Fall 2019/Fuller Online

TC555

Watkins

TC555: SOUL FORCE: THE MUSIC OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT (4 Units: 160 hours). Ralph Basui Watkins.

DESCRIPTION: The music of the AfricanAmerican experience has been and continues to be a sustaining force in the struggle for equality, justice, and existence in a world riddled with oppression, racism, and sexism. During the Civil Rights Movement, the music of the movement served as the spiritual sustenance for the people who participated in the movement. It was the music that kept them marching, made prison bearable and served as the soul force to keep hope alive. In this course we study the music of the Civil Rights Movement and how it functioned as the social, psychological, communal, spiritual and theological foundation for the movement.

LEARNING OUTCOMES: Upon completion of this course, students will (1) have a greater understanding of the sociological, theoretical, historical, theological and contextual perspectives of the music of that sustained and fueled the civil rights movement; (2) gain an appreciation for the theological content of the music as well as it’s socio- psychological properties that serves as sustenance for the civil rights workers; (3) moreover students will be able to draw connections to the music of the civil rights movement and how music operates in movements today; and (4) students will be given an opportunity to explore the music that moves them to live lives of activism.

RELATIONSHIP TO PROGRAM LEARNING OUTCOMES: TC courses introduce students to an aspect of culture along with one or more interpretive method(s) for both understanding it and engaging with it theologically; they seek to implement the SOT PLO, "Students will have demonstrated academic capacities appropriate to an area of focus in a theological discipline or to interdisciplinary theological study."

COURSE FORMAT: This course will be conducted online on a ten-week schedule aligned with Fuller’s academic calendar for a total of 40 instructional hours, which is outlined below in the assignment and assessment section. Students are required to interact with the material, with each other, and with the instructor regularly through online discussions, reading, and other assignments that promote active learning.

REQUIRED READING: 1,105 total number of pages required.

Carawan, Candie. Sing for Freedom: The Story of the Civil Rights Movement Through Its Songs. New South Books, 2007. ISBN-13: 9781588381934, Pub Price: $25.95. [288 pp.]

Cone, James. Black Theology and Black Power. Orbis Press. 1997. ISBN-13: 9781570751578, Pub. Price: $24.00. Available as an e-book from the Fuller Library [184 pp.]

Floyd, Samuel A. The Power of Black Music: Interpreting Its History from Africa to the United States. Oxford University Press, 1996. 326 pages. ISBN-13:9780195109757, Pub Price: $34.99.[326 pp.]

Reagon, Bernice Johnson. If You Don’t Go, Don’t Hinder Me: The African American Sacred Song Tradition. University of Nebraska Press, 2001. ISBN-13: 9780803239135, Pub. Price: $15.00. Available as an e-book from the Fuller Library [155 pp.]

Walker, Wyatt. Somebody’s Calling My Name: Black Sacred Music and Social Change. Judson Press, 1982. ISBN-13: 9780817009809, Pub. Price: $10.00. [152 pp.]

REQUIRED VIEWING/LISTENING (DVDs / CDs):

Eyes on the Prize: America’s Civil Rights Years 1954 - 1965 DVD (Blackside, 1986) ASIN B0031WNYHK Pub Price: $22.97.

Freedom Songs: Selma (Folkways Records 2012) ASIN B00242VM2W Pub Price: $19.98.

Songs of Freedom: The Story of the Civil Rights Movement Through Its Songs (Smithsonian Folkways 1992) ASIN B000001 DHL Pub Price: $16.98.

Voices of the Civil Rights Movement: Black America Freedom Songs 1960 - 1966 CD 2 Disc (Smithsonian / Folkways 1989) ASIN B000001DJT Pub Price: $24.60.

Sweet Honey in the Rock: Selections 1976 - 1988 CD 2 Disc (Flying Fish 1976 / 2009) ASIN B00000MW8 Pub. Price $24.98.

ASSIGNMENTS AND ASSESSMENT:

1,105 pp. of required reading (20%) [This assignment is related to learning outcome #1,2,3 and 4] [73 hours].
7 hours of required listening and viewing (20%) [This assignment is related to outcomes #1,2,3 and 4] [7 hours]
Instruction hours with class activities such as video lectures, PowerPoint presentations,etc. [20 hours].
250-word weekly forum posts (20%). [This assignment is related to learning outcome #3 &4] [10 hours].
250-word weekly forum responses (20%). [This assignment is related to learning outcome #3 & 4] [10 hours].
Completion of four 2 - 5-page essays (20%). [This assignment is related to learning outcome #1,2,3 &4]. [10 hours].

PREREQUISITES: None.

RELATIONSHIP TO CURRICULUM: Option to meet the TH5 or C2 requirement in the 120 MDiv Program. Option to meet the C2 requirement in the 80 MATM Programs (Fall 2015).

FINAL EXAMINATION: None.