Below is a list of lesson plans generated by teachers who have attended our NEH Summer Institute for Teachers, Voices Across Time. Select the title to view the lesson. Downloadable PDFs are available from the lesson plan page.
Era |
Lesson Title |
Song Title |
Topics |
1760 |
New England’s Annoyances
|
“New England’s Annoyances” |
colony, hardship, Pilgrims, settlers |
1760 |
Murder Ballads
|
“The Cruel Ship’s Carpenter”
“Pretty Polly”
“The Willow Tree”
“Tom Dooley”
“Frankie and Johnnie”
“Zeb Tourney’s Girl” |
Romeo, Juliet, death, love, ballad |
1760-1820 |
The Liberty Song
|
“The Liberty Song”
“Free America”
“You Simple Bostonians”
“The Burrowing Yankees” |
Boston, patriotism, protest, Revolution, war |
1800-1860 |
Beyond the Gold Rush
|
“Seeing for the Elephant”
“The Old Settler’s Song”
“he’s the Man for Me” |
California, settlers, west |
1800-1860 |
Patting Juba
|
“Patting Juba” |
dance, slaves, games |
1800-1860 |
Slave Code Songs
|
“Follow the Drinking Gourd”
“O Canaan”
“Walk in the Water”
“Steal Away” |
slaves, escape, free, Underground Railroad |
1800-1860 |
de Tocqueville or Jackson’s America
|
“Oh, Shenandoah” |
Manifest Destiny, west, rural, urban, expansion |
1800-1860 |
Presidential Election of 1824
|
“Little Know Ye Who’s Coming”
“Hunters of Kentucky” |
Manifest Destiny, west, rural, urban, expansion, candidate |
1800-1860 |
Hard Times Come Again No More
|
“Hard Times Come Again No More” |
Manifest Destiny, west, rural, urban, expansion, economy, political cartoons |
1860-1876 |
Hard Crackers Come Again No More
|
“Hard Crackers Come Again No More”
“Army Grub”
“Goober Peas” |
Civil War, soldiers, hardship,, war |
1860-1876 |
Origin of Taps
|
“Taps”
“Lights Out” |
Civil War, soldiers, bugle, war |
1860-1876 |
Dream Deferred
|
“Dream Montage”
“Blow Your Trumpet Gabriel” |
African Americans, civil rights, racism, Reconstruction |
1870-1900 |
Historical Disasters/Chicago Fire
|
“Billow of Fire”
“Lost and Saved”
“passing through the Fire” |
urban, myth, hardship |
1870-1900 |
Gilded Age and Liberty
|
“Future America”
“New American Anthem” |
expansion, economy, politics, political cartoons |
1870-1900 |
Songs of the Western Frontier
|
“Oh California”
“The Old Chisholm Trail”
“Home on the Range”
“I’ve Been Working on the Railroad” |
west, expansion, California |
1870-1900 |
Coming to America
|
“Thousands are Sailing to Amerikay”
“Ikh Hob Dikh Lib, Amerika (I Love You America)”
“Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor” |
immigration, technology, Ellis Island |
1870-1900 |
No Irish Need Apply
|
“No Irish Need Apply” |
immigration, discrimination |
1870-1900 |
The Bowery
|
“The Bowery” |
urban, hardship, tenement |
1870-1900 |
Thousands are Coming to Amerikay
|
“Thousands are Sailing to Amerikay”
“El Deportado” |
immigration, discrimination |
1870-1900 |
Songs that Tell the Story of the Railroad
|
“Drill Ye Tarriers Drill” |
labor, economy, transportation, expansion |
1870-1900 |
John Henry Blues
|
“John Henry Blues” |
labor, economy, transportation, technology |
1870-1900 |
Cowboy Songs and Ballads
|
“The Old Chisholm Trail”
“Whoopie Ti Yi Yo, Git Along Little Dogie”
“The Cowboy’s Lament”
“Little Joe the Wrangler”
“The Yellow Rose of Texas”
“The Red River Valley” |
west, expansion, hardship, love |
1870-1900 |
Social Issues of the Industrialized United States
|
“Babies in the Mill”
“Lowell Factory Girls”
“Keep Women in Their Sphere”
“Freedom’s Anthem”
“Go It While You’re Young”
“The Wife’s Lament”
“I Don’t Want Your Millions Mister”
“And Now Assemble” |
labor, economy, hardship, urban, suffrage, temperance, Progressivism, industry |
1890-1930 |
African American Art
|
“Black and Blue”
“Brown” |
musical, racism, discrimination |
1890-1930 |
America After WWI
|
“How Ya Gonna Keep Them Down on the Farm”
“The Charleston Rag”
“She’s Only a Bird in a Gilded Cage” |
soldiers, dance, African Americans, Jazz Age |
1890-1930 |
Understanding Legends in History
|
“Heebie Jeebies”
“To Be In Love” |
Jazz Age, myth, technology, dance |
1890-1930 |
Putting a Face on the Organization of Labor
|
“Sweet By and By”
“Joe Hill”
“The Preacher and the Slave” |
labor, industry, hardship |
1890-1930 |
The Eight Hour Day
|
“Eight Hour Day” |
labor, industry, hardship |
1890-1930 |
The Homestead Strike v1
|
“The Homestead Strike” |
labor, industry, hardship |
1890-1930 |
The Homestead Strike v2
|
“The Homestead Strike” |
labor, industry, hardship |
| 1890-1930 |
Kaulana Na Pua (Famous are the Flowers) |
“Kaulana Na Pua” |
expansion, isolation, Manifest Destiny, economy, political cartoons |
1890-1930 |
We Have Remembered the Maine
|
