When my friend and colleague, Mr. Kurt Russell, came to me last spring with an idea, I wasn’t sure what would come of it. It was a fantastic idea: a semester-long elective seminar that explores American history through the lense of Black American Music. It was the course I always wanted to take and the course I always wanted to teach: a dream!

Allow me to pause and express how remarkable this scenario is. Kurt identifies as an African American man who was raised in Ohio with southern roots. I identify as a Black American woman who was raised in Ohio with southern and Caribbean roots. Kurt belongs to a population of Black male teachers who only make up 2% of teachers in the US. And I am one of the few Black orchestra teachers in Ohio. To be encouraged to teach a high school elective from our positionalities is a blessing that we didn’t take lightly.

We considered all the music that we could include, from the continent of Africa to the Caribbean, and we realized that there was simply too much for us to cover in a semester. Any genre could be an entire course! Guided by our own positionalities, experiences and musical loves, we decided to begin with the Middle Passage and end with Hip Hop. And for a first dive into this kind of course, it went very well.

The discussions were engaging and the lectures were enjoyable. Quizzes kept the students accountable, but Kurt’s use of the Socratic method is what kept the students coming back for more. I brought the musical knowledge and Kurt connected it to American history. I cannot believe how well it worked!

Kurt as since won the National Teacher of the Year Award and will assume his responsibilities away from the classroom next year, so we have a hiatus to plan and fine-tune our curriculum. Check out the Spotify playlist I curated for the semester. It is a living playlist, so it has changed throughout the year and I still have some organizing to do, but I would love to hear input. Let me know if you think anything is missing. Let me know if you want to teach a course like this too!