DOCUMENTS FOR FALL HISTORY C;LASSES FALL 2022

September 2022: Please bring to my attention any typographical or incorrect wording before I
render/release the final copy.

DOCUMENT ONE

It is incumbent on you to thoroughly read the syllabus and especially the list of links to various
articles, historical accounts of important events in American History, Music, and Culture. Below are
some of the materials we will cover over the next four classes. THIS IS A ZOOM COURSE. YOU ARE
REQUIRED TO HAVE YOUR CAMERA AND SOUND WORKING AT ALL TIMES. IF I CALL ON YOU AND
YOU DO NOT RESPOND THAT WILL CONSTITUTE BEING ABSENT. HERE IS THE ADDRESS FOR ALL
CLASSES FOR THE SEMESTER:

Join Zoom Meeting

https://berklee.zoom.us/j/2656814281

Meeting ID: 265 681 4281

One tap mobile

+16468769923,,2656814281# US (New York)

+13017158592,,2656814281# US (Washington DC)

Dial by your location

+1 646 876 9923 US (New York)

+1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC)

+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)

+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)

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+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)

+1 408 638 0968 US (San Jose)

Meeting ID: 265 681 4281

Find your local number: https://berklee.zoom.us/u/atKUUuu8c

A Great and Mighty Walk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njdQzyQnHeg ( REQUIRED VIDEO)

This monumental video is one of the GUIDEPOSTS FOR THE COURSE. YOU ARE EXPECTED TO READ
AND TAKE COPIOUS NOTES ON THE PRESENTATION BY DR. JOHN HENRIK CLARK. YOU WILL BE
DIRECTED IN THE FUTURE TO FORMULATE 10 QUESTIONS BASED ON THE MOVIE AND THE
ATTACHED SYLLABUS.

THESE QUESTIONS, YOUR ANSWERS, AND IDENTIFYING SONGS, COMPOSITIONS, POEMS WILL BE
THE BASIS OF YOUR MIDTERM. YOU WILL RESEARCH SONGS FROM THE JAZZ, GOSPEL, POP,
COUNTRY, HIP HOP BLUES, AND OTHER FORMS OF MUSIC WITH THEIR FOUNDATIONAL BASIS IN
THE AFRICAN AMERICAN MUSICAL TRADITION.

IN A COUPLE OF WEEKS YOU WILL SUBMIT TO ME YOUR FORMULATED QUESTIONS FOR APPROVAL
BEFORE YOU EMBARK ON COMPLETING THE ASSIGNMENT. THIS IS WHY IT IS ESSENTIAL THAT YOU
MAINTAIN A DIARY AND MAKE ENTRIES AFTER EACH CLASS LECTURE AND DISCUSSION .

THESE CONCEPTS WERE INTRODUCED TO YOU AT MY FIRST LECTURE. WE WILL CONTINUALLY

DURING THE SEMESTER RETURN TO THESE CLASSIFICATIONS OF MEMBERS OF OUR SOCIEITY.

Five Levels of Societal stratifications: Developing a Diversity Curriculum :

Perpetrators

Avoiders

Naive Offenders

Change Agent

Fighters

Stages of Grief and Dying Kubler Ross https://www.psycom.net/depression.central.grief.html.

Authentically studying American History, culture, and Music is enriching and deeply disturbing.
Many often experience a kind of social death or intellectual rebirth. Studying the work Kubler Ross
helps us recognize and identify what we are experiencing,
Free White and 21 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxAlJq94-b8

A Lesson Before Dying https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NEDiFGJU-g 3/5TH COMPROMISE AND

FRAMING BLACK PEOPLE AS ANIMALS OR LESS THAN HUMAN)

The Peterson Map: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVX-PrBRtTY ( EUROPEANS DEPICTED AS

THE CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE- AN EXAMPLE OF INACCURATE AND MISLEADING HISTORY, AND
GEOGRAPHY. FOUNDATIONS OF IMPERIALISM, EUROCENTRISM AND DEVELOPMENT OF
INSTITUTIONAL RACISM)

The Colored Museum https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ra09yV_VaTk (COOKING WITH AUN

ETHEL): RECONSIDERING AND EXPANDING OUR DEFINITIONS OF JAZZ, BLUES, AND BLACK MUSIC

You will be challenged at each class to hone your critical thinking skills by reviewing the theory of
Dr.Benjamin Bloom,

The Taxonomy of intelligence https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOy3m02uEaE. It is the

foundation of the course.

MORE LATER. THESE NEXT FEW WEEKSA WILL BE VERY VALUABLE SO COME TO CLASS PREPARED TO
ACTIVELY PARTICIPATE IN ALL DISCUSSIONS. I AM ALSO INCLUDING AN EDITORIAL I HAVE
PREPARED SPECIFICALLY FOR MY CLASSES SO YOU CAN UNDERSTAND THE FOCUS I WILL GIVE TO
THIS SURVERY COURSE.

