Jazz and Rock & Roll: Black American Music Born in Segregation

I saw Hidden Figures this past weekend. I waited too long to do so, probably, as I'd been hearing about it for months on end because I am a fan of and follow Janelle Monae closely on social media. I enjoyed it tremendously.  The film didn't contain a lot of subtleties, as most of it was straight-forward narrative. But one undercurrent of the film was that the scientists & engineers who also happened to be Black women portrayed in the film achieved their goals not because of a segregated society and the challenges they faced as a result, but in spite of it. Oppressed people do not owe thanks to the institutions that oppress them; they achieve in spite of oppression.  

The same can be said of a teaching concept born of a conversation I first had four years ago with my students. I had an eighth grade, year-long general music class.  In all of my wisdom, both times I've taught general music, I've sought to really think outside of the box. My ideas for these classes have gone over so-so, mostly because I had not done a lot of the leg work to get a strong curriculum moving. Because it was a class students had been placed in, not one they had chosen, and I had precious few resources (no books, no budget, no guidance, etc.), it was difficult to create ways to engage them academically. One thing I tried to work into that class was the development of jazz and rock'n'roll in the era of court-enforced segregation.  

Obviously, racial segregation in the United States did not begin in 1896, but with Plessy v. Ferguson, there was a Supreme Court precedent to legally enforce "Separate but Equal" facilities. We know that separate did not mean equal, and it meant that people of color were often subject to inferior services, facilities, schools, medical care or had no access to services, facilities, schools, or medical care. Racially-motivated violence was much more prominent during that time in American history, and many people died as a result of widespread lynchings, something not taught as much in schools, as a result.  

This is well-known history (and should continually be taught in schools). The Plessy decision was overturned by Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, one of the biggest landmark cases in Supreme Court history. Brown brought down a federal mandate, declaring segregation unconstitutional, but it asked that states desegregate "With All Deliberate Speed", causing the process to drag on for many years.  

During the interval between these cases, Black musicians in the U.S. brought jazz and rock & roll into being. Plessy and Brown serve as surprisingly neat bookends to the development of these musical genres, both of which are considered American cultural crown jewels. And both genres came directly from Black American musicians.  

Here's the question: Is it the struggle for freedom what made the music great?

I love jazz and I love rock & roll and everything they've influenced. I cannot be grateful enough for these pioneering musicians and all they allowed to come into being. But these genres do not belong to my culture. These marvelous artistic feats occurred in spite of pain and in spite of oppression. Scott Joplin, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, W.C. Handy, Duke Ellington, and Ike Turner and the Kings of Rhythm do not owe a debt of gratitude to the Plessy decision. They changed the world in spite of the Plessy decision, in spite of hundreds of years of genocide & subversion, and flying in the face of white supremacy, Black musicians laid the groundwork for everything we have to be grateful for as a culture today.  

I made a teaching tool — a Prezi, to be exact — that better expresses these ideas and features listening examples from some of these artists.  It could be of use in general music, jazz band, or even social studies classes.  I hope you find it useful — I hope my past-tense students (who are now seniors in high school) might have appreciated it.  

"But Emily, Black History Month is over!"  

Yes, it is, and trust me, I've been working on this project (which has no specified place in my classroom curriculum, I just wanted to get it done) for a very long time and had hoped I would have completed it by the end of this month. However, kids need context for Black History, not just a month where they talk about it a little bit and then forget about it. Kids cannot possibly have context for something they only hear about once.  

Above is a photo preview. Below is the link to the Prezi itself (which is public! You can feel free to use it! Give me credit it you'd like, just don't reproduce it yourself!!).

Segregation, Jazz, and Rock'n'Roll

Enjoy!!

edited for length, clarity, and updated style on June 1st, 2020.

Postscript: when I first wrote this, I spent less time in my classrooms examining the relationship between Civil Rights struggles & musical development. Since then, I have used this presentation with increasing frequency in my middle school classrooms, and now that I am teaching elementary school, this topic is the main idea in many of my upper grades lessons.

A note to my past teacher self, and to others: we have time to teach these things to kids. We should learn about these things ourselves, if we do not know already, and we must take time in our classrooms to teach this.