HI 280 A1: Music and Civil Rights in America Fall 2016 MET B02B, M/W/F 2:00-3:00 pm

Professor Eric Jarvis 226 Bay State Road, Room 307 Phone: 617-353-8303 Email: [email protected] Office Hours: Mondays, 3:30-5 pm, Wednesdays, 10:30 am-12 pm, and by appointment

Course Description: This course investigates the relationship between popular music and campaigns for civil rights from the mid-nineteenth century to present. We will explore the social, political, and cultural contexts in which distinct musical styles emerged, including minstrelsy, , , rock ‘n’ roll, pop, , soul, , and hip-hop, and analyze their influence on issues of race, gender, and class. In addition, we will consider how musical trends have intersected with national campaigns for civil rights, drawing on primary and secondary sources to evaluate the degree to which musicians and popular music have challenged the social and political status quo. More broadly, we will reflect upon how popular music has fueled social movements, and how social movements, in turn, have shaped musical expression.

Course Organization/Requirements: This course requires a good deal of reading, writing, and listening along with your active participation in class discussions. For each class, you should arrive prepared to discuss the assigned readings, songs, and films. Class meetings will mix lectures with discussions of assigned readings, songs, and films and occasionally introduce additional primary and secondary sources. I encourage you to email me interesting news items related to the course topic so that I can share them with the class.

Specific course requirements are as follows:

• 4 Reading Responses • Take Home Midterm Exam • Analytic Paper • Final Exam • Attendance and active participation in class discussions

Further details about each of these requirements will be provided in class. Please note that each student is required to meet with the professor to discuss his or her selected topic for the analytic paper.

Required Books: The following books are available at the Barnes and Noble in Kenmore Square:

Chang, Jeff. Can’t Stop Won’t Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation. New York: Picador, 2005. Davis, Angela Y. Blues Legacies and Black Feminism: Gertrude “Ma” Rainey, , and Billie Holiday. New York: Vintage Books, 1999. HI-280 A1 pg. 2

Miller, Karl Hagstrom. Segregating Sound: Inventing Folk and Pop Music in the Age of Jim Crow. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 2010. Smith, Suzanne E. Dancing in the Street: and the Cultural Politics of Detroit. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1999.

All other readings will be available on the course Blackboard site (see below). You will always be expected to bring a copy of the reading materials to class on the day on which they are due.

You will also need to view the following films: What Happened, Miss Simone?, Soundtrack for a Revolution, The Night James Brown Saved Boston, and Straight Outta Compton. What Happened, Miss Simone? can be viewed on Netflix and Soundtrack for a Revolution and The Night James Brown Saved Boston can be rented from amazon.com or iTunes. A copy of Straight Outta Compton will be available for borrowing through Mugar Library.

Grade Breakdown: Your final grade will be calculated as follows:

Reading Responses: 10% Take Home Midterm Exam: 25% Analytic Paper: 25% Final Exam: 25% Class participation: 15%

Blackboard: Our class has a Blackboard site that contains the syllabus, assignments, readings, songs, and other course-related materials. You can log in to our Blackboard page at: learn.bu.edu

You will have a personal Blackboard folder where you will submit completed assignments.

Email Policy: I welcome your email communications. Please allow up to 48 hours for a response. I do not discuss grades over email, so if you wish to discuss the grade you received on a particular assignment, please schedule a time to meet with me.

Laptop Policy: You may use a laptop for select classroom activities, and I will indicate when students are allowed to do so. Otherwise, students may not use laptops during class.

Cell Phone Policy: Cell phones are not allowed during class. If you use your cell phone during class, it will lower your class participation grade.

Late Assignments: Graded assignments will be penalized by one-third of a letter grade for each class day they are late. If you are habitually late with your assignments, you will be unable to participate fully in the class, which will be reflected in your class participation grade.

Attendance Policy: Your regular attendance and participation are essential both to your own learning and to your classmates’ learning. Missing more than three classes will lower your final grade. Missing more than two weeks of class may lead to a failing grade in the course. Note that these absences need not be consecutive. If you have a special obligation that will require you to

HI-280 A1 pg. 3 miss several classes (e.g., varsity athletics, religious observances), please talk with me at the beginning of the semester.

Formatting for Papers: All assignments must be word-processed and adhere to either the Chicago or MLA style guidelines. Assignments should be submitted as Microsoft Word files and formatted in the following way: double spaced, 12pt Times New Roman font, 1-inch margins.