MUSIC WILL BE DISCUSS AT EACH CLASS AND EXAMPLES OF GREAT AFRICAN AMERICAN ARTIST,
CARRIIBEAN ARTIST AND LATIN ARTIST RARELY DISCUSSED IN A SURVERY CLASS. ALL OF THOSE
ARTISTS YOU SHOULD PLACE AFTER EACH CLASS ON THE MUSIC TREE PREPARED BY THE LATE DR.
WYATT TEE WALKER.
DOCUMENT #2

Editorial and Historical Overview for the Course. SUMMER 2022

Professor Lawrence “Larry” Watson

www.lawrencewatson.com

www.saveourselvesproductions.com

M HIS:221

Music and cultural expression historically have acted as the “balm” and the life force that sustained
peoples of African Descent as they have continued to experience the worst destruction of human
life and desecration of generations embedded In the floor of the Atlantic Ocean. Without music and
cultural expression, there would be little evidence of the enduring spirit and energy of African
peoples in the Diaspora. Music and cultural expression were the primary repositories of our
ancestral memory for thousands of years and the cement that fortified African Civilizations.

Music and cultural expression were the primary languages used when laws forbid us to speak, write
and even use traditional instruments to communicate. Historian and Activist Dr. John Henrik Clark
directs people interested in exploring and discovering the rich history of peoples of African Descent
to read the history of our oppressors. There you will find an incomplete work and the missing pages
of European History are the pervasive role we played in the shaping of humanity. The
accomplishments of Black and Brown people throughout the world have been displaced, obscured,
and in some instances erased from the evolutionary development of humanity. Ironically, Scientists,
place the origins of human beings in East Africa, and the oldest fossils and first writings attributed to
human beings are traced back to the African continent, there has been a deliberate and structural
divide to remove Africa and the African peoples from the development of culture, the first emerging
economic and political governing systems and exploration of the planet.

The intentional promotion of an impenetrable dichotomy between Europe, The African continent,
the Middle and the Far East continues to negatively permeate and eclipse a universal literacy and
understanding of our connectedness as one humanity. This has taken the form of Western
colonialism, hegemony, religious wars, genocide, ethnocentrism, and institutional racism
domestically and internationally. One cannot study human migration patterns forced and volunteer
if you do not begin a process of deconstructing historical accounts of this sojourn and challenging
the writings, rituals, and psychology of oppressors and servants to these systems that dictate the
current destruction of the environment, and the chaos that exist on all levels between first-world
nations, developing nations, and underdeveloped nations. By studying music and cultural
expression one finds the common fault line between humanity and we can begin the painful and
rewarding study of human beings triumphant in their struggle to live full and wholesome lives.
Thus, the study of people of African descent and their music, culture, and history cannot start when
they exit slave ships. It must begin with the genesis of humanity and the role each group played in
that forced or voluntary migration.
 It is even more important for musicians and artists today to be students of the Social Sciences,
Humanities, Expressive Arts, and the Physical and biological sciences. The radical developments in
technology offer us an additional perspective on who we are, where we came from and the way the
human species will be annihilated if we continue to ignore the physical and social decay that is
destroying the planet.

African American musical expression has captured the attention of the world and remains the most
innovative and poignant form of expression. Although in the contemporary world there has been a
great deal of deterioration of musical categories, the rudimentary and foundational study of
contemporary musical expression draws heavily on American Blues, Jazz, Hip Hop, Soul, Rock,
Gospel, rhythm music, and folk-traditional music.

Compositional music and recorded music draw heavily on European Classical forms and the great
composers that wrote down volumes of sacred and important works that have been the basis and
foundation of musical education throughout the world. However, as indigenous peoples who were
colonized in the modern era by Britain, England, France, Spain, Germany and other European
Nations, are rediscovering their indigenous pasts, they are also reevaluating the pedological and
theoretical approaches to the study of music and challenging some of those sacrosanct laws of
harmony, musical theory and “good or high brow” music.

Musicians are challenging the rules that were once intrinsic to the study and execution of musical
forms. If it was not written down, it was not valid. This reinforced the western concept that the
written form was more important than the spoken form, thus negating thousands of years of the
oral traditions that preceded the written tradition. For the purpose of this class, we will pay greater
attention to the oral tradition which is the cornerstone of music born on American soil. The blues is
America’s classical music and 90% of the course offerings at Berklee are based on common
American Blues progressions. And although a great deal of the music we study at Berklee draws
from the European tradition, we will not devote a great deal of time to his debate but instead honor
the rich compositions and work of Ma Rainey, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Big Momma Thorton,
Mahalia Jackson, Thomas Dorsey, Fats Domino, Blind Tom, The Fisk Jubilee Singers, Dorothy
Donegan, Art Tatum, Betty Carter, The Isley Brothers, Noel Pointer, Rosetta Tharp., James Cleveland,
Andre Crouch, Berry Gordy, Harry Belafonte, The Nicolas Brothers to name a few. If these names
are unfamiliar to you then your education has failed you and it is now time to respect the tradition
you are studying and the men and women whose names continually are left out of the history of
these musical traditions.

This is a survey course and will be taught in the voice of the Black musician. Rarely do these
trailblazers of Jazz, Blues, rhythm, soul, rock, Gospel, and Hip Hop receive credit and die toothless
with no retirement. Music students today inherit a world that mandates a clarity and semblance of
literacy in the fields of sociology, phycology, linguistics, history, economics, and cultural literature of
the African (Black) experience. Thus, it is essential that good musicians transcend the traditional
approach to the music and engulf themselves in the customs that bring the music alive.

