This stand-alone course will immerse students in the history of American Slavery and the musical creativity used to survive and cope with the hardships of everyday life. The process will encompass music appreciative studies of rhythm, percussion and singing as well as discussion of code making and breaking, historical and current events. The course will culminate in students creating their own encoded song to convey a hidden message concerning freedom.

Beginning with Lesson 1, entitled Strange Land, students will explore the physical and psychological plight of Africans traveling the Middle Passage to the slave trade in The New World. They will examine how song ultimately helped the captives transcend sorrow. 

Further, participants will explore the concept of freedom by reading and discussing Maya Angelou’s poem “Caged Bird.” Why the Caged Bird Sings (Lesson 2) examines the chronology and evolution from African to African-American music in three distinct genres: Field Hollers (also called work songs) , Spirituals and Gospel Music.  

During lessons 3 and 4, We’ve Got the Beat and A Percussion Discussion, students will gain an appreciation of the communicative power of various rhythms as well as their modes of creation and expression; using one’s body as an instrument in a variety of ways. 

In Four Letter Words (Lesson 5) Students will generate and discuss words like: sell, hate, help, care, love and hope; then discuss the various situations in which these words are used, the feelings they generate in those contexts and how music can express, relive and relieve those emotions.  

Additionally, Jimmy Crack Code and Code of the ‘Railroad’ (lessons 6 and 7) participants will delve into the depth and breadth of the covert communication necessary between enslaved persons - especially when navigating the Underground Railroad. Students will study symbolism, code making, code breaking and the duality of Negro Spiritual lyrics as well as quilt patterns. 

Lesson 8 - Sing a New Song moves students to the creative process of writing their own original spiritual, delivering their own, unique, coded message of freedom, as well as its translation.   The spirituals are not to convey religious doctrine but to help students understand how songs were used to communicate in code.