In addition to submitting hard copies of assignments, you are required to submit all completed assignments electronically by uploading the files to your personal Blackboard folder.

BU History Department Writing Guide: For a detailed description of the proper format for historical essays, students should consult the BU History Department Writing Guide:

http://www.bu.edu/history/undergraduate-program/resources/writing-guide/

Plagiarism: Plagiarism is the passing off of another’s words or ideas as your own, and it is a serious academic offense. Cases of plagiarism will be handled in accordance with the disciplinary procedures described in the College of Arts and Science Academic Conduct Code. All students are subject to the CAS code, which can be read online at:

http://www.bu.edu/academics/resources/academic-conduct-code/

Penalties for plagiarism can range from failing an assignment or course to suspension or expulsion from the university. If you have any questions about plagiarism, please speak with me.

Class Schedule

Please note: Readings and songs followed by an asterisk (*) are available on our course Blackboard website. All readings, songs, and films should be completed or listened to in advance of the class for which they are assigned.

W 9/7 Introduction: Music and the Long Civil Rights Movement

Minstrelsy and Race in the Nineteenth Century

F 9/9 Minstrelsy I

Readings: 1. Excerpt from Robert C. Toll, Blacking Up*

M 9/12 Minstrelsy II

Readings: 1. Frederick Douglass, “Gavitt’s Original Ethiopian Serenaders,” North Star June 29, 1849* (http://utc.iath.virginia.edu/minstrel/miar03at.html)

HI-280 A1 pg. 4

2. “Songs of the Blacks” from Dwight’s Journal of Music (1856)* (http://utc.iath.virginia.edu/minstrel/miar46ct.html) 3. “The Black Opera” from Dwight’s Journal of Music (1858)* (http://utc.iath.virginia.edu/minstrel/miar46dt.html)

Songs: 1. Recent recordings of pre-1852 minstrel songs: “Zip Coon” and “Old Folks at Home”* (http://utc.iath.virginia.edu/minstrel/misohp.html)

Blues and Jazz in the Era of Jim Crow

W 9/14 Jim Crow: Social and Political Contexts

Readings: 1. Excerpt from Ida B. Wells, Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases*

F 9/16 Voices of the Civil Rights Movement I

Readings: 1. Booker T. Washington, “Atlanta Exposition Address”* 2. Excerpt from Booker T. Washington, Up From Slavery*

M 9/19 Voices of the Civil Rights Movement II

Readings: 1. Excerpt from W.E.B. DuBois, The Souls of Black Folk*

Songs: 1. Fisk Jubilee Singers, “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot”*

W 9/21 Legacies of Minstrelsy: “Coon” Songs

Readings: 1. Miller, Segregating Sound, Introduction

F 9/23

Readings: 1. Miller, Segregating Sound, Chapter 1

M 9/26 Blues I

Readings: 1. Miller, Segregating Sound, Chapters 2-3

HI-280 A1 pg. 5

W 9/28 Race Relations in the Early Twentieth Century

Readings: 1. Miller, Segregating Sound, Chapter 4

F 9/30 Origins of the Musical Color Line I In-class discussion: Segregating Sound

Readings: 1. Miller, Segregating Sound, chapter 6

M 10/3 Origins of the Musical Color Line II In-class discussion: Segregating Sound

Readings: 1. Miller, Segregating Sound, Chapter 7

Deadline: Reading Response for Miller

W 10/5 Blues II: Classic Blues

Readings: 1. Davis, Blues Legacies and Black Feminism, Chapter 1

Songs: 1. Bessie Smith, “Down Hearted Blues”*

F 10/7 Blues III: Classic Blues

Readings: 1. Davis, Blues Legacies and Black Feminism, Chapter 4

Songs: 1. , “Blame it on the Blues”*

M 10/10 Columbus Day—No Class

T 10/11 Monday Schedule of Classes Blues IV: In-class viewing and discussion: Leadbelly, “Pick a Bale O’ Cotton”

Readings: 1. Benjamin Filene, “‘Our Singing Country’: John and Alan Lomax, Leadbelly, and the Construction of an American Past”*

Songs:

HI-280 A1 pg. 6

1. Leadbelly, “Midnight Special”*

Deadline: Reading Response for Davis

W 10/12 Culture & Politics in the Harlem Renaissance

Readings: 1. George S. Schuyler, “The Negro-Art Hokum”* 2. Langston Hughes, “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain”* 3. Langston Hughes, Excerpt from The Weary Blues*

