- Begin by directing students to a timeline of African American musicians, such as the one from the University of Indiana listed in the Resource section below. After a general discussion of the timeline, give each student the name of a famous African American musician from the Standifer Archive. Once they have done some basic research, they will need to decide where that musician fits on the timeline.
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Assign students the task of creating a mini-biography of the musician they were assigned. They should include such basic information as the musician's area of expertise (saxophone player or blues singer, for example), dates, locations, important musical contributions and other basic facts. These mini-biographies will then be used to create a poster featuring graphics. These might be in the form of a student drawing, copies of photographs, pictures of album covers or other items.
Direct students to sources where they will be able to actually listen to the music created by the musician they are researching. Large libraries often have collections of music of all kinds. Various websites, such as the one listed below in the Resource section, offer the opportunity to hear recordings without buying the music.
Next, refer students to the Oral History Archive where they will have the opportunity to read an interview conducted with the musician. Ask students to create a short summary and to include with the summary three or four quotes from the interview they think are of particular interest. - Allow each student about three to five minutes to give an oral presentation that could include a discussion of the poster, information about where the musician fits on the overall timeline of African American music, a quote taken from the interview, and, if possible, a photograph and some sample music for classmates' listening pleasure.
