Music in American Lives: From Shakers to Suffragists

“Simple Gifts” and “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” are among America’s most revered folk songs, yet they originated among groups that are now largely forgotten—utopian Shakers of the U.S. northeast and enslaved men and women of southern plantations—whose memory and belief systems have survived chiefly through music. This course looks at communities in U.S. history who have crafted distinctive bodies of song intended to assert a particular worldview, to preserve ancestral heritage, to project a social stance, or to claim political enfranchisement. By exploring Shaker hymns, African American spirituals, the Shoshone Ghost Dance, Sacred Harp singing, and songs of the abolitionist and women’s suffrage movements we will see how each sustained its identity against the mainstream’s powerful currents. Harnessing music’s potent connections to emotion, memory, and identity formation, these groups secured a lasting place for themselves and their beliefs in American cultural history.

Notes

Online registration closes September 24 at 5 pm CT.

All Graham School courses use Canvas to distribute files and announcements. You will receive an invitation to join Canvas about a week before your course begins. Remote courses require you to login to Canvas to access the Zoom Classroom. Please visit the Liberal Arts Remote Learning Resources page to find step by step instructions for Canvas and Zoom.