There is much to be learned by departing from the conventional approach to these musical forms
and doing what Berklee College of Music’s missions statement mandates. Most students today are
not familiar with the more than 150 HBCU educational institutions that granted Baccalaureate
degrees to about 75% of Black people in America between 1855 through 1970.
 Even at these predominately Black College institutions, traditional forms of Black music and the oral
tradition were downplayed and in some instances forbidden from being taught. Black musical
forms were codified, mathematized, and made palatable to mirror “white-centered” standards that
would guarantee these institutions were granted “ accreditation” by mostly White educational
musicologists. Some black musical forms were tolerated but for the most part, authentic Black
musical forms were required to survive the scrutiny of the “White gaze.” Well into the late 20
century many educational institutions resisted the multicultural and diversity revolution in Higher
Education, specifically dethroning the mostly “White- Centered” Canon in Literature, Music, and
theatre.

By 1970, more than 50% of Black students were now enrolled in predominately White educational
institutions. Black graduates from these institutions found Black accomplishments were ignored,
removed, or camouflaged. Nelson George, Writer, and Historian says “Black create and discard and
Whites recycle” and document. Students were studying Black musical expression as if it was solely
based on mathematical formulas. American curricula were circumscribed and harnessed by musical
theory, European-based harmonic sensibilities. Any alternative approaches to the study of the
music and cultural expressions of Black people in America and around the world were framed as
“exotica” and thereby not a critical central part of the musical curriculum. The study of the Blues and
Jazz was a study of “style”, “Blue notes” and “feelings.”

Even educational institutions emerging after WWII, a time when jazz, big bands, and other forms of
the Blues were being talked about and popularized throughout Europe and America, produced
curriculum guides that required the study of Western Civilization and Western Art as the core vehicle
to understand the Blues. This Eurocentric and ethnocentric approach to the music of Black people
was being held hostage by an accreditation fortress allowing educators to use their guidelines as a
justification to limit course offerings diversifying predominately White educational institutions’ hiring
of Black faculty and reforming curricula to better address the education of students interested in the
serious study of what is commonly referred to as American Black Music. More Black activists in
Education joined with White feminists and academics challenging their institutions to join the
Educational reform movement of the early ’70s.

The Middle 1970’s through the ’90s was marked by student and faculty protests in an effort to
diversify college and university course offerings, recruit more Black and Brown faculty, staff and
improve the retention rates of Black and Brown students. These political and social movements
cannot be ignored as we study the genesis of Black music and its impact on social and political
movements and the abolitions, Civil Rights, and "Black Lives Matters" movements that now have the
attention of the world.

This survey course on the History, Culture, and Music of African Descent Peoples has existed since
the early 1980s at Berklee College of Music. The course has survived its many attacks and is in many
instances an oppositional approach to the way in which Black musical forms have intellectually and
pragmatically framed within the Berklee curriculum.
DOCUMENT #3

Fall 2022 -history 221

Professor Lawrence “Larry Watson

Email: saveourselvesproductions@gmail.com*

THE HISTORY, CULTURE AND MUSIC

OF

AFRICAN DESCENT PEOPLES IN THE AMERICAS

DESCRIPTION:

This survey course will investigate and expose students to a general overview of history. culture and
music of African descent people in the United States. As a survey course, it will be impossible to
cover these vast topics and concepts in detail. It is my intention to stress those historical “marker
events” that have significantly shaped American popular culture and African descent musical
expression in particular. This course will cover the journey of those people who arrived in the “New
World”, first referred to as the Africans. Within the first hundred years of their torturous life in the
Americas’ these people have been referred to as “colored”, Negras”, “Negroes,” “Black”, “Afro-
Americans”, “African- Americans”, “People of Color”, and a myriad of other expressions. Inherent in
the evolution of the labels Africans have endured, lays the complexity and multi-dimensional aspect
of this rich legacy. For the purpose of this course, the term African Descent people will be used that
encompasses all who have been “nurtured” in what is commonly referred to as the “Americas” but
their fundamental “nature” is African.

Any study of African American music not supplanted on Continent Africa and West Africa, in
particular, is a counterfeit and historically invalid study. Humanity began on the African continent
and so did musical and cultural expression. To suggest that native Africans, with a documented
history of some of the most advanced civilizations in human history, continue to be depicted as
backward and underdeveloped waiting to be “discovered” by Europeans continues to be challenged
by the diversity of reputable scholars throughout the world. This semester you will be exposed to
the writings and scholarship of these men and women. The first few discussions readings and
videotapes will aid you in the “cleansing of the pallet.” It will then be possible for you to embrace a
view of the world that is not “White Centered” and grossly unfair to people of color around the
world. We will connect African genius to the groundwork established throughout the African
continent and finding its way to the Americas.

The first Africans to arrive in what is commonly referred to as the “New World” arrived in 1619. The
debate continues in some circles as to whether they were indentured servants or slaves. We will
explore and challenge the traditional definitions of these terms. We will also analyze the role
institutional slavery played in shaping African economies and European and American economies
between 1619 and 1964.

Chattel/institutional slavery was in operation shortly after the first Africans were transported to the
Caribbean, Central and South America, and Mexico and manifested in various forms in colonized
indigenous cultures in the Western Hemisphere shaping the social, political, cultural, moral, and
economic foundation of Europe and the United States of America.

