Individuals
This experience is available to individual learners on the following platforms:
Black Performance as Social Protest
What You'll Learn
- Identify ways in which patterns of resistance from the past contribute to ongoing social justice movements.
- Reflect on methods of achieving racial equity through performance.
5 Modules
25 Hours
5 hrs per module (approx.)
Rating
About Black Performance as Social Protest
Black performance and social activism have been a model for protest globally. It has enriched and activated cries for justice in multiple contexts. This course will help you expand your understanding of Black performance as social protest and its active effects on performance and protest today.
The arts are a potent way of responding to issues of injustice. From slavery and lynching to incarceration and disenfranchisement, Black performance has resisted oppression across several historical frames. On this course, you’ll read, watch, and listen to performances that illustrate various forms of artistic protest from the African Diaspora. You’ll cover chants of the enslaved and dances of heritage, before moving on to look at early 20th century migrations and United States protests.
You’ll identify ways in which patterns of resistance from the past contribute to ongoing social justice movements, such as Black Lives Matter. After investigating the history of Black performance as social protest, you’ll produce a reflective manifesto for achieving racial equity through performance.
Skills You'll Gain
- Art History
- Community Advocacy
- Ingenuity
- Social Justice
- Storytelling
What You'll Earn
- Certificate of Completion:
- Certificates of completion acknowledge knowledge acquired upon completion of a non-credit course or program.
Welcome Message
Black Performance as Social Protest explores how Black artistic expression has functioned as resistance, activism, and calls for justice across history. Learners examine chants, music, theater, and dance from the African Diaspora, tracing performance as protest from slavery through Black Lives Matter. The course centers on performance as a vital tool for social justice, cultural survival, and political change.
This abbreviated syllabus description was created with the help of AI tools and reviewed by staff. The full syllabus is available to those who enroll in the course.
Course Schedule
Module 1: Slavery and The Whip
- Video: Welcome
- Reading: Syllabus
- Reading: Content Warning
- Reading: Assignment Overview: Mixtape and Manifesto
- Discussion Prompt: Introduce Yourself!
- Reading: Help us learn more about you!
- Reading: Learning Objectives for Week 1
- Reading: Guiding Image: The Whip
- Discussion Prompt: Guiding Image Discussion: The Whip
- Reading: Definitions: Protest and Blackness
- Reading: Throw Me Anywhere Lord and the Circle
- Discussion Prompt: Discussion: Throw Me Anywhere Lord and the Circle
- Reading: Ring Shout
- Reading: Gullah Traditions of the South Carolina Coast
- Reading: Gullah People Fighting to Preserve Their Land
- Discussion Prompt: Discussion: Gullah People Fighting to Preserve Their Land
- Reading: Working Songs: Lightnin’ Long John
- Reading: Prison Songs
- Discussion Prompt: Discussion: Prison Songs
- Reading: Gandy Dancers
- Discussion Prompt: Discussion: Gandy Dancers
- Reading: Brief Introduction to the Gamut Workbook Tool
- App Item: Workbook: Protest-Personal and Political
Module 2: Jim Crow and The Noose
- Video: Introduction to Early 20th Century Migrations and United States Protests
- Reading: Learning Objectives for Week 2
- Reading: Guiding Image: The Noose
- Discussion Prompt: Guiding Image Discussion: The Noose
- Reading: Definitions: Jim Crow Laws and Redlining
- Reading: The Great Migration
- Reading: August Wilson and the Great Migration to Pittsburgh
- Discussion Prompt: Discussion: Great Migration
- Video: Instructor Performance: A Reading of "Rachel" by Angelina Weld Grimke
- Video: Instructor Performance: A Reading of "On Being Young—A Woman—And Colored." by Marita Bonner
