About Samba, Soul and Civil Rights

The Samba, Soul and Civil Rights curriculum uses a music-driven approach to teach African American students about the African American Civil Rights Movements, African Independence Movements, the Afro Brazilian Movimento Negro, the Afro-Peruvian African Heritage Revival, as well as and other parallel movements throughout the Diaspora. Students learn the history and major events of each movement by learning to perform the music that drove them forward: from African American Freedom Songs, Ghanaian drum language, the Africa-focused samba songs and samba - reggae rhythms of the afro blocs of Bahia and South African freedom songs. Students also learn the African connections between each group and the music traditions, like code songs and capoeira movement/songs associated with early resistance movements in African America and Brazil. Students also study key speeches of leaders like Dr. Martin Luther King, Kwame Nkrumah and Nelson Mandela, as well as civil rights poetry and art through sound recordings, children’s books games and art activities.

Digital and printed versions of this curriculum will be available for the 2019 – 2020 school year.
Each Ethnomusicology in Action Curriculum includes detailed teacher’s guides, step by step lesson plans, sheet music, printed and online children’s books with narration, online videos, downloadable music recordings, accompaniment tracks for performances and scholarly background readings for educators.