Below is a list of lesson plans created by the Summer Scholars who have attended our NEH Summer Institute For Teachers. Select the title to view the lesson. Downloadable PDFs are available from the lesson plan page.
Era |
Lesson Title |
Song Title(s) |
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 |
War of 1812 |
“Constitution and the Guerrier”
“Battle of Baltimore”
“Star Spangled Banner”
“The Eighth of January”
“The Battle of New Orleans”
"Hunters of Kentucky" |
War of 1812, Battle of Baltimore, Battle of New Orleans, Andrew Jackson's campaign |
1760-1820 |
The Liberty Song |
“The Liberty Song”
“Free America”
“You Simple Bostonians”
“The Burrowing Yankees” |
Boston, patriotism, protest, Revolution, war |
| 1792-1867 |
The Transatlantic Slave Trade and Slavery in America |
"No More Auction Block for Me”
“The Desponding Negro”
“Sometimes I Feel like a Motherless
Child”
“Wade in the Water”
“Old Black Mammy’s Lullaby”
“Ol' Man Satan”
“Down around the Coast of La Barbaree”
“Por ser mi divina luz” (For Being My Divine Light)
“Soy Escalvo de Jesus (I am a Slave of Jesus)”
“Old Marse John” |
Slavery, Middle Passage |
1800-1860 |
Presidential Election of 1824 |
“Little Know Ye Who’s Coming”
“Hunters of Kentucky” |
Manifest Destiny, west, rural, urban, expansion, candidate |
| 1800-1860 |
Moby Dick |
"What Do You Do With A Drunken Sailor?"
"Paddy Lay Back"
"Paddy Doyle’s Boots"
"Dead Horse & Fiddler’s Green"
"Roll the Old
Chariot Along" |
Moby Dick, Language Arts, Sea chanties |
| 1800-1860 |
Slavery from the Colonial Period until the Civil War
|
"Amazing Grace"
"Liberty Minstrel"
"Follow the Drinking Guord"
|
Middle Passage, Slavery, African-Americans |
| 1800-1860 |
The Role of African Americans in the Development of South Carolina’s Culture |
“Steal ‘Way to Jedus” |
Slavery, African-Americans, South Carolina, Gullah |
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 |
de Tocqueville or Jackson’s America |
“Oh, Shenandoah” |
Manifest Destiny, west, rural, urban, expansion |
1800-1860 |
Hard Times Come Again No More |
“Hard Times Come Again No More” |
Manifest Destiny, west, rural, urban, expansion, economy, political cartoons |
1800-1860 |
Slave Code Songs |
“Follow the Drinking Gourd”
“O Canaan”
“Walk in the Water”
“Steal Away” |
slaves, escape, free, Underground Railroad |
1800-1860 |
Patting Juba |
“Patting Juba” |
dance, slaves, games |
| 1800-present |
Immigration/Migration Songs |
"Trail of Tears"
"El Corrido de Georgio Cortez "
"Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child"
"No Irish Need Apply"
“Twelve Hundred More”
|
Music, immigration, migration, Native Americans, Irish Americans, African-Americans, Chinese Americans, Middle-Eastern Americans |
| 1800s-present day |
Plagiarism and Copyright Infringement |
"Ghostbusters"
"I Want A New
Drug"
"All Too Well"
"I Saw"
"Party O’Clock"
"On the
Floor"
"Star Spangled Banner" |
ESL, plagiarizing, paraphrasing, and copyright infringement. |
| 1820-1850 |
Westward Expansion and Manifest Destiny through the Mexican-American War |
"Bellos Recuerdos (Beautiful Memories)"
"Remember the Alamo"
“Uncle Sam’s Song to Miss Texas”
"Lone Star Trail"
|
Manifest Destiny, Texas, migration, Mexican American War |
| 1830s - 1950s |
Little House on the Prairie |
“Buy A Broom”
“Camptown Races”
“Oh, Susanna”
“Buffalo Gals”
“Old Dan Tucker”
“Polly-Wolly-Doodle”
“Pop! Goes The Weasel”
“A Railroad Man For Me” “Barbary Allen”
“Bonny Doon”
“There Is A Happy Land”
“Captain Jinks”
“Uncle John”
“Irish Washerwoman”
“The Arkansas
Traveler” |
Little House on the Prairie, rural life, folk music, Westward Expansion, Geneal music |
| 1840s-present |
Women in History |
"Run the World (Girls)"
"I Am Woman"
"Rights of a Woman"
“Wives and Lovers”
“He Thinks He’ll Keep Her”
|
Suffrage, Women's Rights, Feminism |
| 1840s-present |
Women's Rights |
“When Girls Can Vote”
“Rosie the Riveter”
“Respect” |
Suffrage, National Organization of Women, Equal Rights, Declaration of Sentiments, Temperance, 19th Amendment |
1860-1876 |
Dream Deferred |
“Dream Montage”
“Blow Your Trumpet Gabriel” |
African Americans, civil rights, racism, Reconstruction |
1860-1876 |
Origin of Taps |
“Taps”
“Lights Out” |
Civil War, soldiers, bugle, war |
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 |
The Irish Immigrant Experience |
“No Irish Need Apply”
“Thousands are Sailing to Amerikay”
“The Irish Volunteer” |
Immigration, discrimination, Civil War |
| 1860-1876 |
Civil War & Reconstruction |
“Oh, Freedom!”
