Matrix” ● Elaine M. Hayes, Queen of Bebop: The Musical Lives of Sarah Vaughan” (excerpts TBA) ● Leslie Gourse, Sassy: The Life Of Sarah Vaughan (excerpts TBA) ​ ​ ​ Recommended Film: Judy Chaikin, The Girls in the Band (2015) ​ ​ ​ ​

October 20: MIDTERM

October 27: Sequins, Smiles & Soul Power: Aretha Franklin and Diana Ross Guest Speaker: Professor Emily Lordi

● Jacqueline Warwick, "Girl Groups, Girl Culture: Popular Music and Identity in ​ ​ the 1960s," 1 & 2 ● Jaap Koiijman, “‘Ain’t No Mountain High Enough: Diana Ross as American Pop-Cultural Icon in the 1960s" ● Emily Lordi, “My Soul Is Satisfied”: An Intimate New Documentary Explores the Source of Aretha Franklin's Power” and Chapter 2 ● Ann Powers, “Aretha Franklin" ● Wesley Morris, ‘Amazing Grace’ Review: Aretha Franklin Is Glorious in a Rousing Concert Film ● Craig Werner, “Spirit in the Dark: Music and the Powers of Blackness” and “‘Retha, Rap, and Revolt;” “ ‘Spirit in the Dark’: Aretha’s Gospel Politics” ● David Brackett, “Aretha Franklin Meets the Mainstream” Recommended Film: Sydney Pollack, Amazing Grace (2018) ​ ​ ​ ​

November 3: Disco & Space Divas: Labelle, Grace Jones, and Janelle Monae

● Sonnet Retman, “Between Rock and a Hard Place: Narrating Nona Hendryx’s Inscrutable Career” ● Gayle Wald, “More Meaningful Than A Three-Hour Lecture” ● Alice Nichols, “Ladies’ Night: Women and Disco” ● Francesca Royster, “Feeling Like a Woman, Looking Like a Man, Sounding Like a No-No”: Grace Jones and the Performance of “Strangé” in the Post-Soul Moment" ● Barry Walters, “As Much As I Can, As Black As I Am: The Queer History of Grace Jones" ● Jenna Wortham, “How Janelle Monáe Found Her Voice”

5 Recommended Film: Janelle Monae, Dirty Computer: An Emotion Picture (2018) ​ ​ ​ ​

November 10: Queens of Pop: Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey

● bell hooks, “Seduction and Betrayal: The Crying Game Meets The Bodyguard” ● Anthony DeCurtis, “Whitney Houston: Down and Dirty” ● Isabel Wilkerson, “God Is Still Working on Me” ● Daphne Brooks, “I’m Every Woman: Whitney Houston, the Voice of the Post–Civil Rights Era” ● David Browne, “The Diva and Her Dark Side: Whitney Houston” ● Guthrie Ramsey, “Why Whitney’s Voice Was So Wonderful” ● Jon Carmanica, “Whitney Houston’s Confidante Robyn Crawford Breaks Her ​ Silence” ● Sasha Frere Jones, “On Top” ● Joan Morgan, “Free At Last” ● Michael Eric Dyson, “Mariah Carey and ‘Authentic Black Music” ● Richard Rischar, “A Vision of Love: An Etiquette of Vocal Ornamentation in African-American Popular Ballads of the Early 1990s”

November 17: Boasts & Black Women in Hip Hop: Missy Elliot and Lauryn Hill Guest Speaker: Dr. Joan Morgan

● Gwendolyn Pough, Ch 3 and 4 in Check in It While I Wreck It ​ ● Hilton Als, “The New Negro: Missy Elliot’s Hip Hop” ● Simon Reynolds, “King and Queen of Beats: Timberlake and Missy Elliot” ● Scott Poulson-Bryant, “Missy’s World” ● Daphne Brooks, “‘Bring the Pain’: Post-soul memory, Neo-soul Affect, and ​ Lauryn Hill in the Black Public Sphere” ● *Joan Morgan, She Begat This: 20 Years of The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill ​ Recommended Movie: Michael Gondry, Dave Chapelle’s Block Party (2005) ​ ​ ​ November 24: THANKSGIVING

December 1: Running the World: Beyoncé

● Morgan Parker, There Are More Beautiful Things Than Beyonce ​ ● Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah, “How Sweet It Is To Be Loved By You: The BeyHive” ● Jody Rosen, "Beyonce: Woman on the Top of the World" ● Matthew Schneier, “Beyoncé Is Seen but Not Heard” ● Aisha Harris, “How Beyoncé Mixed Traditionalism With Radicalism to Make ● Lemonade”

6 ● Margo Jefferson, “The Unparalleled Reign of Beyoncé” ● Wesley Morris, “Beyoncé Unearths Pain and Lets It Flow in ‘Lemonade’” ​ ● Troy Harris, “Beyonce’s Homecoming is a Total Synthesis of Pop Art” ● NY Times Critics, “Beyoncé’s ‘Black Is King’: Let’s Discuss” Recommended Film: Beyoncé, “Homecoming” ​

December 8: She Bad: ​Lizzo & Cardi B ​

● Brittany Spanos, “The Joy of Lizzo” ● Samantha Irby, “Lizzo: Entertainer of the Year” ● Nick Levine, “Why Lizzo was the star who defined 2019” ● Gerrick D. Kennedy, “100% her year: How Lizzo became the one thing we all loved in 2019” ● Sidney Madden, “The Business Of Being Cardi B” ● Doreen St. Felix, “The Female Rapper Who Ousted Taylor Swift from the Top of the Pop Charts” ● Brittany Spanos, “The Year of Cardi B”

7