home

Description

A protest song is a song which is associated with a movement for social change and hence part of the broader category of topical songs (or songs connected to current events). It may be folk, classical, or commercial in genre.

Over the years, protest songs have served as a means to combat social ills. These songs cover a wide array of topics, including but not limited to the following: racism, sexism, poverty, imperialism, environmental degradation, war, globalization, and homophobia. In 2005, hip-hop artist Kanye West released the single “Diamonds from Sierra Leone” to bring attention to the issue of conflict diamonds. In this lesson, you will research and analyze contemporary and historic protest songs and then as a class catalog your findings in a wiki.

Student Objectives

Students will

• Research and discuss social issues they find to be important
• Develop a plan for having their voice heard
• Create a website forum to bring their chosen issue to light

Process

1. Choose a social issue that you feel needs more awareness.
2. Begin researching the issue, using the Research Guidelines on this site.
3. Develop a wiki page in which you present your information for the class. Be sure to check the Wiki Rubric to see how the project will be assessed.
4. Be sure your page includes a Bibliography, including all the resources you used to gather information. Be sure you also include a citation for the song. You can use Citation Machineto complete this, but make sure your entries are alphabetized.
5. When you're finished, complete the Online Self-Assessment.
6. Check out the pages created by other other, read their research, and leave comments on their page. You must leave useful comments on 3 separate pages.