Sometimes a Lesson in the Blues is More Than a Lesson in the Blues

With thanks to Ms. Felicia Howard who brought us in to perform and talk with  her third grade class at the Crown Academy, Chicago Public Schools.  This is from her notes.

"I can recall one student asking right off "What's the blues and where does it come from?"  Charlie was impressed that these third grade students were asking such good questions. As Charile and Henry continued to sing songs the questions kept coming.

"One of my favorite songs was about slavery.  After Charlie explained the history of blues and its origins my students were all ears.  Charlie and Henry also informed them that during slavery, the slaves would communicate with each other through their music.  It was then that my students' curiosity was at its peak.  They wanted to know more about slavery and what happened during that time.  They asked about the food, shoes, and homes that the slaves lived in.  Henry went on to tell them that he was poor and lived in the South as a child.  He told how people made slides for their guitar by breaking the neck of a bottle.

"Later near the end of the performance Jack stood up to do a song with Henry and Charlie.  My students were very excited to see such a young person stand up and sing the same type of music that their parents and grandparents listen to.  One student said that he thought Jack was going to do rap or some hip-hop music.

"Although the visit was arranged to entertain my students and give them some background information about the blues, it turned into an awesome history lesson.  In the next few days I continued on with my students.  We had a wonderful time learning more about slavery and the blues. I had the students draw pictures about how they thought slaves lived and that brought out more questions about furniture, food and clothes.  Also, we had started our Chicago unit a week before the visit.  After listening to Henry sing about Highway 61, one of my students drew a picture of rte 61 and we talked about the connection of Chicago and the South."