Fostering Historical Empathy Through Music, Art, and Poetry

Abstract

AbstractThis chapter encourages the adoption of an expansive approach to the music curriculum, particularly in the ways that teachers can enrich students’ experiences by juxtaposing music with closely related disciplines. The central aim is to illustrate how interdisciplinary instruction invites students’ historical empathy, deepening students’ understanding and affective connection to persons from the past through imaginative encounters and connections to their own life experiences. In the context of African American history, three rich areas for curricular work are explored for elementary, middle, and high school general music settings: children’s biographies of musical figures, notably Ella Fitzgerald; explorations of the Great Migration through the blues, the poetry of Langston Hughes, and Jacob Lawrence’s paintings; and student-directed inquiry exploring the role of the arts in portraying the experiences of African American students involved in school desegregation efforts.