“We Have Remembered the Maine”
“Buffalo Soldiers” |
expansion, isolation, Manifest Destiny, economy, political cartoons, war |
1890-1930 |
The Stars and Stripes Forever
|
“The Stars and Stripes Forever”
“You’re a Grand Old Flag” |
patriotism, expansion, isolation, Manifest Destiny, economy, political cartoons |
1890-1930 |
Labor Unions – Flint
|
“There’ll Be a Hot Time in the Old Town Tonite”
“Women’s Auxiliary Song” |
labor, industry, hardship, economy |
1890-1930 |
Labor Unions – Homestead
|
“The Homestead Strike” |
labor, industry, hardship, economy |
1890-1930 |
Labor Unions – Lawrence
|
“My Children are Seven in Number”
“Bread and Roses” |
labor, industry, hardship, economy |
1890-1930 |
The Lusitania in Music
|
“When the Lusitania Went Down” |
foreign policy, patriotism, isolation, hardship, war |
1890-1930 |
The Great Gatsby and the Roaring Twenties
|
“Suddenly I Saw”
“Tiny Dancer”
“Sheik of Araby”
“The Love Nest”
“Three O’Clock in the Morning”
“The Rosary” |
Jazz Age, soundtracks, popular culture |
1890-1930 |
Iconography of Circuses
|
“Hannibal Hope and the Circus Parade”
“A Trip to the Circus”
“The Passing of the Circus Parade” |
Water For Elephants, symbolism, empathy |
1890-1930 |
Iconography of Hoboes
|
“Beans, Bacon, and Gravy”
“Big Rock Candy Mountain”
“Train Narration”
“A Long Way to Travel” |
Water For Elephants, symbolism, empathy |
1890-1930 |
Iconography of Trains
|
“Iron Horse”
“Calling Trains”
“Train Blues”
“A Long Way to Travel” |
Water For Elephants, symbolism, empathy |
1890-1930 |
Steel Unit
|
“Raggedy”
“The Trouble Down at Homestead”
“Father Was Killed by the Pinkerton Man”
“Twenty Inch Mill”
“Steel Mill Blues”
“Pittsburgh Town”
“Youngstown”
“Allentown” |
labor, industry, hardship, economy |
1929-1045 |
Conflicting Images of Migrant Labor
|
“Big Rock Candy Mountain”
“Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)”
“Hobo’s Lullaby” |
labor, industry, hardship, economy |
1929-1945 |
Isolationism v Internationalism
|
“Sinking of the Reuben James” |
expansion, isolation, foreign policy |
1929-1945 |
Migrant Melodies
|
“Seven Cent Cotton and Forty Cent Meat” |
labor, hardship, economy |
1929-1945 |
US Entry into WWII
|
“What Are We Waitin’ On?”
“Ballad of October 16”
“Citizen CIO” |
foreign policy, patriotism, protest |
1929-1945 |
God Bless the Child
|
“God Bless the Child” |
Jazz Age, hardship
African Americans |
1929-1945 |
Holocaust Prevention
|
“Butterfly”
“Birdsong”
“Yes. That’s the way things are”
“Man Proposes, God Disposes”
“The Garden”
“The Old House” |
hardship, empathy |
1929-1945 |
Tom Joad
|
“Tom Joad”
“The Ghost of Tom Joad” |
hardship, labor, economy |
1929-1945 |
New York World’s Fair
|
“Dawn of the New Day”
“I.G.Y.” |
technology |
1945-1970 |
Brave New World
|
“A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall”
“Lord Randall” |
hardship, technology, ballad |
1945-1970 |
Rebellion in the 1950s
|
“Summertime Blues” |
economy, labor, dance |
1945-1970 |
Ballad of the Green Berets
|
“Ballad of the Green Berets”
“War” |
soldiers, war, patriotism, protest |
1945-1970 |
Evolution of Civil Rights
|
“Strange Fruit”
“Freedom Road”
“We Shall Overcome”
“People Get Ready” |
civil rights, African Americans |
1945-1970 |
The Kennedy Assassination: The Loss of Innocence in America
|
“He Was a Friend of Mine” |
politics, hardship |
1945-1970 |
Songs of Protest
|
“War”
“God Bless the USA” |
soldiers, war, patriotism |
1968-present |
The Evolving Image of American Womanhood
|
“I am Woman”
“Pretty Face”
“At Seventeen” |
suffrage, equal rights, gender, equality |
1968-present |
Freedom of Speech
|
“Freedom of Speech” |
politics, patriotism, protest |
1968-present |
Songs of Loss: Springsteen and 9/11
|
“You’re Missing”
“Empty Sky” |
hardship, patriotism |
1968-present |
Trees Like Me Weren’t Meant to Live
|
“A Day in the Life of a Tree”
“Ye Noble Big Pine Tree” |
economy, ecology, empathy |
1968-present |
A Boy Named Sue
|
“A Boy Named Sue” |
ballad |
1968-present |
Life After the Assassination of MLK
|
“Inner City Blues” |
politics, hardship, civil rights, African Americans |
1968-present |
Lift Every Voice and Sing
|
“Lift Every Voice and Sing”
“Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen” |
politics, hardship, civil rights, African Americans |
1968-present |
Testimony
|
“Testimony” |
equal rights, gender, equality |
1968-present |
Panics, Depressions, and Hard Times
|
“Hard Times: Great Depressions v Great Recession” |
economy, politics, hardship |
1968-present |
Social Justice Issues
|
“Black and White”
“Everyday People”
“We Shall Be Free” |
equality, politics, civil rights, African Americans |
