In this unit, students will use Virginia folk music traditions as a lens for considering significant events and eras in Virginia and United States history. Each lesson will ask students to consider and analyze the music and lyrics of a significant Virginia song and then assess how the song reflects the larger historical context of the era in which it was performed or the event that inspired it.  The short reading from the Library of Virginia linked here may provide some useful context to the unit.

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Readings are aligned to an upper high school grade level but can be modified or scaffolded such that lessons will be accessible to US History I and US History II for middle school.

  • How did the Second Great Awakening impact Virginia?
  • What is far western Virginia like?
  1. Students will explain what the Second Great Awakening was and what it looked like in Virginia
  2. Students will explain how the music of Claude Ely reflects the values of the Second Great Awakening.

Camp Meeting

Evangelical

1. Class should begin with the teacher showing a map of Virginia and then zooming in on Lee County. Take time to ask students about their familiarity with Appalachia. What do they know about it? What have they heard? Do they have any preconceived notions of what Appalachia is like? 

Give students this document so that they understand that all of Lee County is closer to 8 other state capitals than it is to Richmond.

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2. Play the Khan Academy Video linked here.  It is important that as a result of watching this video students understand the ways in which the Second Great Awakening presented a unique and personal approach to religion in what was, in the early 19th century, the western frontier of America including Appalachia. 

3. Ask students to read the articles and answer the questions linked on this GoogleDoc on Camp Meetings.

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Download the pdf here

4. Play “Ain’t No Grave Gonna Hold My Body Down” by Brother Claude Ely. While students listen, ask them to read along with the lyrics. Depending on your student community, you may need to explain the references to Gabriel and the “trumpet.”

Play the song again and have them complete the song analysis here (page 7), adapted from Learning for Justice.

Finally, ask students to read the article “The Gospel According to Brother Claude Ely” from the Oxford American starting on page 8 in the document linked here or in the gallery seen below and complete the final task:

Given your understanding of Lee County, the Great Awakening, and now Claude Ely, use a creative communication medium like FlipGrid, Google Sites, Canva or others to answer the question: What can Claude Ely and his music teach us about history?

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  • Runions, J. Ewing is closer to nine other state capitals than its own. Cardinal News. February 28, 2022. https://cardinalnews.org/2022/02/28/ewing-is-closer-to-nine-other-state-capitals-than-its-own/
  • Guion Griffis Johnson, Ante-Bellum North Carolina: A Social History (Chapel Hill: UNC Press, 1937), pp. 392–394. – Original Source
  • Latrobe, B. Camp Meeting Plan Sketch. Library of Congress as collected in Encyclopedia Virginia
  • Ramsey, D. Lingering could be your doom. The Oxford American, Winter 2020(111).

Readings are aligned to an upper high school grade level but can be modified or scaffolded such that lessons will be accessible to US History I and US History II for middle school.

  • How is America’s fascination with railroads reflected in music?
  • How can “canons” of art more accurately reflect lived experiences?
  1. Students will explain the importance of and fascination with train travel in American history.
  2. Students will explain the role that music played in southern history, art, and lost cause narratives.
  3. Students will consider and create a “new canon” of music for a historical topic.

Canon

Optional Reading: To expand this lesson, you may want to include this article from the New York Times Magazine: There is no Reason to Cross the U.S. by Train but I did it Anyway

1. Read the Encyclopedia Virginia entry on the Wreck of the Old 97 and complete the source analysis questions on the lesson organizing document. 

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Download the pdf of the source analysis

2. Listen to the “Wreck of the Southern 97” by Henry Whitter and follow along in the document here (or found in the images above). Once you’ve done that twice, complete the analysis questions on the lesson organizing document.

3. Read the article, “Ten Train Songs that Tell the Story of the South” from The Bitter Southerner and answer the questions that follow on the lesson organizing document here.

Readings are aligned to an upper high school grade level but can be modified or scaffolded such that lessons will be accessible to US History I and US History II for middle school. 

It’s important to note that this topic may impact students in different ways, students who have been incarcerated or whose families have members who are incarcerated may have strong opinions about this. As with any difficult topic, it is vital that you have the appropriate norms and community agreements in place before starting any discussion.

What is the relationship between freedom and art?

  1. Students will determine the purpose of incarceration in American history
  2. Students will explain what makes art created by incarcerated people unique.

Incarceration

1. Set the stage for the lesson by asking students the purpose of incarceration in the United States. Write their answers on the board or have them work in small groups and contribute their answers to the class via Padlet or by writing their answers on the board. 

2. Once students have an understanding of the perceived purposes of incarceration, ask them to read this article from the Brennan Center and then answer the questions attached to it on the student-facing instructions document.

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download the pdf of the student-facing instructions document

3. Then ask them to read the op-ed by hip hop artist Meek Mill and answer the next set of questions on the student-facing instructions document. 

4. Then, ask students to read the article on “Eyes of Love” linked from the Richmond Times-Dispatch and watch this video. After you listen to “Eyes of Love,” have them complete the chart on the student-facing instructions document.

5. Read the overview of the recordings linked here. Listen to several of the 30 second clips available on the website. After you listen to them complete the chart on the student-facing instructions document.

6. Read the album notes written by folk music icon and musicologist Pete Seeger and complete the next chart on on the student-facing instructions document.

7. Now that students have learned about incarceration and some noteworthy art created within the confines of incarceration, complete the following task:

  • Create some kind of artistic representation of the feelings that the articles by Meek Mill and the Brennan Center and the music of Eyes of Love and the Prison Worksongs album create for you. 
  • Write an accompanying paragraph describing how the features of your art represent your feelings.

Readings are aligned to an upper high school grade level but can be modified or scaffolded such that lessons will be accessible to US History I and US History II for middle school.

How can music and images be used to tell a story?

  1. Students will explain the importance of the Bristol Sessions with emphasis on the Carter Family and Jimmie Rodgers.
  2. Students will explain the 1920s and 1930s through the eyes of rural Virginians.

Musicology

1. Half of the students in the class should read the article on the Bristol Sessions from Encyclopedia Virginia and complete a copy of this discussion document.

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download the pdf of the student work discussion document
  • These students should listen to “The Soldier’s Sweetheart.” They can access this song and find the lyrics to follow along on this GoogleDoc.  
download the pdf for the lyrics to the soldier’s sweetheart

2. The other half of students in the class should read the article on the Carter Family from Encyclopedia Virginia and complete a copy of this discussion document (discussion document seen above).

  • These students should listen to “No Depression in Heaven.” They can access this song and find the lyrics to follow along on this GoogleDoc.
Download the pdf for the lyrics to No Depression in heaven

3. Once students have finished, put them in pairs where one student read the Bristol Sessions article and one read the Carter Family article. They should complete the debrief protocol that follows in the discussion document. 

4. The final task for this lesson is to have students use primary images from the 1920s and 1930s to produce a short documentary. They will also be asked to choose a song from the Bristol Sessions to accompany these images as background music. They will also prepare a written document explaining the images and the songs they chose to include.

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