F 10/14 Jazz and Civil Rights: Billie Holiday and “Strange Fruit” Take Home Midterm Exam distributed at end of class

Readings: 1. Davis, Blues Legacies and Black Feminism, Chapter 8

Songs: 1. Billie Holiday, “Strange Fruit”*

Rock n’ Roll, Pop, Rhythm and Blues, Soul, Funk, and the Civil Rights Movement

M 10/17 The Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s: Social and Political Contexts

Deadline: Take Home Midterm Exam

W 10/19 Rock ‘n’ Roll & “Musical Miscegenation”

Readings: 1. Brian Ward, Excerpt from Just My Soul Responding, Chapter 3 (available online through Mugar Library)

Songs: 1. Big Mama Thornton, “Hound Dog”* 2. Elvis Presley, “Hound Dog”*

F 10/21 1950s Pop Music

Readings: 1. Brian Ward, Excerpt from Just My Soul Responding, Chapter 4 (available online through Mugar Library)

Songs: 1. Sam Cooke, “A Change is Gonna Come”*

HI-280 A1 pg. 7

M 10/24 The Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s: Social and Political Contexts

Readings: 1. Bruce J. Schulman, Excerpt from Lyndon B. Johnson and American Liberalism*

W 10/26 Voices of the Civil Rights Movement III: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Readings: 1. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., “Letter from Birmingham Jail”*

F 10/28 Voices of the Civil Rights Movement IV: Malcolm X and Lyndon B. Johnson

Readings: 1. Malcolm X, “The Ballot or the Bullet”* 2. Lyndon B. Johnson, “The American Promise”*

M 10/31 1960s Freedom Songs I In-class discussion: Soundtrack for a Revolution

Film: 1. Soundtrack for a Revolution

W 11/2 1960s Freedom Songs II

Readings: 1. Smith, Dancing in the Street, Introduction

Songs: 1. “We Shall Overcome”*

F 11/4 Jazz Ambassadors Fight the Cold War

Readings: 1. Smith, Dancing in the Street, Chapter 1

M 11/7 Black Power

Readings: 1. Smith, Dancing in the Street, Chapters 2-3

HI-280 A1 pg. 8

W 11/9 Motown & Cultural Politics In-class discussion: Dancing in the Street

Readings: 1. Smith, Dancing in the Street, Chapter 4

Deadline: Reading Response for Smith

F 11/11 Nina Simone

In-class discussion: What Happened, Miss Simone?

Film: 1. What Happened, Miss Simone?

Songs: 1. Nina Simone, “Mississippi Goddam”*

M 11/14 Folk Singers and Civil Rights I

Readings: 1. Charles Hughes, “Allowed to Be Free: Bob Dylan and the Civil Rights Movement”*

Songs: 1. Bob Dylan, “Oxford Town”*

W 11/16 The Night James Brown Saved Boston In-class discussion: The Night James Brown Saved Boston

Film: 1. The Night James Brown Saved Boston

F 11/18 Funk and Cultural Nationalism

M 11/21 The Black Arts Movement In-class discussion: Larry Neal, “The Black Arts Movement”*

Deadline: Analytic Paper due

W 11/23-11/27 Thanksgiving Recess

HI-280 A1 pg. 9

Hip-Hop in the Post-Civil Rights Era

M 11/28 Civil Rights in the 1970s: Social and Political Contexts

Readings: 1. Chang, Can’t Stop Won’t Stop, Introduction, Chapters 1, 4, 5, 7-9

W 11/30 Hip-Hop and Civil Rights I In-class discussion: Can’t Stop Won’t Stop

Readings: 1. Chang, Can’t Stop Won’t Stop, Chapter 10

F 12/2 Race Relations in the 1980s

Readings: 1. Chang, Can’t Stop Won’t Stop, Chapter 11

M 12/5 Hip-Hop and Civil Rights II In-class discussion: Can’t Stop Won’t Stop

Readings: 1. Chang, Can’t Stop Won’t Stop, Chapters 12, 14

Songs: 1. Public Enemy, “Fight the Power”*

Deadline: Reading Response for Chang

W 12/7 Hip-Hop and Civil Rights III: Gangsta Rap In-class discussion: Straight Outta Compton

Film: 1. Straight Outta Compton

F 12/9 Hip-Hop and Civil Rights IV

Readings: 1. Derrick P. Alridge, “From Civil Rights to Hip Hop: Toward a Nexus of Ideas”*

M 12/12 Course Wrap-Up Final Exam Study Guide distributed

Final Exam Date TBD