“Future Blues”
“Maple Leaf Rag”
“Camptown Races” |
Reconstruction, Jim Crow Laws, African Americas |
| 1860-1876 |
Before Lincoln: The Kansas-Nebraska Act, James Buchanan, and Bleeding Kansas |
"The Freeman's Song"
"The Kansas Emigrant Song"
"The Great Baby Show"
“The White House Chair”
“John Brown’s Body/The Battle Hymn of the Republic.” |
Kansas-Nebraska act, slavery, John Brown, abolition |
| 1860s-present |
Civil Rights Movement and the Black Panthers |
“The Charade”
“Go Down Moses”
“Mississippi Goddam”
“Alright” |
Civil Rights, African Americans, non-violent protests, police violence |
| 1870-1900 |
The Populist Movement |
“Where There’s A Will There’s A Way”
“The Kansas Fool”
“The Hand That Holds the Bread”
“Dad’s Old Silver Dollar Is Good Enough For Me”
“Goodbye, My Party, Goodbye”
“Upon A Cross of Gold” |
Industrialization, Populist Movement |
1870-1900 |
Historical Disasters/Chicago Fire |
“Billow of Fire”
“Lost and Saved”
“passing through the Fire” |
urban, myth, hardship |
| 1870-1900 |
Songs of the KKK |
"KKK"
"Ku Klux Klan"
“The Old Rugged Cross”
“The Bright Fiery Cross”
“Mystic City”
“When Will the Pope Come?”
“Battle Hymn”
“The Church in the Wildwood”
|
Ku Klux Klan, race, ethnicity, immigration, identity, religion, Reconstruction |
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 |
Thousands are Coming to Amerikay |
“Thousands are Sailing to Amerikay”
“El Deportado” |
immigration, discrimination |
1870-1900 |
The Bowery |
“The Bowery” |
urban, hardship, tenement |
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 |
1870-1900 |
No Irish Need Apply |
“No Irish Need Apply” |
immigration, discrimination |
| 1870-1900 |
Immigration and the Industrial Movement |
“Immigrant Song”
“Eighteen Hundred and Ninety One”
"Hard Times Come Again No More"
"No Irish Need Apply"
“Lullaby”
“The Coal Miner’s Song in Kyushu” |
Music, immigration, industrial revolution |
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 |
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 |
John Henry Blues |
“John Henry Blues” |
labor, economy, transportation, technology |
1870-1900 |
Songs that Tell the Story of the Railroad |
“Drill Ye Tarriers Drill” |
labor, economy, transportation, expansion |
| 1870s-1938 |
Sounds of the American West: Cowboys and Copland
|
“Git Along Little Dogies”
“The Chisholm Trail”
“Goodbye, Old Paint”
“Great Grand-dad”
excerpts from Copland’s Billy the Kid and Rodeo: “The Open
Prairie,” “Street on a Frontier Town,” and “Hoedown”. |
Music, American Frontier, Aaron Copland, Westward Expansion |
| 1870s-1940s |
Transportation and Settlement Patterns |
“Crossing the Grand Sierras”
“(Get Your Kicks On) Route 66”
“The Erie Canal”
|
Westward Expansion, settlement patterns, automobile, Erie Canal |
| 1880-present |
Racial issues told through Broadway Musicals |
"Deep River"
"Ol Man River"
"The Entertainer"
"Hard Times Come Again No More"
"Free at Last"
|
Race, immigration, Plessy vs. Ferguson, Civil Rights, minstrelsy |
| 1880-present |
|
"The Farmer is the Man"
"Old MacDonald had a Farm"
"Brown-Eyed Children of the Sun"
|
farming, immigration, rural to urban migration |
| 1880s-1963 |
Corridos |
"El Corrido de Kiansas"
"El Corrido de Gregorio Cortez"
"Corrido de Joaquin Murrieta"
"El Corrido del Padre de un Soldado"
"El corrido 720 Ayer y Hoy N.M.’s 720 Bound for War"
"El corrido de Daniel Fernandez"
"El Homenaje a John F. Kennedy"