Renowned writer Ralph Ellison, in “What America would be without Blacks” (1970) said,”...whatever
else the true American is, he is also somehow black.” The African has influenced every aspect of
American life. One of America’s greatest cultural exports is the art, music, and dance of African
descent people born in the United States. American popular culture is for the most part African
based...

The fact that African men and women travel to China and the Americas predates the expeditions of
Columbus, European historians, for the most part, continue to depict African descent people as
having no history of consequence emanating from society’s categorized as barbaric, savage and
primitive. (Example)

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Today we confront an America where most urban cities are on the precipice of a Civil War. Racial
animus is at an all-time high, the medical profession disproportionately serves Black and Brown
people and American democracy is on the verge of collapse. We will attempt in this survey course to
define African American culture, music, and the history of African descent people in the United
States. The course will focus on several African American political, musical, and cultural leaders who
have shaped the last two centuries of our country. We will also discuss the challenges African
descent people continue to confront as we struggle for full citizenship promised by the American
Constitution. We will do this in the rearview mirror of the murder of George Floyd and the January 6,
2021 insurrection. Regardless of your political perspective, these events compel us once again to
recognize Scholar W.E.B. Dubois’ contention throughout all of his writings that race continues to
plague our nation and is visible in our contemporary music, art, and general quality of life.

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

We will analyze the role and relationship of African Descent people the formation of European
descent white identity, and the continued oppression of African descent people in the United States.
How has Whiteness historically been determined? ( “Making Whiteness” Grace Elizabeth Hale.)
 We will explore the systemic conditions of racism and oppression that directly and indirectly
contribute to the continued subjugation of African descent people in the United States to a status of
second-class citizenship. (“The New Jim Crow” Michelle Alexander.)

We will analyze and explore the role the media plays in the formation of public policy and the
formation of federal and state legislation as it pertains to race relations, poverty, crime, and the
political dis-empowerment of African descent people in the United States.( “ The Black Image in the
White Mind” Andrew Rojecki and Robert Entman)

We will examine the participation of African descent people in the American workforce with an eye
for assessing the systemic progress and inroads African descent people have made in the political,
social, and economic institutions in the 19th and 20th centuries. ( Slavery by Another Name” Douglass
Blackmon)

We will explore the implications and the critical role African descent people play in the
development of American and global popular culture. (“Hip Hop America” Nelson George.)

We will confront and examine our personal perceptions and biases with regard to the image of men
(masculinity), women (femininity), children, gender, age, sexual orientation, race, class, and sex roles,
as they pertain to our understanding or lack thereof of African American history and culture.
(“Teaching To Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom” bell Hooks)

All of these course objectives will be met by using African descent musical expression as the primary
“lens” in better understanding African Descent people in the United States and the critical role
musical expression continues to play in reinforcing a spirit in the African descent community of
forgiveness, empowerment and a chronicling of American culture.

ACADEMIC SKILL DEVELOPMENT AND COURSE OUTCOMES

Students will move beyond applying low-level thinking in their understanding of history and culture
to strengthening and applying critical thinking skills in their analysis of their undergraduate liberal
arts education. ( Benjamin Bloom: The Taxonomy of Intelligence)

Students will be challenged to reconsider the reliability and objectivity of standard primary and
secondary sources in the social sciences and humanities.

Students will assess the notion of inclusiveness and objectivity in the current academic training in
the social sciences and humanities.

Students will further develop their verbal and debate skills.

Students will examine strategies and techniques to assist them in promoting and developing a
vision and process for progressive social change

Students will develop their oral presentation and critical thinking skills.
 Students will develop a clearer connection between improvisation and the oral tradition of speaking
extemporaneously, improvisation and the connection between the power of African Centered
spoken word.

COURSE OUTLINE:

Class activities include lectures, discussions, short oral and written presentations, reviewing film,
television, radio and a final project. Students are required to maintain a diary- log of the semester's
activities. There will be occasional unannounced quizzes in addition to a midterm and final exam.
Class discussions are a critical and major part of the course. Students should make every effort to
attend class and arrive on time. On occasion class may be extended fifteen minutes when viewing a
film.

This semester we will study African Descent History and Culture by asking the questions of Why,
Where, Who, How, and What.

Why do we study African American Music, Culture, and History?

Africana Studies is important because the experience of Africans in America offers to the world a
unique view of a culture group that has had a major impact on “Americana”, American culture, and
the world. This study helps us understand current race relations the history of race in America and
the role it has played in shaping the larger American culture.

The plight of Africans in America helps us to appreciate and understand the failings of American
democracy as evidenced in the murder of Mr. George Floyd and the almost monthly murder of a
Black man, woman, or child without the country declaring this as a medical and life crisis. The Black
Experience in America has been framed by two phenomena’ and phases. We will discuss the concept
of “social cohesion” and “social disruption.” ( Professor Ron Bailey)

There has been no peace of justice since Black people arrived in America and this reality is evident
is every style of Black music that has captured the attention of the world. As an undergraduate
student, you are developing a body of knowledge and as a literate educated person with an
undergraduate degree, you should be versed and engaged in the issues that will impact your
professional and personal life. We live in a changing global economy and can no longer rest simply
on the folklore teaching of an earlier era in America when we did not acknowledge the presence or
contributions of Muslim, Buddhist, and non- sectarians who have also helped shape America.