- Reading: Definitions: Lynching and Degeneration
- Reading: The Lynching Drama
- Discussion Prompt: Discussion: The Lynching Drama
- App Item: Workbook: Considering Context
- Reading: Lynching Sites Interactive Map
- Discussion Prompt: Discussion: Lynching Sites Interactive Map
- Reading: Koritha Mitchell: Lynching Dramas in Living Rooms
- Discussion Prompt: Discussion: Lynching Dramas in Living Rooms
- App Item: Workbook: Protest, Survival, and Sustainability
- Reading: Pearl Primus and Billie Holiday: Strange Fruit
- Discussion Prompt: Discussion: Strange Fruit
- App Item: Patterns of Protest
Module 3: Civil Rights and The Fist
- Video: Introduction to Civil Rights Struggles for Justice
- Reading: Learning Objectives for Week 3
- Reading: Guiding Image: The Fist
- Discussion Prompt: Guiding Image Discussion: The Fist
- Reading: Definitions: Black Nationalism, Civil Rights, Pan Africanism, and Black Arts Movement
- Reading: The Music: A Short Film from Freedom Riders
- Discussion Prompt: Discussion: A Short Film from Freedom Riders
- Reading: Hollywood Roundtable
- Discussion Prompt: Discussion: Hollywood Roundtable
- App Item: Workbook: Hollywood Strategies
- Video: Instructor Performance: Improv Civil Rights and African Protest Songs
- Reading: Bob Marley Protest Songs
- Discussion Prompt: Discussion: Bob Marley Protest Songs
- Reading: African Nationalism and Pan-Africanism
- Discussion Prompt: Discussion: African Nationalism and Pan-Africanism
- Reading: Mama Africa
- Discussion Prompt: Discussion: Mama Africa
- Discussion Prompt: Discuss: Civil Rights Movement, Pan-Africanism, and Black Nationalism
Module 4: Black Lives Matter and The Baton
- Video: Introduction to Social Justice Now
- Reading: Learning Objectives for Week 4
- Video: Black Song as Social Protest
- Discussion Prompt: Black Song as Social Protest
- Reading: Guiding Image: The Baton
- Discussion Prompt: Guiding Image Discussion: The Baton
- Reading: Definitions: Black Lives Matter and Gentrification
- Reading: #DontMuteDC
- Discussion Prompt: Discussion: #DontMuteDC
- Reading: "Langston and Beethoven | Black and Proud" By Terrance McKnight
- Discussion Prompt: Discussion: Langston and Beethoven | Black and Proud
- Reading: "125th and Freedom" by Ebony Noelle Golden
- Discussion Prompt: Discussion: 125th and Freedom
- App Item: Workbook: Multi-Media Impact
- Reading: Definition: Woke
- Reading: "You're (*not) #Woke" by Autumn Reed
- Discussion Prompt: Discussion: You're (*not) #Woke
- Reading: "Dear Karen" by DECORA
- Discussion Prompt: Discussion: Dear Karen
- Reading: "The Central Park Five" By Anthony Davis
- Discussion Prompt: Discussion: The Central Park Five
- Reading: Create a Mixtape Instructions
Module 5: Call to Action: Manifesto and The Circle
- Video: Introduction to the Call to Action
- Reading: Learning Objectives for Week 5
- Reading: Guiding Image: The Circle
- Discussion Prompt: Guiding Image Discussion: The Circle
- Reading: Definition: Manifesto
- Reading: "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" by Gil Scott Heron
- Discussion Prompt: Discussion: The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
- Reading: We See You White American Theater
- Discussion Prompt: Discussion: We See You White American Theater
- Reading: Black Opera Alliance
- Discussion Prompt: Discussion: Black Opera Alliance
- Reading: Black Revolutionary Theater
- Discussion Prompt: Discussion: Black Revolutionary Theater
- Video: Instructor Performance: Manifestos
- Reading: What is a Manifesto?
- Discussion Prompt: Discussion: What is a Manifesto?
- Reading: Manifesto Instructions
- App Item: Workbook: Draft of Manifesto
- Reading: Thank you for joining this course!
- Reading: Post-course survey
Grading Policy
The course grade is based on two assignments, the “Mixtape Gallery Submission” worth 50% of the final grade, and “Final Manifesto Gallery Submission” worth 50% of the final grade.
No instructors specified.
Beginner Level
No prior experience required
