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AFROAM 156. Revolutionary Concepts in Afro-American Music II
4 credits (AT,DU)
Instructor: Bianki Torres
TuTh 4:00-5:15 p.m.
This course will examine the development of African American music during the twentieth century into the twenty-first century. Literature and history will be examined alongside documentaries and footage of famous performers in conjunction to their historical period and the cultural and political events of the time. The Harlem Renaissance, the Civil Rights Movement, the Black Arts Movement, post-Civil Rights era, and the Black Lives Matter Movement will encompass the scope of this course. Therefore, we will be reading works from Langston Hughes, James Baldwin, Amiri Baraka, Angela Davis, Assata Shakur, among others, while surveying the varied styles, productions, and receptions of artists such as Gertrude “Ma” Rainey, Bessie Smith, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Leadbelly, Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton, Ella Fitzgerald, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Odetta, Sweet Honey in the Rock, Curtis Mayfield, Betty Davis, Donna Summer, Prince, Bad Brains, Beyonce, and many more. In addition, the course will consider the diasporic reaches of “Afro-Latinidad” (bachata, salsa, etc.) and Caribbean influences such as reggae and dub.