Public Policy and African American Music

Catalog description

Public Policy and African American Music is a course designed to spark critical and creative thinking regarding the relationship between art and policy. Focusing on the music birthed by African American artists and public policies of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Public Policy and African American Music aims to identify the ways in which public policy inspires, provokes, and motivates the artist and the music they create. Centering the music of Black America, while honing research skills, students will build presentations which offer a glimpse into key moments in our country’s history, the policies created, the African American artists, and the new music genres they produced. Public Policy and African American Music’s objective is to fine tune research abilities, strengthen presentation skills and ultimately through exploring past intersections of policy and art, offer students a space to gain a deeper understanding of their voices as artists, art creators and policy makers. As we enter into a time of seismic shift in our country’s policies on art making, arts education and art advocacy, it is vital that students have a deeper understanding of the rich legacy that has come before them. Beginning by researching socio-political moments as the spark of public policies, students will move towards the artists to understand the power, brilliance, and contribution that African American contributed to the evolution of music in America. By inviting students to enter into the world of a particular period in history, students will identify the patterns related to how African Americans utilized music to speak to their lived experiences. And in doing so, gave voice to the humanity that unifies us all. Public Policy and African American Music will require students to immerse themselves in multiple modes of research. They will be required to study the world as it exists…