Soul Music and the Civil Rights Movement

Tyina Steptoe
Summer 2020
Wednesdays |  
10 AM - 12 PM
May 27, June 3, 10, 17, and 24, 2020
Course Format: Hybrid
Location: Online
Tuition: $185

Please Note: Summer 2020 Course Registration Opens Online on Monday, May 11th at 8AM

Rhythm and blues music emerged as a genre in the late 1940s, coinciding with the rise of multiple civil rights movements in the United States. This course explores culture and politics by examining the intertwined histories of rhythm and blues music, especially the form of R&B known as “soul,” and the freedom struggles that emerged between 1945 and 1980. These includes civil rights movements in Black and Mexican American communities, as well as movements for gender and sexual equality. We’ll ask questions like: Why have Black entertainers and culture producers since the early 1900s used the concept of “soul” as an expression of racial politics? How and why did Motown’s views on civil rights evolve in the 1960s and 1970s? What is the relationship between dance music and movements for gender liberation? In addition to lectures each class meeting will feature audio and visual presentations of the music.

Required Reading

No textbook is required. All readings and class materials will be distributed to students electronically.

Meet Your Instructor

Associate Professor

TYINA STEPTOE is an associate professor in the Department of History and the author of Houston Bound: Culture and Color in a Jim Crow City. Her writing has appeared in publications like TIME, American Quarterly, Journal of African American History, and the Oxford American. She hosts a radio program called “Soul Stories,” which explores the history of rhythm and blues.

Location

THIS COURSE WILL BE OFFERED ONLINE ONLY

Classes will be live streamed during the time and dates specified in the course details section above. Instructions about how to access the course online will be sent to all enrolled students before the course begins.

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