A new intellectual preparedness will be required to strengthen us as a nation grappling with the
social upheaval in the streets of America. Hate groups, militia groups, protest on the streets,
reevaluating policing in America was all forecast by Hip Hop artists over the last forty years of
American urban popular culture history. It is ignorance that comes when a multicultural nation
refuses to acknowledge social, economic and political change and holds on to the monoculture
characteristics of a “white-centered” America that has excluded the history of Africans in America
from the American historical lexicon.

What makes this study different from the general study of American Music, History, and Culture?
 The study of American History has generally been “white Centered” and has excluded women and
descendants of slaves. An authentic study of African American History is fundamentally different
from the traditional manner American history has been studied in that in this study we consider the
culture and legacy of Africans and therefore the study takes on a broader and more comprehensive
approach. American History is the study of the Negro-an an American invention that by its very
definition has no culture, place of origins or language.

Until this point, most American students have embraced a folkloric interpretation of American
history e.g. George Washington and the Cherry tree and it is a folklore that has either left out Black
people or placed them in a very stereotypical context with linear progress for a chosen few palatable
to the White majority.

Who are we studying when we embark on completing a survey course on African American Music,
History, and Culture?

We are studying all parts of the world. Africans in the Diaspora have influenced every part of the
world and we are choosing to focus on the Western Hemisphere specifically North America and the
Caribbean. (“How Europe Underdeveloped Africa” Walter Rodney )

Where does this study take us?

It takes us through all of the social sciences and the humanities.

This survey course will start with a basic overview of West Africa and take us to the current day.

How do we approach the study of African American Music, Culture, and History?

This particular course will approach this study from an Afrocentric perspective using all the social
sciences, humanities physical, and biological sciences. This means the study will be taught in the
first-person voice of the African. This voice is a diverse voice and many points of view will be
considered.

When did it become popular to study African American History, Culture, and Music in America?

The study was always a part of Black people in America who strived to discount the American myth
that Black people had no history of consequence thereby justifying their enslavement. Thus great
black thinkers such as Dubois, Rogers, etc., were trailblazers in documenting the broad and rich
history of African descent people in America. This Afrocentric approach found ascension in the post
60's civil rights movement and has been re-galvanized by the Hip Hop Movement.

REQUIRED TEXTBOOKS, DIARY* AND VIDEOS:

In lieu of required books, students will be expected to access a series of documentaries via HBO,
Netflix, and other outlets. I will supply many of the videotapes and others from the internet but
some you have to rent. The overall cost will be less than the purchase of textbooks. Each week you
will be required to review and be prepared response to the material I have assigned. The responses
will be in the form of individual presentations and group discussions.

It is essential that you be prepared each week. I use the Socratic method of Instruction and so I will
call on you and raise a question and your response will constitute how I evaluate your class
participation. Listed below is a partial list of the material required for each class. Assignments will
be announced a week prior to the next class.

I will not collect your writings but will expect you to be prepared each week with questions raised by
viewing various videos and the assigned readings.

Music will be interlaced within each lecture and you will be assigned various artists to listen to each
week. The musical selections will complement the material covered each week.

PARTIAL LIST OF VIDEOS REQUIRED FOR THE CLASS: **

1. Agents of Change Frank Dawson (REQUIRED) LINK SENT TO CLASS LATER IN THE SEMESTER

2.“A GREAT AND MIGHTY WALK” –(THE LIFE OF DR.

JOHN HENRIK CLARK ( REQUIRED ON YOU TUBE)
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=401736930541581 A Great and Mighty Walk Dr. John Henrik
Clark

THE CONSTITUTUTION
3. SLAVERY BY ANOTHER NAME BY DOUGLASS BLACKMAN VIDEO/BOOK ( SHOWN IN CLASS)

4 THE NEW JIM CROW, MICHELLE ALEXANDER VIDEO/BOOK

5.. 1619 NEW YORK TIMES HISTORICAL COMMEMORATION OF 400 YEARS OF SLAVOCRACY IN THE
AMERICAS.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/1619-america-slavery.html

THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

The Politics and the History:

6. https://www.jacobinmag.com/2019/02/martin-luther-king-israel-palestine-occupation

7. http://www.history.com/news/frederick-douglass-bicentennial
8.https://face2faceafrica.com/article/5-horrifying-ways-enslaved-african-men-were-sexually-
exploited-and-abused-by-their-white-masters/4

9.http://bostonreview.net/race/rosalyn-pelles-jordan-t-camp-greensboro-massacre-40?
fbclid=IwAR01nQuqxX410m2YyQsaLnnmoj3BRQTVA1NIId6Qrtd2T0d1wibhBZnjYT4#.Xb7AbJRLYgU.t
witter

10https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/11/electoral-college-racist-origins/601918/?
utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share&fbclid=IwAR2hmWs6buk5bLSllP
J1ID_jOyHByXE16a9MGDibEJGjr4YfTNK_CU335ZE