"Corrido de
Cesar Chavez"
"Mojado" |
disenfranchisement, immigration, cultural differences, Vietnam, Kennedy’s
assassination |
1890-1930 |
The Homestead Strike v2 |
“The Homestead Strike” |
labor, industry, hardship |
1890-1930 |
The Homestead Strike v1 |
“The Homestead Strike” |
labor, industry, hardship |
1890-1930 |
The Eight Hour Day |
“Eight Hour Day” |
labor, industry, hardship |
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 |
Understanding Legends in History |
“Heebie Jeebies”
“To Be In Love” |
Jazz Age, myth, technology, dance |
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 |
African American Art |
“Black and Blue”
“Brown” |
musical, racism, discrimination |
| 1890-1930 |
American Dream |
“(If You Ain’t Got the) Do-Re-Mi”
“Big Rock Candy Mountain”
“We’re in the Money”
“Remember My Forgotten Man"
“Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?”
“Sunny Cal”
“Fanfare for the Common Man"
"The American Dream"
|
Great Depression |
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 |
1890-1930 |
Iconography of Trains |
“Iron Horse”
“Calling Trains”
“Train Blues”
“A Long Way to Travel” |
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 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 |
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 |
The Lusitania in Music |
“When the Lusitania Went Down” |
foreign policy, patriotism, isolation, hardship, war |
| 1890-1930 |
America Enters World War I |
“Remember the Lusitania”
"I Didn't Raise My Boy to be a Soldier"
“Heatless, Meatless, Wheatless Days ” |
World War I, isolationism |
| 1890-1930 |
Labor in the Progressive Era |
“Let Them Wear Their Watches Fine”
“The Rebel Girl”
“Bread and Roses”
|
Industrialization, Labor, immigration |
1890-1930 |
Labor Unions – Lawrence |
“My Children are Seven in Number”
“Bread and Roses” |
labor, industry, hardship, economy |
1890-1930 |
Labor Unions – Homestead |
“The Homestead Strike” |
labor, industry, hardship, economy |
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 |
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 |
American Identity and the Automobile |
“The Little Old Ford Rambled Right Along”
“Henry’s Made a Lady out of Lizzie”
“You Can’t
Afford to Marry If You Can’t Afford A Ford”
|
Automobiles, innovation |
1890-1930 |
We Have Remembered the Maine |
“We Have Remembered the Maine”
“Buffalo Soldiers” |
expansion, isolation, Manifest Destiny, economy, political cartoons, war |
| 1890-1930 |
Kaulana Na Pua (Famous are the Flowers) |
“Kaulana Na Pua” |
expansion, isolation, Manifest Destiny, economy, political cartoons |
| 1911-2011 |
Public Monuments and Music |
"The Star Spangled Banner"
"The Gift of Light"
"Indian National Anthem: Jana Gana Mana"
|
Art history, American and Indian cultural forms, Western art |
| 1920s-1930s |
The Harlem Renaissance |
“Day Dream”
“Sophisticated Lady”
“What a Wonderful World” |
Harlem Renaissance, Jazz, Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes |
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 |
New York World’s Fair |
“Dawn of the New Day”
“I.G.Y.” |
technology |
1929-1945 |
Tom Joad |
“Tom Joad”
“The Ghost of Tom Joad” |
hardship, labor, economy |
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 |
God Bless the Child |
“God Bless the Child” |
Jazz Age, hardship
African Americans |
1929-1945 |
US Entry into WWII |
“What Are We Waitin’ On?”
