Music as History

In this assignment you will be constructing a historical argument about a topic/theme of your choice and articulating the change/continuity over time and its historical significance. For your evidence, you will be using popular music. This assignment requires that you choose five songs as evidence for your historical argument.

After identifying a historical change or continuity, you will write an introductory paragraph that outlines the historical context, change/continuity, significance, and your argument. Then, you will put the five songs you have chosen in chronological order, with a paragraph of textual and contextual analysis for each. For your textual analysis, you may want to quote a line or two from the song as evidence of your interpretation. After you have written a paragraph for each song, you will need to write a concluding paragraph that summarizes your historical continuity or change, thesis, and significance.

You will need to choose an appropriate periodization, explaining why the time period you chose is crucial to understanding the continuity/change you are exploring. The time period and songs should come after 1877 (this is, after all, U.S. history since 1877) and be connected to U.S. history, broadly or transnationally.

Please see the example for what your Music as History Assignment should look like when finished.