Music, Solidarity, Resilience, and Hope in the Classroom
by Estibaliz Sanchez
I knew becoming an Ethnic Studies educator I had to be aware that the work is not easy or comfortable. I became a teacher after the 2016 elections and the worst year of police brutality against the Black community. One thing I knew to be true was that my students were well aware of the world around us. I didn’t have to explain much but to just say their names: Philando Castille, Trayvon Martin, Alton Sterling, etc. Unfortunately, their experience also had them wondering, ‘Am I next?’ This is what gives Ethnic Studies its essence and soul. This class allows students to recognize that they have power in creating change. This class connects students with their experiences and community and then seeks to build empathy and solidarity.
At the same time, I was doing a pre-assessment of their knowledge in civil rights history and what I found was truly alarming; their knowledge of civil rights was skewed by years prior of making civil rights history a lesson or two. From not being able to name more than one civil rights leader to not understanding the chronological order of events; I knew I had foundational work to do. I needed to find a way to make the historical connections to what my students were experiencing in their current world. Yet, the age-old dilemma of a history teacher is, ‘How am I going to pack in this content in a couple of weeks?’ Realistically, there was no way. I needed to think outside the box that places history teachers as the teacher who makes you take pages of notes while they lecture for days on end. In my class, there is always music playing and this is where inspiration hit.. feel this is an important piece in my pedagogy as an educator, from a cultural standpoint, anytime my mom wanted to get down to business and clean the house music was essential for the work. I decided to use music to guide this unit.
I spent days researching protest music by Black artists that would encapsulate each decade leading up to today. I wanted to showcase mainstream artists who used their platform to send the message that Black Lives Matter. Meanwhile, I created mini-lessons in between to fill in the knowledge gaps needed for historical context. I prefaced our music by explaining the two forms of protest music we would be analyzing. Rhetorical protest music aims to be very straightforward in its political message, sometimes even noting the artists tone is serious, frustrated, or disillusioned. Magnetic protest music seeks unity and aims to have its audience commit to the social movement.
First, was Billie Holiday performing on National TV her song “Strange Fruit.” I printed out the lyrics for my students so we could annotate line by line to gain a better context. By the end of our listening, I asked my students ‘What is the Strange Fruit Billie is singing about?’ No one could answer. I then displayed an interactive map from Plain Talk History that showed lynching from 1848 to today. This was the strange fruit. Students were stunned. Silence and gasps filled the room. I passed around sticky notes and had students research 3 people who were lynched at any year and write their names down. We had to say their names. This was not just any lesson. This was an act of remembrance and honor for those lives lost.
When listening to Fight the Power, students were prefaced by learning about the Black Panther Party to understand the imagery in Public Enemy’s music video. We went along the decades and listened to: Nina Simone, Marvin Gaye, Public Enemy, Tupac, Kendrick Lamar, Prince, Beyoncé, J. Cole. To really understand how the message has always been there, Black Lives Matter. Then we ready to understand that commercial Black Artist have been using storytelling to raise awareness on civil rights issues in the Black community. My students were starting to connect the pieces.
Student’s began analyzing song lyrics and classifying them as rhetorical or magnetic. They also used sticky notes to summarize each artist’s message. They started to see the power in activism through music. Each performance we watched, I could notice students were seeing the magnitude of how artists were risking their careers and lives to talk about issues in their community. But now, I had to find a way to end our analysis into restorative and healing work for them.
As we ended the unit, I needed to allow space for students to look within their own experiences and communities to create their own protest music. As is with art, I did not give many parameters other than they had to write their own analysis on their music and decide if their protest song was rhetorical or magnetic. They also had to be prepared to share their piece to the class. I have done this unit for 5 years now and it continues to be my favorite day in class. Students write music ranging from BLM. LGTBQ+ rights, Women’s Rights, Bullying, School to Prison Pipeline, Immigration, etc. Here are some examples:
We were able to process a lot on this day. The room was filled with tears, applause, and best of all, a safe space for healing. Students to this day, come to my room and tell me how that was one of their favorite units. What I learned from them is that learning in the classroom can turn into a moment of healing. That we can turn these dark moments in history into resilience and solidarity. Seeing young brilliant students in class have academic conversations about J. Cole’s song “Be Free” and drawing connections to how his anger and disillusionment is similar to Nina Simone’s “Mississippi Goddam” are moments where I know Ethnic Studies goes beyond a lesson, primary source, or handout. Ethnic Studies is resilience, solidarity, and hope.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Estibaliz Sanchez, Ethnic Studies & AVID I | AP Psychology; AVID coordinator/AVID Club; Educational Leaders Club; LGBTQ+ Club; Latino Dreams Club; STEAMS club; San Juan High School