11.https://atlantablackstar.com/2019/10/22/white-folks-embarrassed-to-admit-they-just-learned-
about-the-1921-tulsa-race-massacre-through-an-episode-of-watchmen/?
fbclid=IwAR27qk6ZOkKY4gTIxg1ENKGK9MBoEWvIdj-Gwo9iF_knX-kFaIdQqNE-zSQ

12. https://www.newyorkalmanack.com/2018/09/new-york-streets-named-for-slave-traders/?
fbclid=IwAR1nuptue6_9zZij7KcpU768rSF7qSgVdvur1pnwKF9_ZhLFbNXrVC9En8o

13.https://nmbx.newmusicusa.org/teaching-inequality-consequences-of-traditional-music-theory-
pedagogy/

14.https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/20/us/hate-groups-rise.html?fbclid=IwAR1wmS-
Ekn5_xQBJtBc8HaH96Al2Y9xG1AnMDHSdcwqK1dJSmPSqIPtKZO4

15.https://www.thegreatcourses.com/fb30000?
ai=188020&cmp=Social_Facebook_Advertising_2020Slavery&fbclid=IwAR2TTwR_akyN6nqgVXpeBbm
3sC4je3CzOpIdCH5XFM8EuBHkd4yUS4i8IG4

16.Free White and 21 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxAlJq94-b8

17. The Colored Museum https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ra09yV_VaTk

18. A Lesson Before Dying https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NEDiFGJU-g Part One

19..Emmett Till https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUm3oujS1uM

20.Fannie Lou Hammer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxTReRmH2jA

21. Her testimony : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07PwNVCZCcY

22.Sick and tired of Being sick and tired: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZYinmLyOxI

23.James Baldwin Pin Drop Speech : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUBh9GqFU3A

24.Malcolm X https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_uYWDyYNUg

25.Martin Luther King : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9N-m9RcZGkc Reparations

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrR8nvkHTDg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOWDtDUKz-U

26.Congresswomen Shirley Chisolm https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOWDtDUKz-U

27.Congresswomen Barbara Jordan https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UG6xMglSMdk

Http://sitestreamhd.com/play.php?movie=t8594010t Yusef Hawkins: Storm Over Brooklyn

28.Highly Emotional Music Lawrence Watson and Alvin Foster ( will be supplied )

All work submitted to me will be done in Microsoft word format

and I will outline for you the requirements for me to accept the
document. The best way for you to contact me is at my email
address: saveourselvesproductions@gmail.com

YOU SHOULD NOT SEND any of your correspondence or academic work to

my lwatson@berklee.edu ACCOUNT. TO DO SO IS TO DELAY ME READING YOUR WORK.*

Office hours: Tuesdays 1:00P.M. I will also accommodate those students who are unable to
meet at this time by calling 617-825-9600 and leaving a message with the times on Tuesdays
or Wednesdays.
COURSE POLICIES, GRADING, HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTS AND EVALUATION.

Students are expected to attend every class. Attendance, maintaining a journal* and being
prepared to participate in class discussion will count for 75% of your final grade. Each unexcused
absence can lower your final evaluation by as much as a letter grade. Throughout the semester you
will be expected to watch several movies and television shows. In lieu of a scheduled weekly class,
you may be required to attend an off campus lecture or movie pertinent to the course.

Grading Criteria

A (93-100)

The student has demonstrated superior achievement. The student appears to have a superior level
of understanding of . . . and the methodology associated with each task. A high level of
understanding is regularly displayed, and errors are seldom present in any assignments.

A- (90-92)

The student has demonstrated superior achievement. The student appears to have a superior level
of understanding of . . . and the methodology associated with each task. However, some errors are
present in select assignments.

B+ (87-89)

The student has demonstrated advanced achievement. The student appears to have an advanced
level of understanding of . . . and the methodology associated with each task. Some errors are
present, but infrequent and generally minor.

B (83-86)

The student has demonstrated advanced achievement. The student appears to have an advanced
level of understanding of . . . and the methodology associated with each task. However, additional
concentration could produce a higher level of achievement.

B- (80-82)
The student has demonstrated advanced achievement. The student appears to have an advanced
level of understanding of . . . and the methodology associated with each task. Additional practice
could produce a much more refined and consistent level of achievement.

C+ (77-79)

The student has demonstrated average achievement. The student appears to have an average level
of understanding of . . . and the methodology associated with each task. Errors appear to be of a
larger magnitude in select assignments.

C (73-76)

The student has demonstrated average achievement. The student appears to have an average level
of understanding of . . . and the methodology associated with each task. Errors appear in at least
half all assigned material.

C- (70-72)

The student has demonstrated a basic level of achievement. The student appears to have a basic
level of understanding of . . . and the methodology associated with each task. Few assignments are
without problems.

D (60-69)

The student has demonstrated a below-average/basic level of achievement. The student appears to
have a below-average/basic level of understanding of . . . and the methodology associated with each
task. Most assignments contain flaws.

F (0-59)

The students appear to be unaware of the most basic. The student does not understand . . . and the
methodology associated with each task. Most assignments contain severe flaws.

Grade Determination
· 50% Class attendance and participation (in-class and online – Campus Cruiser Discussions)

· 10% Homework and Projects

· 30% Midterm Exam

· 10% Oral Final Exam

TEACHING METHOD

The class will be conducted in a general lecture format and all students are expected to be active
participants in the class process. This means that students are expected to be prepared each week
to act as student group leaders. Mr. Watson will use the “Socratic” method of teaching the material.
On occasion, an associate from SaveOurSelves Productions and Consulting might deliver a lecture
and facilitate group discussions.

