Although it would be nice to include a section on the protest movement and writings of the 1960’s, I have not included it for the following reasons. Much of the telling during this decade was in a literary form. Playwrights such as Amiri Baraka and authors like James Baldwin are a bit too mature and complex for this age group. The emphasis on the written word has become so prominent at this point that it is at this time that the tradition of the toast seems to have died out. So to maintain our emphasis on the oral tradition, we make a huge leap forward from the Harlem Renaissance to Rap.
Since its infancy in the early 1980’s, Rap music has had a difficult time finding a wide audience as well as critical acclaim. While the form is certainly popular among black youth, it has less acceptance among whites. This certainly was not true about Motown, which directed much of its marketing at a white a market. But Rap music does receive this attention from the record companies. In fact they imitate earlier actions by trying to find white artists who sound black. Some claim that the music is alienating. Others suggest that it is the lyrics which threaten the security of a white audience. But regardless of its wider acceptance there is no denying the fact that Rap, like its predecessors, seeks to empower. Whereas earlier forms may have impelled the listener to action, Rap has become more specialized in the type of action that it calls for.
Since the 1950’s, there have been two general schools of thought as to how to solve the problems of black Americans. Simply put, but more nobly expressed in the words of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, the solution would be non-violence or violence. Rap groups have taken the lead in the quest for justice but the means that they advocate are as diverse as the two men mentioned above. Some seem to favor talk and education. Others, like Public Enemy, take a more radical and explosive approach. In an ironic tribute to King’s birthday, they advocate the violent overturning of the state of Arizona’s decision not to celebrate it.
I believe that Rap music, with its often blatant disregard for authority, is immediately appealing to middle school students. To include it in the curriculum is perhaps risky. But I believe that it could be a valuable tool if the students are given a productive and carefully arranged way of appreciating it. I do not think that there is any way of denying that it is the successor to the oral tradition that began with the slaves and continued with the toast and on into the twentieth century. It remains the most popular of the black expressions of anger at the injustice that remains for them in this country. I believe that we have reached a crucial point in how blacks will survive and thrive in America. By learning to tell the stories of their lives, in a form that is so familiar to them, I hope that these students can help to solve the problems of their generation.
The objectives of this section on Rap would be:
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To show how the oral tradition has survived into the present.
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To create Raps, on topics that are of concern to the students, in order to bring meaning, purpose and the potential for change into their lives.
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To understand how artistic creation can be a powerful weapon in times of social change.
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