Write an essay in which you draw connections between Bird & Diz and Kind of Blue and the struggle for civil rights in the 1950s and 60s. You will strive to answer some of these questions: What was the relationship between jazz music and the black experience in the 1950s? What political points were jazz players trying to address in their music and recordings? Did jazz musicians "sonically construct" race through their sounds and songs (eg did they bring up questions of race in the sounds they made)? If so, how? Or was jazz music a “colorblind” space? Material can come from the albums, my civil rights podcast lecture, the PDF excerpts by Leroi Jones, MLKJ, Malcolm X, and the quotes and listening guide in the Essay 2 Packet (available for download above or here).
An ideal essay would feature a strong blend of historical facts (eg from the podcasts, lectures, and PDFs) with an original analysis of the albums. This could be done with pages 1-2 about civil rights history and 3-4 as an album analysis. Or it could be interwoven, where you creatively blend the discussion of the various songs with examples of legislation, protests, and speeches. DO NOT use outside sources for this assignment. This is an exercise in close reading of course materials. It is not an exercise in research.

All sources and readings can be found here – http://modernushistoryonline.weebly.com/units-23.h…

Essay #2 Rubric: (Total of 150 points possible)

Evidence of Scholarly Writing (Meet these requirements for the first 50 points

• No slang and no contractions
• Footnotes after short quotations, paraphrases, and casual references to a text.
• Use of relevant quotations that are short (less than a sentence). no block quotes
• Clarity of thought and short sentences
• Thesis at the end of the introductory paragraph and topic sentences at the beginning of each paragraph.

Evidence of Higher-Level Thinking (Bloom's Taxonomy categories of analysis, evaluation, and creation of an original argument). 50 points.

Evidence of Scholarly Reading of the Sources (Do you have references to sufficient names, dates, and historic events to convince me that you have read the weekly sources? Have written about the photographs or jazz albums in a way that demonstrates you have followed our strategies for looking and listening attentively? Are you paying attention to detail while still understanding the broader argument?) 50 points.