** Assigned film may change depending on availability.

__________________________________

Berklee College of Music is committed to ensuring the full participation of all students in its
programs. Accordingly, if a student has a documented disability and, as a result, needs some
accommodations to complete the course requirements, then he or she should inform the instructor
at the beginning of the course. For further information contact The Office of the Vice President for
Student Affairs.

Academic Honesty

· Berklee College of Music insists on academic honesty. Unless the assignment explicitly is a
group project, all of the work in this class must be your own. The source of all information in any
written assignment must be cited properly, whether it is a quotation, paraphrase, summary, idea,
concept, statistic, picture, or anything else you get from any source other than your own immediate
knowledge--including the Internet. Writers give credit through accepted documentation styles,
including parenthetical citation, footnotes, or endnotes; a simple listing of books and articles at the
end of an essay is not sufficient. Plagiarism—not giving proper credit to a source and thereby
passing off someone else’s material or idea as your own—is a type of intellectual theft and deceit
and cannot be tolerated in an academic setting. Plagiarism may result in a failing grade for the
assignment or course, and possible dismissal from the College. It is your responsibility to be aware
of and abide by the rules governing plagiarism, fraud, and cheating found in the College Bulletin
under the section "Honesty in Academic Work and in Scholarly and Professional Practice." If you
have any questions about what plagiarism is and how to avoid it, please talk with a reference
librarian, ask a teacher, or refer to a writing handbook. Websites that discuss types of plagiarism and
how it can be avoided through evaluation and proper documentation of sources include:

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/index.html

www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/Documentation.html

http://lib.nmsu.edu/instruction/evalcrit.html

College Attendance Policy

Students are responsible for making certain their official name, as it appears with the Registrar’s
Office is accurate and up to date. Please check and bring to my attention any irregularities. With
regard to pronouns and what you would like to be called, please tape and send me the correct
pronunciation of your official name as it appears in the Berklee records. I will adhere to the 14 th
amendment of the United States Constitution and refer to any student enrolled at Berklee by the
phrase ”ALL PERSONS”. For example “ Person Lawrence Watson or Person Watson”

The following ZOOM address will be used all semester.

To join Zoom Meeting….Go to

https://berklee.zoom.us/j/2656814281

Meeting ID: 265 681 4281

One tap mobile

+16468769923,,2656814281# US (New York)

+13017158592,,2656814281# US (Washington DC)

Dial by your location

+1 646 876 9923 US (New York)

 +1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC)

+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)

+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)

+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)

+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)

+1 408 638 0968 US (San Jose)

Meeting ID: 265 681 4281

Find your local number: https://berklee.zoom.us/u/atKUUuu8c

Attendance is required in all classes, private lessons, instrumental labs, and ensembles, beginning
with the first scheduled meeting. This class is structured and improvisational. Class discussions are
uniquely tailored to each section of the course and you are expected to be in attendance and
participate in the discussions. I strongly suggest that you take notes and each week make notes in
your personal diary to ensure that you understand the various historical references and their direct
relationship to the musical compositions that have accompanied every major victory and tragedy
associated with the Civil Rights and Social Justice movements. Absences must be addressed directly
to me and will have an impact on your academic progress and/or overall final grade. Classes, labs,
and ensembles are scheduled to start promptly on the hour and end at ten minutes before the
hour. Late arrivals (15 minutes or longer) can be counted as an absence.

Berklee recognizes that its students will be presented with professional opportunities, such as job
interviews, auditions for professional positions or graduate school, and exceptional performance
opportunities (including those sponsored by Berklee). Students hoping to take advantage of such
opportunities are not excused from course assignments or deadlines and are required to discuss
the ramifications of any related absences before they make the decision to be absent for an
extended period. There will be many controversial and highly emotional discussions that may
challenge you. You have the right at any time to turn off your screen and remove yourself from
these discussions. However, you are still ultimately responsible for the completion of the work. I
encourage you to seek counseling from the Berklee Dean of Students office if you find you cannot
manage these kinds of discussions. I will always manage these open dialogues so that they are
never directed at any specific person and at all times we maintain civility and respect for diverse
points of view. Historical facts will not be “sanitized” in some effort to avoid controversial subject
matter. This would be a violation of those who gave their lives in what we call democracy.

I will use “NetFlix”, possibly “Amazon” in lieu of a formal text book. We will use a great deal of the
material already on “YouTube” and the various musical platforms.
Important Dates

Students are responsible for checking with the College Registrar with regard to Adding, dropping
and course withdrawal

Support Services

· ESL Tutors

· College Writing Center ext. 8306, 8510

· Counseling/Advising Center ext. 2310

PARTIAL LISTING OF TOPICS TO BE DISCUSSED Summer 2022

This list is subject to change based on American and world activities

WEEKLY TOPICS AND ASSIGNMENTS FOR ENROLLED STUDENTS

WEEKS ONE AND TWO: INTRODUCTORY LECTURE WHY STUDY AFRICAN DESCENT HISTORY AND
CULTURE IF WE ARE MUSICIANS?