“Ballad of October 16”
“Citizen CIO” |
foreign policy, patriotism, protest |
1929-1945 |
Migrant Melodies |
“Seven Cent Cotton and Forty Cent Meat” |
labor, hardship, economy |
1929-1945 |
Isolationism v Internationalism |
“Sinking of the Reuben James” |
expansion, isolation, foreign policy |
1945-1970 |
Songs of Protest |
“War”
“God Bless the USA” |
soldiers, war, patriotism |
1945-1970 |
The Kennedy Assassination: The Loss of Innocence in America |
“He Was a Friend of Mine” |
politics, hardship |
1945-1970 |
Evolution of Civil Rights |
“Strange Fruit”
“Freedom Road”
“We Shall Overcome”
“People Get Ready” |
civil rights, African Americans |
1945-1970 |
Ballad of the Green Berets |
“Ballad of the Green Berets”
“War” |
soldiers, war, patriotism, protest |
1945-1970 |
Rebellion in the 1950s |
“Summertime Blues” |
economy, labor, dance |
1945-1970 |
Brave New World |
“A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall”
“Lord Randall” |
hardship, technology, ballad |
| 1945-1970 |
Other Civil Rights Movements |
“3rd Base Dodger Stadium”
"It's Just Work For Me" |
Chavez Ravine, Civil Rights, Hispanic-Americans, eminent domain, Bill of Rights |
| 1945-1970 |
Vietnam |
“Fortunate Son”
“Goodnight Saigon”
“Bring Em Home”
"Born in the U.S.A."
"Feel Like I'm Fixin' to Die Rag" |
Viet Nam War |
| 1945-1970 |
Social Justice |
“Black and
White”
“Everyday
People”
“We Shall Be Free”
|
Social Justice, poverty, race, gender, religion |
| 1950s-2001 |
Latin American Music |
“Oye Como Va”
“Cielito Lindo”
|
Latin Folk and pop music, Puerto Rican rhythms |
| 1960s-1970s |
S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders |
“Stay Gold”
“Out in the Streets” |
language arts |
| 1960s-1970s |
Protest and Change in the 1960s and 1970s |
"Wives and Lovers" "Under My Thumb" "Natural Woman" " I Am Woman" "The Pill" "Big Yellow Taxi"
"Blowin' in the Wind"
|
Counterculture, Women’s Rights Movement, Second Wave Feminism, Environmentalism |
1968-present |
Life After the Assassination of MLK |
“Inner City Blues” |
politics, hardship, civil rights, African Americans |
1968-present |
A Boy Named Sue |
“A Boy Named Sue” |
ballad |
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 |
Songs of Loss: Springsteen and 9/11 |
“You’re Missing”
“Empty Sky” |
hardship, patriotism |
1968-present |
The Evolving Image of American Womanhood |
“I am Woman”
“Pretty Face”
“At Seventeen” |
suffrage, equal rights, gender, equality |
| 1968-present |
Non Point Source Pollution |
“What a Wonderful World”
“Big Yellow Taxi”
“Mercy Mercy Me”
“Green Go Green”
|
Science, Environmentalism, Pollution, |
| 1968-present |
Civil Rights |
“Black and White”
“Everyday People”
“We Shall Be Free” |
equality, politics, civil rights, African Americans |
| 1968-present |
Musical Rhetoric of Identity |
“Take Me as I Am”
“I am Woman” (Reddy)
"I am Woman" (Sparks)
“I am Everyday People”
"Say it Loud (I'm Black and I'm Proud)" |
Feminism, gender identity, civil rights, personal, national, cultural, and communal identities |
| 1968-present |
Gender Issues in Rap |
“U.N.I.T.Y.”
“Brenda’s Got a Baby”
“Same Love”
“We’re Gonna Have to Slap the Dirty Little Jap”
|
Hip hop culture, misogyny, homophobia |
| 1968-present |
Plato's Allegory of the Cave |
"Amazing Grace"
"Ignorance" (by Paramore)
“Oliveros Gamper Duet” (by Tosca Salad) |
philosophy |
1968-present |
Social Justice Issues |
“Black and White”
“Everyday People”
“We Shall Be Free” |
equality, politics, civil rights, African Americans |
1968-present |
Panics, Depressions, and Hard Times |
“Hard Times: Great Depressions v Great Recession” |
economy, politics, hardship |
1968-present |
Testimony |
“Testimony” |
equal rights, gender, equality |
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 |
Freedom of Speech |
“Freedom of Speech” |
politics, patriotism, protest |
| 2001 |
How Does Popular Music Depict the American Public’s Reactions to the 9/11 Attacks? |
"Star Spangled Banner"
"Milli Surood"
"Empty Sky"
"New York, New York"
"Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue"
"Know Your Enemy"
"American Idiot"
|
9-11, War on Terror, memorials, anthems |