INTRODUCTION TO BENJAMIN BLOOM. (CRITICAL THINKING)

INTRODUCTION TO KUBLER ROSS (STAGES OF DEATH)

NEW TERMINOLOGY AND EXPANDED DEFINITIONS

--“Cooking with Aunt Ethel” The Colored Museum

--“ I’m Free White and 21.”

--“Photo session” The Colored Museum

--Introduction of the New York Times 1619 Project

VIDEO: A GREAT AND MIGHTY WALK by Professor John Henrik Clark

: AFRICAN BASED PHILOSOPHY –EUROPEAN BASED PHILOSOPHY

“ ART FOR ART SAKE”

 “ ART FOR ART SAKE NOTHING BUT DEODORIZED DOG SHIT”

THE ORNAMENTAL NATURE OF MUSIC AND ARTISTIC EXPRESSION

THE FUNCTIONALITY OF MUSIC AND ARTISTIC EXPRESSION

The Birth of Terrorism on American Soil by Americans against other Americans

3/5the Compromise, Dred Scott Decision,

“no rights a White Man is bound to respect” Chief Justice Roger B. Taney

The United States Supreme Court

13th 14th and 15th Amendments to the American Constitution

Review of the first American silent movie “Birth of A Nation”

The MAAFA

VIDEO: BIRTH OF A MOVEMENT (video to be supplied)

WEEKS THREE AND FOUR RECONSIDER DEFINITIONS

THE MUSIC TREE-A RECONSIDERATION OF THE HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL FOUNDATIONS

FOR THE FORMATION OF AFRICAN BASED MUSICAL CATEGORIES:

SPIRITUALS, SORROW SONGS, CHANTS, MOANS, THE BLUES, RHYTHM MUSIC, ROCK AND SOUL,
JAZZ, BLACK ART SONGS, MESSAGE MUSIC, ROCK AND ROLL, MOTOWN, COUNTRY, BLUEGRASS,
GOSPEL, THIRD STREAM, BIG BAND, HIP[ HOP, DISCO, HIP HOP, RAP, AMERICAN POP, SPOKEN
WORD

VIDEOS: THE BLEACHING OF BLACK CULTURE

BERKLEE’S MISSION STATEMENT, THE BILL OF RIGHTS, THE DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS.

MUSIC: AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO CIVIL AND HUMAN RIGHTS.

Film: SANKOFA BY HAILE GERIMA (FOUND ON

NETFLIX)

WEEKS FIVE AND SIX:

VISUAL IMAGES AND AN INTRODUCTION TO ICONIC FIGURES IN AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY.

“AMERICAN FRUIT WITH AFRICAN ROOTS”,

THE AFRICAN DIASPORA.

HOW DID EUROPE UNDERDEVELOP AFRICA?

WEEK SEVEN AND EIGHT: SLAVERY BY ANOTHER NAME BY DOUGLASS BLACKWELL

WEEKS EIGHT AND NINE: CONTINUATION OF DISCUSSION ON

BOOK: THE NEW JIM CROW BY MICHELLE ALEXANDER

WEEKS TEN AND ELEVEN: MOVIE: GET OUT OR SUBSTITUTEE

WEEK TWELVE AND FINAL:

**Please note that in addition to the required readings there will be listening exercises, videos, and
movies that look at the Electronic print and social media outlets and their relationship to the
formation of African American culture, music, and history. Professor Watson may opt to make
changes in the selected videos and films shown in class.

Being late to class can constitute an absence. It is critical that students attend and participate in all
class discussions. Office hour(s) will be scheduled on Tuesday or Wednesday. Students will be
required to contact Professor Watson and be placed on a list if you sould like to schedule a time to
speak with me. .

List of Terminology:

Whiteness

Africana Studies

Critical Race Theory

Antiquity

The Classics-Classical composers, classical music

The Slave Scale

Afrocentrism
Eurocentrism

Cultural literacy

Media literacy

Cultural Other

Racism

Bigotry

Bias

Prejudice

MAAFA

The Middle Passage

Alkebulan

Affirmative Action

Segregation

Assimilation

Pluralism

Integration

Quotas

Ex-Patriots

Nihilism

Double Consciousness
Human Rights

Civil Rights

3/5th Compromise

13th Amendment
14th Amendment

15th Amendment

Brown Vs. The Board of Education

Within the veil

Plessey vs Furgeson

Multiculturalism

Environmental racism

Defacto segregation

Dejure segregation

Human Rights

Human Rights

Civil Rights

HBCU

Jim Crow

Colonialism

Underdevelopment

Negritude

Harlem Renaissance

Berlin Conferences on Colonialism

The Council of Nicaea in 325

Reparations

Garveyism

Pan Africanism
Womanism

Feminism

The Black Arts Movement

Black Meter Music

Rounding a hymn

Call and Response

Swing
Jazz

Blues

Soul

Negro Spirituals

Black Arts Songs

Pentecostal

Holiness

African Methodist

“ The White Gaze”

Ebonics

Ancestral Memory

Reparations

Colonization

Neo-Soul

Rhythm and Blues

Rock and Roll

Rap
Hip Hop

House Music
The Peters Map

The Mercator’s Map

The Black Arts Movement

Communalism
Islam

Christianity

Judaism

Words and Phrases will be added